The Russian Central Electoral Commission refused to register Grigory Yavlinsky, leader of the Yabloko Party, and Governor of Irkutsk Dmitry Mezentsev for the March 4 presidential polls, RIA Novosti reports.
According to checks of Yavlinsky’s signature lists, 25.66% of signatures were considered fake, exceeding the 5% limit. 14 out of 15 members of the CEC voted against Yavlinsky. Yelena Dubrovina, a Yabloko member, voted for his support.
CEC Secretary Nikolai Konkin said that Boris Moiseyev, a spokesman of the Yabloko candidate, had not denied copies of signature lists made with a copy machine.
Sergey Danilenko, a CEC member, said that a staff member of the CEC had found his signature in the list and filed a claim.
Siyabshah Shapiyev, a member of the CEC, noted that materials on fake signatures had been filed for the prosecutor’s office.
Another candidate, Mezentsev, lacked the necessary number of signatures and had 15,000 fake lists. Konkin clarified that over 105,000 signature lists were checked.
Dubrovina requested the CEC to register Mesentsev and Yavlinsky for the presidential polls, believing that the law demanding collection of 2 million signatures is unjust.
Vladimir Putin, leader of United Russia, Gennady Zyuganov from CPRF, Sergey Mironov from Fair Russia and Vladimir Zhirinovski from LDPR and Mikhail Prokhorov, non-member of parties, are the candidates for presidential polls planned for March 4.
