Posted on 12/03/2011 5:25:08 PM PST by goldstategop
Seven parties have been allowed to field candidates for parliament this year - down from 11 in 2007.
Voting for representation in the country's 450-seat chamber takes place across Russia's nine time zones with polls closing at 1700GMT on Sunday.
As people in European Russia were going to bed, polls were opening in the far east.
In Vladivostok, sailors from Russia's Pacific fleet were among those queuing to vote.
Warrant Officer Nikolai Ponomaryov said he was voting for United Russia, because the party was supporting the armed forces.
The outgoing parliament, or State Duma, is dominated by Mr Putin's party, with seats also held by the Communist Party, the nationalist Liberal Democrats and the social-democratic Fair Russia.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.co.uk ...
I believe Russia has 12 different times zones. At least back in the day when ‘’geography’’ was taught. I should think so, it’s a fifth of the Earth’s land mass.
It used to have 11 time zones but a recent reform consolidated them to nine. Its a country where you can literally awake a day early on one end and go to bed on the other end the night before. That’s how sprawling Russia is - as a postcommunist country, its still the largest country on earth, bordering 16 different countries.
You’re lucky.
By the time I went to school in the 70s and 80s, I had to learn geography on my own. Which I did, owning to the fact that my mom was from Sweden, originally, and we did a lot of traveling around the world when I was kid.
I still remember Egypt from when I was seven years old. Good times.
You’re right....Russia has 12 different time zones. Biggest country on the planet, bar none.
Mea culpa....that I didn’t know.
I guess only nine time zones makes the place a little more manageable.
:)
Russia no longer observes daylight savings time. After the clock was turned forward this spring, it will remain on the same time year around now. Which I agree, there’s just no point to fiddling around with the clock twice a year. Pick a time and be done with it!
Think of it— if you could stay up all day and night traveling east or west in Russia you could in effect ‘’time travel’’. Always going one day ‘’ahead’’ east or one day ‘’back’’ heading west.
Vlad is counting the votes, correct?
Vlad will probably win.
Medvedev is supposed to take the job of Prime Minister. All the polls show United Russia will win a majority but will lose its ability to unilaterally amend the Constitution. Its also a barometer of how well Putin will do when he stands for the Russian presidency in the spring.
Russian election bump.
>>>>>>>Think of it— if you could stay up all day and night traveling east or west in Russia you could in effect ‘’time travel’’. Always going one day ‘’ahead’’ east or one day ‘’back’’ heading west.>>>>>>>>
LOL. Some 20 years ago then they used old long range Ilyushin jets you had a transsiberian flight from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky to Kaliningrad for 9 hours to end up 11 hours earlier.
Today it takes about 15 hours with b-737 or Tupolevs refueling a few times but this time traveling affect is getting flawed with all these landings.
Before the fall of the Soviet Union, Vladivostok and the Kamachatka peninsula were closed to foreigners. Nowadays tourists can visit and a train ride from the Far East to the western end of the country can be a lifetime vacation experience - a photographers gourmet of varied landscapes and peoples. Its possible to spend a week traveling from Vladivostok to Saint Petersburg.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.