Russian Fund of Free Elections press secretary Ilya Mitasov said almost 67% of callers supported the incumbent president, Vladimir Putin, 19% backed Irina Khakamada, 3.6% voted for Sergei Glazyev, and one percent gave their votes for Nikolai Kharitonov. The other candidates - Sergei Mironov, Oleg Malyshkin and Ivan Rybkin gained less than 1% of the votes. 7.2% of the action participants voted against all.
Ilya Mitasov said calls were received not only from Russia but also from 16 other countries, including Germany, the United Kingdom, Israel, Norway and Luxembourg.
Throughout Sunday, all who want to take part in the "primaries" may do so. They need to send a message from their mobile phones where they will have to indicate the number of "their" presidential candidate in the ballot paper. One of vote organizers, Russian Fund of Free Elections president Andrei Przhezdomsky said the action aims at "increasing the activity of young people at the March 14 presidential elections." He admitted that the test vote outcome will not be truly objective, as it reflects the point of view of certain strata of the population.
The action "Understand the Importance of Elections" will last until midnight.
