Wednesday was declared a national holiday for the purposes of the referendum, though early voting was enabled on June 25 to ensure safety during the coronavirus pandemic. According to the Central Electoral Commission (CIK), as of 3 pm Moscow time the nationwide turnout stood at 60.16 percent.

WATCH: Constitutional amendments vote in Russia: RT special coverage LIVE

The highest turnout was recorded in Chechnya in the south of the country, as well as the Siberia regions of Tuva, Kemerovo and Bashkiria, each exceeding 80 percent. The lowest was in Murmansk, a Barents Sea port in the north, at only 36.18 percent.

In Moscow, the turnout stood at 53.08 percent as of 7 pm.

The first results have also started to come in, with 100 percent of ballots counted in two regions in the Far East. The Jewish Autonomous Region – on the Chinese border, west of Khabarovsk – voted 77 percent in favor of the changes. Almost 75 percent of the inhabitants of Sakhalin, an island north of Japan, were for the amendments as well. 

The amendments seek to update the 1993 constitution, adopted during the political and economic turmoil following the collapse of the Soviet Union. They have already been approved by the legislature. 

Voting was originally scheduled for April 22, but was delayed due to the Covid-19 outbreak. Residents of Moscow and Nizhny Novgorod, two cities hardest-hit by the pandemic, were given the option to vote electronically until June 30. The turnout for that vote reached 93.02 percent.

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