Russian officials call for governor's suspicious election to be annulled

[Eugene]

Source: The Guardian

Russian officials call for governor's suspicious election to be annulled

Elections commissioner urges rerun of vote in which Putin allies scored unlikely win

Andrew Roth in Moscow
Wed 19 Sep 2018 17.22 BST

Russian election officials have called for the result of a gubernatorial ballot in the country’s far east to be annulled because of widespread voter fraud, in the first decision of its kind in more than a decade.

Voters in the Primorsky Krai region looked set on Sunday to reject an incumbent governor from the ruling United Russia party, led by allies of Vladimir Putin. A groundswell of support for a Communist party challenger had followed plans to raise the pension age by five years for both men and women, delaying retirement for millions.

But in a suspicious last-minute shift a number of precincts suddenly delivered 100% of their votes to the acting governor, Andrei Tarasenko, handing him a victory that appeared moments earlier to be mathematically impossible.

The suspicious results prompted protests and a short-lived hunger strike by the challenger, Andrei Ishenko, who claimed the election had been stolen.

The extraordinary call to annul the result shows the degree to which the Kremlin, which is sensitive to public opinion and the possibility for protest, must balance supporting its political allies and assuaging public anger. While Russians still largely say they support Putin, close to half say they are also willing to protest against the loss of social benefits.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/sep/19/russia-outcry-widespread-voter-governor-election-annul

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