VCIOM head forecasts high turnout at presidential elections

The presidential elections will take place in any weather and the turnout of voters will be high, Russian Center for Public Opinion Research (VCIOM) General Director Valery Fedorov declared at a news conference. According to the latest survey conducted by VCIOM after the parliamentary elections, the turnout is expected to be 76 percent, Fedorov stressed. He thinks that there will be no single candidate from "rightists", since only 11 percent of those who supported Yabloko at the Duma elections would vote for Yabloko leader Grigory Yavlinsky. At the same time, 74 percent of those who voted for the Union of Right Forces (SPS) would support Vladimir Putin at the presidential elections, 4 percent would vote for SPS leader Boris Nemtsov and 2 percent for Yavlinsky. So, Vladimir Putin will be he single candidate of "rightists", VCIOM head stressed. Putin's main rival is likely to be Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) head Vladimir Zhirinovsky, who would be supported by 5.4 percent of the respondents. Some 5.2 percent would vote for communist leader Gennady Zyuganov.