Windows to Russia

Hello,

I was drinking my morning cup of coffee & thinking about the elections in Russia. I decided that I had enough of the elections in Russia! They are identical to the elections in America! (Enough said)

So my thoughts wondered to the country side of Russia. This picture that I took is not the best picture but it portrays what my mind is thinking.

The old road leads to an unknown future. As what is real is visible to the eye. What goes through my mind is that we are loosing these beautiful villages. We are letting them decay into dust!

We as a race of people are very much social animals. We seem to congregate into huge piles of people called cities. Look at Moscow, +11,000,000 people in a tiny little dot on the surface of the planet. Look at New York City, +18,000,000 people in a little dot on the planets surface.

I guess that I am different than most people, I want to be in a Village!

Kyle

comments always welcome.

I will keep posting some results as RBC gets them put on the wire!

Just scroll down to see latest results.

My Wife is out voting with Her Son & Mother. So the Svet Sunday will probably not be posted today. (I lied, Svet got her posting done.)

Have a good day.

Kyle

Official election results to be announced on December 7 or 8

RBC, 03.12.2007, Moscow 10:49:00.The Central Election Commission plans to announce the official results of Sunday’s parliamentary election on December 7 or 8, 2007, Vladimir Churov, Chairman of the Central Election Commission of Russia, told reporters. “If all goes to plan, we will make the formal announcement on December 7 or 8,” he said.

Yabloko party leader likely to contest poll results

RBC, 03.12.2007, Moscow 08:02:37.Yabloko political party leader Grigory Yavlinsky does not rule out the possibility that he may file lawsuits regarding irregularities during the election campaign, he told journalists during a press conference at the party’s headquarters, noting that in his opinion violations of every single article of the election law could be observed during the campaign, including the procedures of drawing up candidate lists, the issuance of absentee ballots, and the opening and closing hours of polling station, among others.

96.2% of ballots counted, United Russia leads with 63.2%

RBC, 03.12.2007, Moscow 09:18:08.With 96.2 percent of the ballots counted, United Russia is leading with 63.2 percent of the vote, and the Communist Party is second with 11.7 percent, Vladimir Churov, Deputy Chairman of the Central Election Commission, told reporters.

The Liberal Democratic Party has 8.4 percent, Fair Russia has 8 percent, the Agrarian Party has 2.4 percent, Yabloko gained 1.6 percent, the Union of Right Forces (SPS) – 1 percent, and Civil Force has 1.1 percent.

The other three parties – the Democratic Party of Russia, the Social Justice Party and Patriots of Russia – have less than 1 percent of the vote.

United Russia set for landslide win

RBC, 02.12.2007, Moscow 21:28:12.With 12.3 percent of the ballots counted, United Russia leads in the country’s general parliamentary election with 62.8 percent, Vladimir Churov, chairman of the Central Election Commission, told reporters. The Communist Party comes second, with 11.5 percent, followed by the Liberal Democratic Party with 10.5 percent, Fair Russia with 7.1 percent, the Agrarian Party with 2.5 percent, Yabloko with 1.2 percent, the Union of Right Forces with 1.1 percent, Patriots of Russia with 0.9 percent, Civil Force with 0.9 percent, and Democratic Party of Russia with 0.1 percent.

Four parties qualify for Duma seats, exit polls show

RBC, 02.12.2007, Moscow 21:18:21.Exit polls held by the Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) show that four parties, Unified Russia, Communist Party, Liberal Democratic Party and Fair Russia, have overcome the 7-percent threshold winning 61, 11.5, 8.8 and 8.4 percent of the vote respectively. According to VCIOM, turnout was around 59 percent in the parliamentary elections.

The rest of the parties have failed to break the 7-percent barrier, mustering a total of 10.3 percent of votes. According to preliminary estimates, the United Russia party could be awarded 306 seats, the Communist Party 57 seats, the Liberal Democratic Party 45 seats and the Fair Russia 42 seats in the State Duma.

Exit polls were held at 1,200 polling stations across 57 regions and republics of Russia, and the margin of error does not exceed 2 percent.

Polling stations close across Russia

RBC, 02.12.2007, Moscow 21:10:33.Russia’s parliamentary election has completed all over Russia, with polling stations in the Kaliningrad region closing at 20:00 local time (21:00 Moscow time).

Moscow turnout exceeds half of voting-eligible Muscovites

RBC, 02.12.2007, Moscow 19:46:52.Moscow has witnessed a 50.04 percent voter turnout in the parliamentary elections as of 7 p.m., according to the Moscow city election commission. No significant problems had been revealed by that time.

Voting monitored by 1m observers

RBC, 02.12.2007, Moscow 19:39:16.Total number of political party observers is close to 1 million people, Igor Borisov, a member of the Central Election Commission, told reporters. “Observers from political parties are present in almost all polling stations, watching the voting process. Some parties cover 100 percent of polling stations, some less,” he noted.

