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Russia's rival mayoral candidates give Vladimir Putin bloody nose
Russia's opposition movement recorded its most telling electoral result in 13 years of Vladimir Putin's rule on Sunday when candidates for mayor in two of the country's largest cities pulled off impressive results against incumbents.
Opposition leader and anti-corruption activist Alexei Navalny won 27.3% of the vote for the Moscow mayoralty, according to figures released by electoral officials with counting nearly complete, but he immediately disputed the result, saying it was marred by "many serious violations".
He said in a statement: "We consider the official election results to be deliberately falsified."
A count of votes from more than 99% of polling precincts gave Kremlin ally Sergei Sobyanin, the acting mayor, nearly 51.3%, enough to clear the 50% threshold needed to avoid a second-round runoff.
...Speaking to journalists, Navalny said the delays in announcing official results were an indication of the "clear falsification" of votes. He said Sobyanin's results remained above 50% only due to ballot-stuffing outside polling stations, such as when counting votes cast from home. "We demand a second round. We ask Muscovites to come out to the streets if Sobyanin violates their right to vote he said.
More at http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/08/russia-opposition-mayoral-candidates-vladimir-putin
Opposition leader and anti-corruption activist Alexei Navalny won 27.3% of the vote for the Moscow mayoralty, according to figures released by electoral officials with counting nearly complete, but he immediately disputed the result, saying it was marred by "many serious violations".
He said in a statement: "We consider the official election results to be deliberately falsified."
A count of votes from more than 99% of polling precincts gave Kremlin ally Sergei Sobyanin, the acting mayor, nearly 51.3%, enough to clear the 50% threshold needed to avoid a second-round runoff.
...Speaking to journalists, Navalny said the delays in announcing official results were an indication of the "clear falsification" of votes. He said Sobyanin's results remained above 50% only due to ballot-stuffing outside polling stations, such as when counting votes cast from home. "We demand a second round. We ask Muscovites to come out to the streets if Sobyanin violates their right to vote he said.
More at http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/08/russia-opposition-mayoral-candidates-vladimir-putin
