Members of the State Duma (the lower chamber of the Russian Parliament) today received the head of the Central Electoral Commission (CEC), Vladimir Churov, who reported on the recent parliamentary elections.
Russian lawmakers also listened to Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev and the Investigative Committee's chief Alexander Batrykin. Bastrykin admitted that many case of fraud were registered. Members of the State Duma showed their anger about the situation.
The Russian Communist Party presented a pair of scissors to Vladimir Churov on Friday, calling on him to live up to his promise and get rid of his beard following reports of mass fraud in December parliamentary elections, RIA Novosti reports.
Back in 2007, ahead of parliamentary elections in December that year, Churov vowed to shave his long, bushy beard if the vote was unfair.
However, as the CEC disagreed with Western monitors’ assessment of the polls as “unfair” and “undemocratic,” Churov has kept his beard.
