Russia's CEC to have rehearsal of federal elections

MOSCOW, August 21 (Itar-Tass) - A provisional day of voting will be
held across Russia Sunday as part of preparations for the federal
elections due at the end of this year and the beginning of next year.
Officials at Russia's Central Electoral Commission /CEC/ said this
will be an all-Russia rehearsal of how to utilize the State Automated
System of the Russian Federation GAS Vybory.
The training session will embrace the electoral commissions of
different levels in the conditions that will have maximum resemblance of
the real parliamentary and presidential elections.
A model polling station equipped with an electronic voting kit will be
open throughout the day in the CEC's building in Bolshoi Cherkassky Lane
in Moscow. CEC Chairman Vladimir Churov is due to open it at 11:00 hours.
"In the course of the rehearsal, focus will be given to the procedures
for voting at the model polling station and transmission of protocols with
the votes counted to a territorial electoral commission," a source at the
CEC told Itar-Tass.
Representatives of federal agencies, political parties, civic society
organizations, and foreign guests are expected to take part in what is
viewed here as a 'dress rehearsal' of the December election.
The action started out at the beginning of last week. Its main
objective is to test the functional readiness of the entire electoral
system and the GAS Vybory in particular provisional elections of all
types. Apart from the Duma and presidential campaigns, the electoral
authorities are simulating actions during 38 regional and 908 local
elections.
The planning of provisional election campaigns was done in the period
of August 15 through August 19 and the simulated election was scheduled
for August 20 and August 21. Monday, August 22 will see the publication of
official results.
A official start to the parliamentary election should be given by a
presidential decree that is due to be issued between August 25 and
September 4 in accordance with the terms specified by the federal
legislation.
The parliamentary election will be held December 4. In addition to it,
an unprecedented number of elections will be held on the same day.
According to the information released by the CEC, voters in 27
constituent regions of the Russian Federation will be expected to elect
regional parliaments.
Also, between 2,500 to 3,000 local elections will be held on the same
day.
The electoral marathon will span some six months, as the most probable
date for the presidential election is March 4, 2012.
This will be the last extremely lengthy electoral campaign in Russia.
After the prolongation of the term of MPs' duties to five years and the
President's duties to six years, the parliamentary and presidential
elections will be spaced out by big enough intervals.