Via the BBC: Kasyanov barred from Russian poll
Russia’s election officials have barred former Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov from running as an opposition candidate in the March presidential election.
The Central Election Commission (CEC) said there were many invalid signatures in Mr Kasyanov’s list of supporters.
Mr Kasyanov served under President Vladimir Putin, but has become one of his staunchest critics. He called on Russians to boycott “this farce”.
[...]
Russian law stipulates that no more than 5% of signatures in support of a candidate can be false or forged.
In Mr Kasyanov’s case, 13.36% were rejected, the CEC announced. The decision was unanimous.
In a statement, Mr Kasyanov said: “There is no doubt that the decision not to register my candidacy was taken personally by Vladimir Putin.”
Now, it could be that the signatures are invalid, but the pattern in Russia under Putin makes it more likely that Kasyanov’s theory is sound.
For example:
- Kasparov Being Blocked from Running in Russian Presidential Elections? (+ PM Putin)
- The electoral path to authoritarianism?
- Kasparov Jailed
- Gorbachev Warns of a Return to Stalinism
- Russia Flexs it Muscles (and Democracy Continues to Recede)
Clearly Putin and his allies want to utterly dominate electoral politics (such as they are) and to control what Russians hear, as Kasyanov, like Kasparov, was hardly going to present a serious threat (back to the BBC story):
Mr Kasyanov, who would have been the only liberal running for the presidency, has been polling about 1%.
[...]
Although Mr Kasyanov stood absolutely no chance of winning the election, the Kremlin may have feared he could use the election campaign to criticise President Putin’s record in office, says the BBC’s Richard Galpin in Moscow.
And criticism is something the Kremlin seems increasingly unwilling to tolerate, our correspondent says.