Polls have been opened early to avoid overcrowding amid the Covid-19 pandemic
A woman casts her ballot at a polling station during a seven-day vote for constitutional reforms in Vladivostok, Russia, on June 25 2020. Picture: REUTERS/YURI MALTSEVRussians go to the polls on Thursday to cast early votes in a nationwide ballot on constitutional reforms that could see President Vladimir Putin remain in power until 2036.
The Kremlin reluctantly postponed the vote scheduled for April 22 as Covid-19 infections increased and officials imposed restrictions to slow the pandemic. Rallies scheduled in the Russian capital in April were barred under virus restrictions against public gatherings. Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin described the reforms as necessary if the country wanted to"guarantee stability, remove uncertainty".
With the revised constitution already on sale in Moscow bookstores, the ballot is largely seen in Russia as a foregone conclusion. The reforms also enshrine economic changes that guarantee the minimum wage will be no less than the minimum subsistence level while the state pension will be adjusted annually to inflation.
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