Borisov said United Russia had sent its observers to 100 percent of polling stations, Fair Russia was second with 50-90 percent depending on the region, followed by the Liberal Democratic Party, Yabloko with 30 percent and the Union of Right Forces, also with 30 percent. Other political parties are represented at separate polling stations, according to Borisov.

He said the Communist Party had reduced the number of its observers compared to the previous parliamentary election of 2003, to 50-100 percent of polls, depending on the region.

Kemerovo closes polling stations

RBC, 02.12.2007, Kemerovo 17:47:08.Voting for the State Duma ended in the Kemerovo region, with the voter turnout at 73 percent an hour before polling stations closed. According to the regional election commission, the region’s residents voted today in 17 local elections of various levels alongside the general elections.

Voting goes to plan in the Far East

RBC, 02.12.2007, Moscow 17:35:18.Voting in the Far Eastern Federal District has been quiet, with no significant irregularities reported, Alexander Chekalin, Senior Deputy Interior Minister of Russia, told reporters at the information center of the Central Election Commission, citing data of as 4 p.m. Moscow time. He said voting was also going to plan in other federal districts.

Voting over in Krasnoyarsk region

RBC, 02.12.2007, Krasnoyarsk 17:17:14.Parliamentary voting has completed in the Krasnoyarsk region. Turnover stood at 55.85 percent as of 7 p.m. local time (15:00 Moscow time). Konstantin Bocharov, chairman of the regional election commission, said the data did not include figures from several polling stations in the Boguchansk district, due to lack of communication.

St. Petersburg posts higher turnout than in 2003

RBC, 02.12.2007, Moscow 15:54:47.Six hours after the opening of polling stations, some 20.15 percent of St. Petersburg’s residents had voted in the parliamentary elections, compared to 16.96 percent at the same time during the previous elections in 2003.

Moscow shows lowest turnout in Central Federal District

RBC, 02.12.2007, Moscow 15:54:32.By 2 p.m., 28.19 percent of voting-age Muscovites had cast their votes, a source in the Moscow election commission said. This is the lowest figure for the Central Federal District, with the Yaroslavl region rising to the first position with 48.11 percent of voters who had taken part in the elections by 2 p.m.

Voting ends in Agin-Buryat Autonomous Area

RBC, 02.12.2007, Chita 15:22:53.The Agin-Buryat Autononmous Area closed polling stations at 2 p.m. Moscow time (8 p.m. local time) to register an 82.1 percent voter turnout, the regional election commission stated.

Chukotka posts highest turnout in Russia’s Far East

RBC, 02.12.2007, Moscow 15:04:53.The Chukotsky Autonomous Area, with 76.67 percent of people coming to polling stations by 7 p.m. local time (10 a.m. Moscow time) boasts the highest turnout in Russia’s Far Eastern Federal District, followed by Yakutia, with 68.52 percent as of 7 p.m. local time (1 p.m. Moscow time). The Amur region is in third place with a turnout of 67.8 percent.

Chechnya sees nearly 60% percent turnout

RBC, 02.12.2007, Grozny 14:58:50.As of 2 p.m., nearly 60 percent of voting-eligible people cast their votes in Chechnya, the republic’s election committee reported, adding that no complaints had been received from the republics 431 polling stations.

Voting ends in Yakutia!

RBC, 02.12.2007, Yakutsk 14:40:14.Polls closed in the Republic of Yakutia, with a voter turnout of 69 percent as of 8 p.m. local time (12 p.m. Moscow time), the republic’s election commission stated.

RBC,02.12.2007, Moscow 14:33:57.Voter hotline operators have been taking calls reporting difficulties faced by international observers in the State Duma elections in Russia, member of the Public Chamber and Chairman of the Coordination Council of non-governmental organizations for protecting voting rights Andrei Przhezdomsky said. According to Przhezdomsky, the reports were mainly of informative nature, but showed that voters had some complaints as far as the organization of elections was concerned. For instance, there have been many calls from voters who failed to discover themselves in voter lists, and such issues were resolved in cooperation with the Central Election Commission in an urgent manner. As of 11 a.m. some 23,242 calls have been made.

RBC, 02.12.2007, Moscow 14:01:47.As of 12 p.m. Moscow time, the average turnout in Russia’s parliamentary election stood at 43 percent, member of the Central Election Commission Elena Dubrovina told journalists. According to Dubrovina, the turnout has been decent so far, but comparable to that in 2003.

RBC, 02.12.2007, Moscow 13:57:43.Polling stations closed in the Khabarovsk region at 1 p.m. Moscow time (8 p.m. local time) with a more than 57 percent voter turnout, preliminary estimates suggest. According to the regional election commission, some 600,000 out of 1,052 voting-eligible Russians living in the area took part in the elections.

