Russia drops Communist Party candidate from State Duma race for posting a photo of Navalny
Russia’s Central Election Commission has canceled the registration of Communist Party candidate Nikolai Bondarenko in the race for the State Duma, the lower house of Russia’s parliament, the Russian business daily Vedomosti reported. Twelve commission members voted for the decision, and one voted against it.
The Central Election Commission of Russia has disqualified Communist Party candidate Nikolai Bondarenko from the upcoming State Duma election, according to a report by Vedomosti, a Russian business daily. The decision, backed by twelve commission members and one member voting against, stems from Bondarenko's posting of a photo of opposition figure Alexey Navalny on his Telegram channel.
This action violated an administrative statute from August that bans the display of extremist symbols. The statute further bars anyone penalized under it from running in elections for the following year. Bondarenko had appealed the fine, but a regional court in Saratov dismissed his appeal on September 4. This follows a similar removal of opposition politician Boris Nadezhdin, who was barred from an election after posting a similar photo of Navalny and subsequently left Russia.
In August, election officials also barred the Yabloko party list, the only antiwar-aligned party on the ballot, from the State Duma race.
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