Electronic voting technology will be tested in Russia's 20 territories during upcoming regional elections, Chairman of the Central Election Commission (CEC), Vladimir Churov said here. He will take part in the OSCE seminar on organisation of elections.

He spoke about "different forms of non-distanced electronic voting, which will be used in various parts of Russia from Siberia to the European part, from small settlements to big cities."

"Over the coming elections, we shall use over 3,000 sets of equipment," he said. "For example, in Chelyabinsk /the Urals/ we shall use 100 new complexes to read the new generation ballots, and it will be our first test."

Churov on Friday commented on the use of distanced voting by means of the Internet or cell communication saying that the commission had prepared addendums to the legislation and the future would depend on the deputies.

"From the technical point of view, everything is ready," he said. "We have made tests over two years, where voters in various parts of the country were offered to vote another time from their cell phones or via the Internet."

"We did not see any differences in results," he continued.

"We have come across a difficulty which our elderly voters experienced with cell phones, as the keys there were too small for them to use."

"Sure, this is something that can be handled, so the methods were tested and proved to be reliable."

He is convinced cell operators will not interfere with the results.

"We have established very sufficient control over the server and the software," he said.

Presently, Churov said, "distanced voting is supported by the legislation only for ship crews and exclusively over the radio. (Itar-Tass) RET