NAVALNY BARRED FROM RUSSIAN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION AFTER CRITICISM TO PUTIN'S
Mr. Navalny, a veteran
campaigner against corruption among Russia's elite, won the initial support of
742 people at a gathering in a district of Moscow, above the minimum 500
required to initiate a presidential bid.
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was barred on Monday from
running in next year’s presidential election after officials ruled he was
ineligible to take part due to a suspended prison sentence he says was trumped
up.
The decision by the central election commission was widely expected as election officials had repeatedly declared Navalny would be ineligible to run. Twelve members of the 13-member commission voted to bar Navalny. One member abstained, citing a possible conflict of interest.
The decision by the central election commission was widely expected as election officials had repeatedly declared Navalny would be ineligible to run. Twelve members of the 13-member commission voted to bar Navalny. One member abstained, citing a possible conflict of interest.
Navalny, 41, who polls show would struggle to beat incumbent Vladimir
Putin in the March election, said he would appeal and called on his supporters
to boycott the election and campaign against it being held.
“We knew this could happen, and so we have a straight-forward, clear
plan,” Navalny said in a pre-recorded video released immediately after the
decision.
“We announce a boycott of the election. The process in which we are
called to participate is not a real election. It will feature only Putin and
the candidates which he has personally selected.”
Navalny said he would use his campaign headquarters across Russia to
support the boycott and monitor turnout on voting day, March 18.
Polls show Putin, 65, who has dominated Russia’s political landscape
for the last 17 years, is on course to be comfortably re-elected, making him
eligible to serve another six years until 2024, when he turns 72.
Allies laud Putin as a father-of-the-nation figure who has restored
national pride and expanded Moscow’s global clout with interventions in Syria
and Ukraine.
Navalny says Putin’s support is exaggerated and artificially maintained
by a biased state media and an unfair system. He says he could defeat him in a
fair election, an assertion Putin’s supporters have said is laughable.
‘DO THE RIGHT THING’
Before the commission voted, Navalny, dressed in a dark suit, had
demanded he be allowed to take part in the election delivering a speech that
angered election officials.
In one heated exchange, he said Russian voters’ faith in the system
hung in the balance.
“If you do not allow me to run, you are taking a decision against
millions of people who are demanding that Navalny take part,” he said,
referring to himself in the first person.
“You are not robots, you are living, breathing human beings you are an
independent body ... for once in your lives, do the right thing,” he said.
His supporters clapped him, but officials were unmoved.
Boris Ebzeev, one of the officials, said: “We’re talking about the law
and abiding by the law.”
Ebzeev said there could not be “the slightest doubt” that Navalny was
ineligible to run, a reference to Russia’s constitution that bars him running
because of his suspended sentence relating to an embezzlement case.
Navalny has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, and says the case is
politically motivated.
There had been some speculation prior to the decision among the
opposition that Navalny might be allowed to run in order to inject more
interest into what looks like a predictable contest amid Kremlin fears that
apathetic voters might not bother to vote.
Navalny has been jailed three times this year and charged with breaking
the law by repeatedly organizing public meetings and rallies.
News source : MOSCOW (Reuters)
No comments