New Zealand’s national election and the U.S. presidential election have both been big news here in New Zealand recently. Languages International student, Kim Maria from Russia, shares with us her experience of the Russian presidential election held earlier this year:
I am going to talk about one of the most important days for my country, which was the election of the third President of Russia. It was at the beginning of March. I think for all people (as well as me) it was a big step towards changing our lives. We had two real candidates, but one of them, Medvedev, was extremely popular in Russia. He was supported by our ex-president Putin. Besides, he was well-educated, determined and confident. He wanted to make the best living conditions for ordinary people across the whole country. So before voting, the nation felt excited and worried about the special day which could influence the history of Russia.
My university, known as The Kuban State University, was involved in a campaign to encourage people to vote. All students had to do statistics reports to find out which person would become the president. I was put in a group which needed to do questionnaires for the department of voting. My group worked hard and after we completed these lists we were sent to Moscow to an electorate. For five days we worked under pressure doing important research about the future election. So when the results of the reports were announced, I felt proud because our ones showed that Medvedev was going to be the next President of Russia.
When the day of the election came, I voted for Medvedev, as most people did. The country had to wait for the result. At the end of the day we knew that Medvedev had been chosen. People were glad and satisfied, because they knew that he would provide many benefits for Russia, increase salaries and improve economic policy.
Nowadays, I know that our country chose the right person, because the world has had an economic crisis, but Russia has experienced few changes to the economy of the country. So for me this day of voting was really important.
by Kim Maria, a student at Languages International
