In Mérida, 40 cast early ballots for Russian election
Mérida, Yucatán — Early voting in the Russian presidential election over the weekend included 40 votes cast in Mérida.
Andrey Pakhomov, a representative of the Russian Federal Agency for CIS Affairs, Compatriots Living Abroad and International Humanitarian Cooperation, supervised the polling station at the FILEY book fair.
Mérida was one of nine Mexican cities where Russians aboard could vote on March 10 and 11.
This city is hosting the FILEY-2018 International Book Fair with Russia as its guest of honor.
One of the small Russian pavilions was used as a polling station.
“More than 40 people cast their ballots. Those were mostly members of the delegation that arrived in Mexico and about 15 Russian citizens living in the city of Merida,” Pakhomov told TASS. “People came with pleasure, cast their ballots, the atmosphere was friendly.”
Voting occurred without incident, according to the report.
The Russian-speaking community in Mexico is comprised of between 17,000 and 20,000 people.
Election Day in Russia is March 18, when a polling station will be open in the Russian Embassy in Mexico City.
With little hope for victory, seven contenders are challenging Vladimir Putin for the presidential office: LDPR leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky; businessman Pavel Grudinin, running as the Communist Party of the Russian Federation’s candidate; Yabloko party co-founder Grigory Yavlinsky; leader of the Party of Growth and business ombudsman Boris Titov, head of the Russian People’s Union party; Sergey Baburin, TV personality; and socialite Ksenia Sobchak, nominated by Civil Initiative; and leader of the Communists of Russia Maxim Suraikin.
With information from TASS