29 April 2009, 21:00
RF's CEC: opposition has no grounds to challenge Sochi election totals
The Central Electoral Commission (CEC) of the Russian Federation (RF) asserts, as stated today to journalists by Nikolai Konkin, its secretary, that the opposition has no grounds to protest against the outcomes of the elections of Sochi Mayor.
"Based on the materials that we have at the CEC there are no bases to question the Sochi election totals," said Mr Konkin.
Meanwhile, as the "Caucasian Knot" has reported, Boris Nemtsov, co-chairman of the "Solidarity" Movement, and Yuri Dzaganiya, leader of the Sochi branch of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF), are going to sue for cancelling the election totals.
According to the CEC secretary, during the whole election campaign, the CEC received eight applications and complaints related to organization of the election, but the CEC had no powers to consider any of them, and sent them to respective electoral commissions.
Touching on participation in early voting of a significant amount of voters, Nikolai Konkin has noted that "this situation deserves further study" and that the CEC waits for analytical materials on "why the early voting was so widespread." In his opinion, high early turnout can be explained by people's desire to be free for other things to do on a summer Sunday, as the RBC reports.
