…as he reports on the process at the embassy here
RUSSIAN nationals residing in Guyana were among 66 citizens of countries within the consular jurisdiction of the Russian Embassy here, who participated in their country’s just-concluded presidential elections on Sunday. This is according to Russian Ambassador to Guyana, Nikolay Smirnov; at a news conference he hosted yesterday at the embassy on Public Road, Kitty. He was accompanied by Denis Kopyl, Head of the Consular section in the Russian Embassy.
The Russians who voted in Guyana are attached to the embassy, Rusal Bauxite Mining Company Inc., and Aroaima.
The elections on Sunday saw current Prime Minister Valdimir Putin, as the presidential candidate for the United Russian Party, securing 63.57 percent of the votes cast, representing more than 45 million people,  and an overwhelming victory over his four other opponents.
Putin’s victory will see him ruling Russia for a term of six years, an additional two years added on the previous four-year term, the Ambassador Smirnov said.
Putin’s closest rival, Gennady Zyuganov, of the Communist party, gained 17.19 per cent; Mikhail Prokhorov, an independent nominee, 7.82 per cent; Vladimir Zhirinovsky of the Liberal Democrats, 6.23 per cent; and Sergei Mironov of the Fair Russia Party, 3.85 per cent. The Russian Ambassador who said that Russian citizens abroad voted at 384 polling stations set up in 147 countries, noted that they were more active during these elections than during the process to the Parliament in December last year.
A total of 685 international observers from 56 countries who were invited by the Central Elections Commission (CEC) of Russia, visited 48 regions of the  83 regions of the Russian Federation and abroad, to observe the election process which was held at more that 95,000 polling stations.
Voter turn-out at this year’s election was 65.3 per cent, as against 42.83 per cent in 2008.
The elections were covered by more than 6,000 journalists, of which 800 were foreigners.
To make the voting process transparent and for the first time in the country’s election history, web cameras on which the Russian Federation spent US$5M, were installed at 91,603 polling stations throughout the country.
And, by way of the newly- installed web cameras, a total of 2.5 million people were able to monitor and observe the election process, thus lending to transparency in the process.
Told of a report from the Organisation for Security & Cooperation in Europe, in which they said that “the vote was skewed in favour of the winner `Putin’, and they urged that any kind of fraud be “fully investigated”, Ambassador Smirnov debunked those claims.
He said while there were a number of violations, these were less than one per cent, and are being investigated.
He reiterated the Russian Federation’s efforts to make the process on Sunday as transparent as possible through the installation of web cameras, a first for the country, and also allowing for observers from different political parties and organisations to monitor the process.
He credited Putin’s overwhelming victory to six lengthy articles which he prepared, explaining his views and ideas. Included among them was one on improving the political system of Russia and modernising it.
Putin, despite coming under severe criticisms from his opponents on a number of issues, stuck to his ideas during his campaign for a fair and transparent election process.
Asked about the country’s economic expectation, the Ambassador said it is expected that it will further improve.
He said that Putin, during his tenure as Prime Minister and President, had promised, during the just concluded campaign, an improvement in social security, giving benefits to retirees and severance pay to all working people.