MOSCOW () -- Reindeer-herding nomads and fur trappers in the Russian Arctic have begun voting in the nation's parliamentary election, two weeks ahead of the rest of the country, ORT public television said.


In a report from the Yamal peninsula on the north coast, the station showed fur-swaddled Eskimo people casting their ballots Monday in traditional animal-skin tents.


Polling stations will remain open for the next two weeks, allowing nomads to vote on their way to hunting and grazing grounds in the vast, empty territory.


Ballot boxes will remain sealed until Russia's 104 million other voters have made their choice, in rather more mundane surroundings, on Dec. 17.