Russia Votes 2007

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.

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.

Voters are choosing between 11 parties, but President Vladimir Putin's Unified Russia party is widely expected to win an overwhelming victory.

At Moscow polling stations, many of those who voted this morning were pensioners.

The mayor of Moscow, Yury Luzhkov, casts his ballot. Luzhkov is one of the founders of the pro-Kremlin Unified Russia party.

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!"

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.

There are few opposition voices. In Moscow, a man walks by graffiti reading: "Boycott the elections!"