Russia on Friday disqualified the sole liberal challenger to Vladimir Putin in March 4 presidential elections, in a move slammed by his supporters as undermining the legitimacy of the polls. Russia’s central elections commission said it could not accept nearly a quarter of the registration signatures gathered by Grigory Yavlinsky because they were either photocopies of originals or fakes.
“I am sad to announce that we will not able to register Yavlinsky as a candidate,” election commission member Sergei Danilenko told a special hearing. Russia’s strict presidential election rules require all independent candidates whose parties fail to win seats in parliament to collect two million signatures to win registration. The restriction has been heavily criticised by the candidates as well as the growing protest movement against Putin, who will be standing for a third Kremlin term in the polls after his four year stint as prime minister.
Russia bars Putin critic from presidential poll
