President Putin casts vote in Parliamentary election

(7 Dec 2003)
1. Wide shot exterior Polling Station 2039 (usually the Academy of Sciences)
2. Cutaway Russian and Moscow flags
3. Wide shot enter Russian President Vladimir Putin and his wife Lyudmila Putina and sitting at voting table
4. Cutaway closeup of register list
5. Closeup Putin
6. Wide shot Lyudmila Putin casting her vote
7. Cutaway voting officials and press
8. Close up Vladimir Putin voting in a booth
9. Mid shot Putin casting his vote
10. Wide shot press outside the polling station
11. Wide shot Vladimir and Lyudmila Putin exiting the polling station
12. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Russian President Vladimir Putin and Lyudmila Putina:
Vladimir Putin: "There is also another reason why we came here so early, but it is of a personal nature." Ludmilla Putina: "Vladimir Vladimirovich's favorite dog, Connie the labrador, gave birth to a litter of 8 puppies just as we were leaving the house. 6 black ones, and two golden ones. We've been awake half the night because we were assisting her birth." Vladimir Putin: "We are going straight back home now." (Q: who did you vote for?) "I think it can be considered as election campaigning so I won't say. But I think my preferences are already known."
13. Closeup Russian insignia on car, zoom out to the Putins driving away from the polling station

STORYLINE:

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his wife Lyudmila rose early Sunday to cast their ballots in parliamentary elections that the Kremlin hopes will strengthen its grip on the legislature and extend Putin's consolidation of power.

The Russian leader and his wife voted at a research institute in Moscow, an occasion he described as "the most important event of the day." Besides that, the Russian first family was up half of the night anyway because Putin's favorite dog, Connie the labrador, had given birth to 8 puppies.

Putin looked surprised, however, when asked who he voted for.

"I think it can be considered as election campaigning so I won't say," he said. "But I think my preferences are already known."

In a vote stretching over 11 time zones and 22 hours, Russia has been gearing up for weeks for the ballot involving 109 million registered voters stretching from Ratmanov Island in the Bering Strait, in Russia's Far East, to the Baltic Sea enclave of Kaliningrad in the West.

The pro-Kremlin party, United Russia, is attempting to capture a two-thirds majority in the 450-seat lower house of parliament, known as the State Duma. With that majority, the party can enact changes in the Russian Constitution - assuming the upper house of parliament and Putin approve.

If they manage to win that margin, the Kremlin could push for a change in the constitution, which limits presidents to two terms. Such an amendment would give Putin the opportunity to extend his rule in the all but certain event he wins a second term in March.

In much of the country, the election inspired little excitement among voters. Some polls predicted that 5 percent to 8 percent fewer voters would cast ballots than in 1999, when turnout was 63 percent.

Security was tightened across much of the country after a bombing attack early Friday on a commuter train in southern Russia that killed 41 people and injured 200. Putin called the attack an attempt to destabilize the country ahead of the election.


The first preliminary results are expected to be announced at 9 p.m. Moscow time (1800 GMT) Sunday after polling places close at Russia's westernmost point.



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