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Elections Valid Without Yavlinsky - Putin Spokesman

© RIA Novosti . Vadim Zhernov / Go to the mediabankGrigory Yavlinsky
Grigory Yavlinsky - Sputnik International
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The Central Election Commission refusal to register Yabloko party founder Grigory Yavlinsky as a presidential candidate does not give cause to question the legitimacy of the elections, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s spokesman said on Wednesday.

The Central Election Commission refusal to register Yabloko party founder Grigory Yavlinsky as a presidential candidate does not give cause to question the legitimacy of the elections, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s spokesman said on Wednesday.

“If one of the candidates failed to score the required number of votes [for registration], it shouldn't give rise to claims about the illegitimacy of the election, even before the elections even took place,” the spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

Yavlinsky collected two million signatures in support of his bid as required by law but two consecutive checks, the second of which was wrapped up Tuesday evening, showed 25.66 percent of them to be invalid, Commission Secretary Nikolai Konkin said. The law caps the amount of faulty signatures at five percent.

The commission also refused registration to Irkutsk Governor Dmitry Mezentsev, an alleged Kremlin ally, also over faulty signatures. However, it approved the two million signatures collected by billionaire-turned-politician Mikhail Prokhorov. Prokhorov called Yavlinsky’s disqualification “a blow to the legitimacy” of the presidential ballot.

Prokhorov will be the only independent to be included on the ballot, along with candidates from the four parliamentary parties who were not required to collect signatures. One of the four is Vladimir Putin, fielded by the ruling United Russia party, who is expect to return to the presidency after two consecutive terms in office from 2000 to 2008.

 

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