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Big victories in Komi, Nenets votes

Vyacheslav Gayser got almost 80 percent of the votes and will continue to serve as Komi governor.

The acting governors in the Komi Republic and the Nenets Automous Okrug both secured new terms with more than 75 percent of the votes in Sunday’s elections.

Location

While acting Nenets Govenor Igor Koshin won 76,7 percent of the votes in his Nenets AO, Vyacheslav Gayzer in the neighboring Komi Republic won even bigger, with as much as 78,9 percent.

Voter turnout in the two regions was 43 and 59,06 percent respectively, Regnum reports.

According to the Komi Election Commission, voter turnout in the republic was the highest ever in the history of Komi governor’s elections. The same was not the case in Murmansk Oblast, where voter turnout plummeted to a historical low. As reported by BarentsObserver, only 31 percent of the Murmansk electorate participated in the vote, which was won by Kovtun with safe margines. 

As shown by Patchwork Barents, voter turnout has traditionally been higher in the Komi Republic and the Nenents AO than in the neighboring regions of Murmansk, Karelia and Arkhangelsk. In the last regional parliament elections, voter turnout in the Nenets AO reached 68,8 percent, while it was only 44,4 percent in Republic of Karelia.