Communists seek sacking of Moscow’s election commission chief after wave of street protests
Moscow Communists want to have the head of the Moscow Election Commission fired, a Communist party official said. They accuse him of failing in office and causing a wave of street protests.
Muscovites are to elect the next 45-seat legislature next month. Some of the candidates will petition the head of Russia’s Central Election Commission to fire her Moscow subordinate, Valentin Gorbunov. The plan was announced in an interview by Valery Rashkin, who leads the Moscow charter of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation.
The politician accused Gorbunov of undermining opposition-leaning independent candidates in the race, including those favored by the Communists. Rashkin said this was the primary cause of a series of demonstrations that happened in the Russian capital over the past few weeks.
The entire world is watching how those 45 people are trying to get elected in Moscow. Even [US President Donald] Trump said something about it.
The petition is to be signed by a group of candidates, both party members and their political allies, and sent to Ella Pamfilova, the head of the Central Election Commission, Rashkin said.
The Communists are also planning a protest rally on Saturday next week, the party announced on Tuesday.
Also on rt.com Hundreds detained at opposition protest over rejected Moscow city election candidates (VIDEOS)Last month the Moscow Election Commission disqualified dozens of independent candidates, who wanted to run for seats in the city council. The commission said too many of the signatures of eligible voters, which were collected to prove that the candidates have enough public support to get their names on the ballot, were invalid.
Gorbunov, the commission head, earlier rejected all accusations of wrongdoing and said only one of the 57 candidates disqualified by his office managed to prove that the commission made a mistake. He pointed out that during the previous election cycle in 2014 that about twice as many candidates were banned from the polls for various reasons.
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