The "balance" of support is tilted towards President Putin, Latvia plans action in the capital Riga

According to the election poll results of the All-Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VTsIOM), incumbent President Vladimir Putin could receive 82% of the votes in the presidential election taking place from March 15-17.

Bầu cử Nga: 'Cán cân' ủng hộ nghiêng hẳn về Tổng thống Putin, Latvia lên kế hoạch hành động ở thủ đô Riga

Russian President Putin leads pre-election polls with overwhelming support. (Source: TASS)

According to TASS , this latest poll was conducted at the request of the Institute of Social Research Experts (EISRI).

Other presidential candidates have the following support rates in the poll: Nikolai Kharitonov (Communist Party of the Russian Federation - KPRF) received 6%, Vladislav Davankov (New People's Party) - 6%, Leonid Slutsky (Liberal Democratic Party - LDPR) - 5%.

Meanwhile, the survey results of the Public Opinion Foundation (FOM) show that President Putin could receive 80% of the votes, followed by Mr. Kharitonov - 5.7%, Mr. Slutsky - 5.6% and Mr. Davankov - 4.6%.

Voter turnout, according to FOM, will be 69.8%. The survey was conducted over 3 days (March 4-6) with 1,500 respondents.

In a related development, AFP reported that on March 11, Latvian police announced that they would check residence permits for Russian citizens voting in the presidential election at the Russian Embassy in Riga this weekend.

“There will be mobile checkpoints on the streets of Riga around the embassy to check whether Russian citizens… have the right to legally reside in Latvia,” said Latvian police chief Armands Ruks.

According to the official, checks will be carried out by police, border guards and immigration authorities during the election period from March 15-17, "not excluding the possibility of immediate deportation" if any voter is found to not have a valid residence permit.

Immigration authorities have begun issuing deportation orders to Russian citizens who fail to comply with new rules requiring them to speak Latvian at a basic level or enroll in a language course.

The Russian presidential election is scheduled to be held from March 15-17 - the first time in the country's history that an election will be held over three days.

Online voting will take place in 29 regions across the country. The four candidates registered by the Central Election Commission (SIK) are: Leonid Slutsky, Nikolai Kharitonov, Vladislav Davankov, and incumbent President Vladimir Putin.

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