“Day of silence” takes place across Russia ahead of election

The 2018 Russian presidential election officially took place on March 18. Photo: TASS

According to the Russian presidential election law, all media campaigns must stop one day before the official vote. Therefore, from 0:00 on March 17, this regulation will be effective throughout Russia. Due to the geographical location stretching from West to East, in the eastern regions of Russia such as Kamchatka and Chutkoka, this regulation will take effect at 15:00 (Moscow time) from March 16; in the far west such as Kaliningrad, the "Day of Silence" will begin at 01:00 (Moscow time) on March 17.

During this "Day of Silence", candidates and parties stop all campaigning activities and forms of propaganda such as: organizing mass rallies, contacting voters, or distributing leaflets are all prohibited. This law exists in the election laws of many countries in the world, to prevent any pressure on voters, giving voters a quiet time to think and make their wise choice about the country's future president without being influenced by any pressure.

Previously installed election campaign billboards may remain in place provided they are no closer than 50m to the nearest polling station.

Following the "Day of Silence", voters will officially go to the polls. Up to now, preparations for the Russian presidential election have been completed and are considered very good, thorough and thoughtful.

With the aim of creating maximum publicity and transparency for the election, the Central Election Commission of Russia (SIK) has applied many measures such as granting permission for 1,455 observers from 86 countries and 14 international organizations to monitor the election, double that of the 2012 presidential election. SIK also encourages various social and political organizations in the country to participate as observers in the election process.

In particular, Russia spent nearly 3 billion rubles to install a system of QR-code ballot scanners, automatic vote counting machines, camera surveillance systems and live image transmission equipment at most of the more than 97,000 polling stations across the country.

Security for the election has been beefed up with the participation of most of the authorities. The Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations said it would deploy 115,000 personnel and nearly 19,000 pieces of equipment to ensure security for all election areas across the country. The security order is in effect until 21:00 (Moscow time) on March 18, when the last polling stations in Kaliningrad close.

This year's race to the Kremlin was exciting and attracted a lot of attention from domestic and international public opinion, thanks to the participation of many candidates representing key political parties in Russia.

According to the latest data from the Russian Public Opinion Polling Center (VSIOM) as of March 12, Mr. Putin currently receives about 69% of voters' support, far surpassing the remaining candidates.