Russian opposition leader barred from presidential polls
Sunday, 27 Jan 2008 10:26
Mr Kasyanov will not be competing in presidential elections scheduled to be held on March 2nd
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Leading opposition candidate Mikhail Kasyanov has been barred from participating in Russia's presidential elections in March.
The former prime minister's papers were rejected as election authorities deemed that 13.36 per cent of signatures in favour of his candidacy were fraudulent.
Under the country's rules, no more than five per cent of signatures in favour of a presidential hopeful can be fraudulent.
Incumbent president Vladimir Putin is constitutionally barred from seeking re-election as the country's head of state and has nominated Gazprom chairman Dmitry Medvedev as his successor.
So far three other candidates are eligible to compete in the presidential race: Gennady Zyuganov of the Communist party, Vladimir Zhirinovsky of the Liberal- Democratic party and Andrei Bogdanov, an independent candidate and leader of the Democratic party of Russia.
Organisation for Security and Cooperation in
Europe monitors called the recent parliamentary elections in Russia, in which Putin's United Russia party swept the polls "not fair" and short of the organisation's democratic standards.
The presidential elections are due to be held on March 2nd.