Halfway through Friday, investigative outlet The Insider had already listed a hare, a beaver, a wild boar, a polar bear, two Father Frosts, and a herd of yaks showing up at various polling stations, as well as a Russian bogatyr warrior who, ironically, wished “peace” upon voters.
But the prize for creativity goes to Buryatia in eastern Siberia, among those regions with the highest number of mobilized men and death toll in Russia’s war.
The republic’s residents showed up in recognizable groups of cement factory workers, Buddhist monks, dressed in national costume and on horseback, as well as a troupe of some forty fishermen, ice drills in hand.
“Without a doubt, such a display of civic duty from our residents is a source of joy!” the chair of the local election commission Svetlana Avzdevich was cited as saying by local media.
No place did better than the village of Nutepelmen, however, where, four hours into voting, the local polling station announced it had reached a 100 percent turnout after its 61 residents all cast their vote.
3. Rewards
As voting got underway, reports poured in of lucky winners of raffled prizes. In Siberia, a cleaner gushed she’d won an apartment; a female police officer won a car.