RBC, 02.12.2007, Moscow 13:24:20.As of 10 p.m., total voter turnout in the parliamentary elections in Russia amounted to 12.6 percent, Deputy Chairman of the Central Election Commission Stanislav Vavilov said, comparing the turnout to the 2003 elections figure of 5 percent by the same time. According to earlier reports, Central Election Committee Chairman said that the turnout had already reached 6 percent as of 10 a.m., but some 50 regions had not been taken into account at the time.

All of polling stations were open at 9 a.m. this morning, after the Kaliningrad region, the country’s most western point, joined the election. In Russia’s most eastern areas, Chukotka and Kamchatka, polling stations were opened more than fourteen hours ago.

Some 107m voters are eligible to participate in the elections, including 1.5m Russians abroad. Over 96,000 polling stations have been established. Eleven political parties, including United Russia, Communist Party, Fair Russia, Union of Right Forces, Yabloko, Liberal Democratic Party and others, are running for 450 seats in the State Duma. According to Russia’s Central Election Commission, up to 3m Russian and around 330 international observers are monitoring the election process.

RBC, 02.12.2007, Novosibirsk 13:45:24.As of 2 p.m. local time (11 a.m. Moscow time), nearly 39.23 percent of voters had cast their votes in the parliamentary election in the Novosibirsk region, compared to 34.19 percent at the State Duma elections in 2003, the region’s election commission told RBC today, adding that no serious violations had been registered so far.

RBC, 30.11.2007, Kiev 16:53:11.Ukraine can only sign a gas contract with Russia for 2008, although the countries had previously planned to agree on the terms of supplies for the mid-term, as well, the Ukrainian President’s Deputy Chief of Staff Alexander Shlapak told journalists today. He added that the decision to stay within the current time frame had been prompted by uncertainties surrounding the price of Turkmenistan’s natural gas for 2009.Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko himself announced earlier today that Kiev was planning to sign accords for the supply of imported natural gas to the country after the Russian parliamentary election on December 2. He stressed that the gas agreement had been thrashed over thoroughly and approved by the key players, which would facilitate gas supplies to Ukraine for the following five to seven years. Gazprom and Ukraine are currently in talks over gas prices for 2008 and the mid term.

RBC, 30.11.2007, Moscow 17:58:48.Russian Railways is planning to raise a syndicated loan worth $1bn, which it will use to develop its infrastructure and upgrade rolling stock, a source in the company said. Russian Railways has invited banks to take part in a tender. According to earlier reports, the government approved Russian Railways’ three-year investment program of RUR1.331bn (approx. USD54.66m) on November 15.

RBC, 30.11.2007, Moscow 15:34:03.The low on dollar deals is currently hovering at 24.3650 RUR/USD at the special session for tomorrow deals, which is virtually RUR0.06 below the official dollar rate for December 1-3, while the spread on deals has widened to RUR0.065. The ruble has gained ground against the dollar due to a stronger euro abroad, where the latter is now buying some USD1.4765, up 0.25 percent from USD1.4730 as of 11:30 a.m. As a result, the trading volume topped USD2.2bn on MICEX.

RBC, 30.11.2007, Moscow 13:07:21.The Russian government has authorized the Federal Treasury to carry out all forms of currency operations coming under the federal low on exchange regulation and control without limitations. A decree to this effect has been signed by Russia’s Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov.

RBC, 30.11.2007, Moscow 09:44:02.President Vladimir Putin of Russia has signed the federal law suspending the Conventional Forces in Europe treaty, the President’s press office has reported. Russia’s participation in the treaty signed in Paris on November 19, 1990, can be renewed by the President of Russia alone. This law passed by the State Duma on November 7, 2007 and approved by the Federation Council on November 16, 2007, is to take effect upon its official publication.

RBC, 29.11.2007, Moscow 18:30:28.Nearly two thirds of Russians (63.5 percent) would vote for Russia’s incumbent President Vladimir Putin, should elections be held this weekend, a poll held by the Russian Public Opinion Research Center on November 9-10 showed. Throughout 2007, Putin’s voter base ranged between 60 and 66 percent. Other would-be candidates trail far behind, with leader of the Liberal Democratic Party Vladimir Zhirinovsky wining 3.3 percent, Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov 2.8 percent, Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov 1.8 percent and Deputy Prime Ministers Sergei Ivanov and Dmitry Medvedev 2 and 2.5 percent respectively. Federation Council Chairman Sergei Mironov would have received only 1.4 percent of votes, while other possible candidates were supported by less than 1 percent of poll participants. In addition, 5.4 percent of people questioned said they would abstain from voting, down from 7-10 percent in October 2007. However, the number of those who are still undecided rose from 5-10 percent to 12.2 percent. The poll was held among 1,600 people in 154 locations of 46 regions and republics in Russia, and the margin of error does not exceed 3.4 percent.

Kyle