On Thursday, early voting began in the high-mountainous Itum-Kalinsky region of Chechnya for the presidential elections of the republic, RIA Novosti reports . This was stated by Deputy Chairman of the Chechen Election Commission Buvaysari Arsakhanov.

In accordance with the decision of the election commission, military personnel of the Itum-Kalinsky border detachment began voting, who, due to the nature of their service, cannot arrive at polling stations on election day, August 29. Two polling stations are open for early voting, the required number of ballots have been delivered to the area, and election commissions are working. The election commission expects more than 800 people to take part in early voting in the area.

In addition, early voting began in the village of Kurchali in the Vedeno region, which is located in a remote place high in the mountains. There are less than 50 voters living in Kurchali, so it was decided to hold voting in Kurchali early. In other territories of Chechnya, Arsakhanov emphasized, early voting in the presidential elections of the republic will not be held.

Contending for the post of President of Chechnya are the Minister of Internal Affairs of Chechnya Alu Alkhanov, the general director of the federal unitary enterprise "Chechenneftekhimprom" Umar Abuev, the general director of LLC "NEDR" Magomed Aidamirov, the chief specialist of the apparatus of the State Council of Chechnya Mukhumd-Khasan Asakov, the director of the Goryacheystochny representative office of the non-profit educational institution "Modern Humanitarian Academy" Abdula Bugaev, Advisor to the President of Chechnya Vakha Visaev, Head of the Department of the FSB of Chechnya Movsur Khamidov.

The majority of Russians, according to the results of a survey conducted by ROMIR Monitoring , believe that the situation in Chechnya will not change in any way as a result of the elections (55 percent). At the same time, 28 percent hope that the situation will change for the better, and only nine percent think otherwise. Over the past two years, the number of those who support the actions of the federal authorities in Chechnya has grown from 33 to 41 percent, while the number of those who do not support it has decreased from 48 to 44.

Presidential elections in Chechnya have begun