Russia Votes 2007
Russia Votes 2007
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Russians went to the polls today across 11 timezones to vote for a new parliament. Members of the local election commission prepare the polling station in the western Siberian city of Kemerovo.
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Over 100 million people are eligible to vote, some of them outside Russia. Here a sailor from Russia's Black Sea Fleet leaves a polling booth in Sevastopol, Ukraine.
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Voters are choosing between 11 parties, but President Vladimir Putin's Unified Russia party is widely expected to win an overwhelming victory.
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At Moscow polling stations, many of those who voted this morning were pensioners.
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The mayor of Moscow, Yury Luzhkov, casts his ballot. Luzhkov is one of the founders of the pro-Kremlin Unified Russia party.
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At a polling station in Moscow, Russian gay community leader Nikolai Alexeyev holds his ballot on which he has written: "No to Homophobes! No to Luzhkov!"
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Opposition leader Garry Kasparov displays his ballot, on which he has drawn large "X"s as a sign of protest. Last week, Kasparov served a five-day detention that officials say was imposed after he violated Russian laws on demonstrations during an opposition rally.
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There are few opposition voices. In Moscow, a man walks by graffiti reading: "Boycott the elections!"