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Russia's 2018 Presidential Election, in Photos

Mar 18, 2018 - 06:27 pm

There were eight candidates on the ballot, including Vladimir Putin, Communist Party leader Pavel Grudinin and celebrity journalist Ksenia Sobchak. David Mdzinarishvili / Reuters

Notably absent from the ballot was Alexei Navalny, who has been barred from running over charges his supporters say are politically motivated. Instead, some 30,000 volunteer observers monitored the voting process throughout the country as part of Navalny's campaign. Evan Gershkovich / MT

Hundreds of cameras installed at polling stations throughout Russia allowed voters to track voting in real-time. Throughout the day, commenters uploaded videos showing ballot-stuffing and other violations at various polling stations. Vyacheslav Prokofiev / TASS

Vladimir Putin is widely expected to win a fourth term by a huge margin and extend his rule until at least 2024. Yuri Kadobnov / Reuters

Food markets and raffles greeted voters at polling stations throughout the country. Ilnar Tukhbatov / Reuters

In Barnaul, members of a swimming club took the festive spirit one step further by taking their clothes off. In the Siberian city of Omsk, voters stood a chance of winning an iPhone for dressing up creatively. Andrei Kasprishin / Reuters

The Russian national football team showed up to vote as a group, giving autographs and chatting to fans at the Novogorsk training center outside Moscow. Alexander Fyodorov / Reuters

The newly appointed Communist Party leader Pavel Grudinin is widely expected to come in second place. Sergei Karpukhin / Reuters

The 2018 campaign has established Ksenia Sobchak as a political player. Earlier this week she announced the launch of a political party with opposition politician Dmitry Gudkov. Maxim Shemetov / Reuters

Preliminary counts suggest the turnout is slightly above 2012 levels, especially in Russia's Far East. Vasily Fedosenko / Reuters

In large cities, the turnout hovered around 40 percent. The Golos election monitoring NGO reported some 800 violations across Russia. Gleb Garanich / Reuters

Russians on Sunday headed to the polls to cast their votes in presidential elections. With Vladimir Putin all but guaranteed victory, the vote was mostly about the turnout: After months of being encouraged to vote by state media, music videos and government officials, would Russians show up en masse and give their overwhelming support to Vladimir Putin?

Read more about: Elections

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