A presidential vote has begun in Russia: over the next three days, Russians will elect their president for the next six years.

It will be the first presidential vote to employ the latest technologies, tested during earlier lower-level polls: a three-day voting period and a remote vote. For the first time, residents of Donbass and Novorossia will take part.

Polling stations have already opened their doors in Russia’s Far Eastern regions, specifically in the easternmost Kamchatka and Chukotka. Vladimir Solodov, the governor of Kamchatka, became the first regional head to cast his ballot.

For candidates will compete for the top state post in the 2024 election, the eighth overall in the history of modern Russia. They are Vladislav Davankov (nominated by the New People party), incumbent President Vladimir Putin (self-designated candiate), Leonid Slutsky of the LDPR party and Nikolay Kharitonov (the Communist Party of Russia).

At the very start of the presidential race, a total of 33 people, including nine contenders from parties and 24 independent contenders, planned to run for Russian presidency. Only 15 of them eventually submitted the documents required to be registered as candidates. When the deadline for filing documents expired on January 1, only 11 candidates remained in the race, but only four were eventually registered.