Russian election mythbusting happens silently the day before the Presidential Election

Russia is observing political campaign silence Saturday, the day before the Presidential Elections begin. Starting at Midnight Saturday morning (00:00, or 12AM), by order of the law pertaining to Elections of the President of the Russian Federation, pre-election campaigning on television, radio channels, periodicals and online publications stops.

Since Russia eleven time zones, midnight takes a while to cross the country from east to west, but it does, and so, since 01:00 (1AM) Moscow time, a great silence has fallen across Russia.

From TASS:

On March 17, candidates and parties do not campaign – they are not allowed to hold rallies, meetings of voters, or initiate distribution of leaflets. Pre-election silence is stipulated by legislations of many countries in order to give voters an opportunity to make their choices without any pressure.

On Friday, secretary of Russia’s Central Election Commission Maya Grishina also said that on the day of pre-election silence it is not allowed to hold lotteries related to elections and buy voters.

“It is not allowed to buy voters, which implies giving them material values in conjunction with the election campaign. On the day of pre-election silence and the day of vote any election campaigning is inadmissible,” she said.

The silence is certainly appreciated. Russian presidential campaigning is not short of its own spectacles, but it is not the sensationalist frenzy that American presidential elections have become. Still, this campaign produced its own set of fireworks and embarrassments, as well as not a few bits of inspiration.

Tomorrow, the nation will vote and the democratic process will unfold here as it has since the fall of Communism. While the West will attempt to pontificate about how everything in Russia is controlled, you who read The Duran and RussiaFeed can just smile and know that free elections are alive and well here in Russia.

We just have a different understanding of our leadership!

We will bring you news about the election as it unfolds across the Russian Federation tomorrow.