DHAKA: Parliamentary election voting has started in Russia amid present president Putin supporter’s dominance.

Far Eastern regions were the first to vote in the largest country of the world spanning 11 time zones.

Their last parliamentary election was held in 2011 with accusations of ballot box fraud, reports the BBC.

For the first time, Russia is holding elections in Crimea, which it annexed from Ukraine in 2014 in a move condemned internationally.

Voters will choose 450 MPs in the State Duma (lower house), for the next five years. The outgoing Duma had majority of the MPs in support of Putin.

The first exit polls are expected on Sunday evening (September 18).

A Ukrainian foreign ministry spokeswoman, Mariana Betsa, said voting in the Russian election could not take place in Ukraine.

However, her Russian counterpart, Maria Zakharova, insisted that polling stations would be ‘organized in Ukraine at the Russian embassy and in our consulates-general’.

About 80,000 Russian voters live in Ukraine, Russian electoral officials said.

Ukraine’s parliament, the Rada, has urged countries not to send observers to the Russian elections in Crimea and not to recognize the results there.

BDST: 0933 HRS, SEP 18, 2016
NR/BD