Polls open in Yekaterinburg in Russian elex

(18 Sep 2016) Voting for Russia's lower-house of parliament got underway on Sunday morning in Yekaterinburg, the administrative centre of the industrial Ural Federal District. Polls first opened in the Far East, nine hours ahead of Moscow and voting won't conclude until 22 hours later when polls close in the Baltic Sea exclave of Kaliningrad. Russia's governing party and its three largely cooperative opponents are expected to retain their positions in the State Duma, but new procedures for choosing the seats could affect their proportions they hold. There are 450 seats at stake in the Duma but unlike the last two sessions, only half the seats are chosen by national party-list, the other 225 are contested in specific districts. Nationwide polling in recent weeks has shown the pro-Kremlin United Russia with support of around 50 percent of likely voters, which would be enough to maintain its absolute majority. However voter turnout is expected to be low, with some describing the election campaign as one of the most boring of recent times. Voting is also taking place in Crimea for the first time after Russia annexed it from Ukraine in 2014. The move has been condemned by Western leaders. You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/e2af8fac12ec7bdf578a00a69517a9c8 Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork