Moscow, Mar 21: Voting is on in the Russian presidential elections with more than 40 per cent of voters casting their ballot by mid-afternoon.
The trend suggests that the turnout would rise well above the 50 per cent barrier despite a lackluster campaign dominated by incumbent President Vladimir Putin.
Putin, who is looking for a strong turnout to give him a new four-year mandate, made a last-minute appeal to voters on Sunday to exercise their franchise.
There were fears that the lack of any real competition would keep voters home.
"The feeling of participation must grow, " Putin said after casting his ballot alongside his wife, Lyudmila, in Moscow.
More than 50 percent of Russia's 109 million registered voters must cast ballots for the election to be valid.
Most Russians consider the election a one-man show.
Blanket coverage of Putin on state-controlled television meant that his five challengers had little opportunity to woo voters.
The challengers include a Communist, a pro-business liberal, two nationalists and a pro-Kremlin lawmaker.
Some liberals called for an election boycott as the only way for Russians to express dissatisfaction with Putin.
Voters can also choose to cast their ballots "against all."
More than 500 foreign observers are registered to watch the voting, including representatives of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe and Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.
Some opposition candidates were also planning their own monitoring.
Putin has not openly campaigned, instead relying on his image as a stable, disciplined leader to appeal to a nation still traumatised by the political and social upheavals that followed the collapse of Soviet Union.
Bureau Report
