15 августа 2007 Года
August 15, 2007. PARLIAMENTARY ELECTION WILL COST RUSSIA ABOUT 160 MILLION USD
 MOSCOW, August 15 (RIA Novosti) - The federal budget will allocate over 4 billion rubles (about 160 million USD) on parliamentary elections slated for December 2, Russia's top election official said Wednesday.
Circulating statistical data in an online news conference, Central Election Commission (CEC) Chairman Vladimir Churov said over 107 million voters had been registered as of July 1, or 600,000 fewer than before the previous State Duma elections in 2003.
He said a total of 350 polling stations would also be available for Russian nationals in 140 countries.
"The number of our citizens who vote [at polling stations abroad] ranges from five or six people to tens of thousands," Churov said.
Churov said political parties were allowed to spend up to 1.8 billion rubles (70.5 million USD) each on their campaigns.
Churov, a State Duma deputy from the ultranationalist Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, replaced the long-serving CEC chief, Alexander Vexhnyakov, in March.
Churov said at the time the main difference between him and Veshnyakov was that he was "less likely to comment on election law and more inclined to get things done."
Veshnyakov was reported to have been opposed to a Kremlin-sponsored law that scrapped the 20% minimum voter turnout requirement and absentee ballots, and refused to accept a bill introducing additional grounds for denying candidates' registration, which he said could be used to deny registration to any undesirable candidate.
From RIA Novosti
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