| Candidate for governor of the Ulyanovsk region was removed before the second round The Ulyanovsk Regional Court on Monday canceled the registration of a candidate for governor, businessman Sergei Gerasimov, who, according to the results of the vote on December 5, reached the second round of elections. Now the regional election commission will have to print more than a million new ballot papers, in which State Duma deputy Margarita Barzhanova will appear next to the election favorite, Mayor of Dimitrovgrad Sergei Morozov. The second round will take place on December 26.
In the first round, none of the candidates for the governor's seat managed to get more than 50% of the votes required by local law to win. 27.73% of voters voted for Sergei Morozov, 20.89% voted for General Director of Ulyanovsk Cold Storage Plant OJSC Sergei Gerasimov, and 10.97% of voters voted against all of them.
The regional election commission reported that on Monday the court considered Gerasimov’s case at the request of the second candidate who reached the second round, the mayor of Dimitrovgrad Sergei Morozov. The basis of the court decision remains unknown, since there is no reasoning part of the decision. According to Gerasimov's lawyer Oleg Matyunin, Sergei Morozov filed a statement in court in which he demanded that Mr. Gerasimov be removed from the elections, accusing him of bribing voters. According to Mr. Matyunin, Sergei Morozov unreasonably pointed out that the reduction in prices for dairy products by one of the processing enterprises of the Ulyanovsk region - OJSC Milan, the chairman of the board of directors of which is Sergei Gerasimov, was done for the purpose of illegal agitation of citizens, and considered This is voter bribery.
The election headquarters of candidate Gerasimov stated that the decision made was illegal and promised to send a cassation appeal against the decision of the Ulyanovsk Regional Court to the Supreme Court of Russia as soon as possible.
Nevertheless, already on Monday, the election commission of the Ulyanovsk region, following the decision of the regional court, canceled the registration of Sergei Gerasimov. Now State Duma deputy Margarita Barzhanova will most likely take part in the second round of elections. Ms. Barzhanova became famous for the fact that she put forward her candidacy against the wishes of the United Russia party, of which she is a member, and waged a very long and intense election campaign against the mayor of Dimitrovgrad, which was officially supported by United Russia. The headquarters of Margarita Barzhanova was extremely surprised by the entry into the second round of the general director of the Ulyanovsk cold storage plant, who was not among the favorites.
“We received a statement from the candidate who showed the third result in the first round of elections, this is Margarita Barzhanova, she has more than 15% of the votes. At a meeting of the election commission, we will adopt a resolution to include it in the ballot papers for the re-vote and will reprint the ballot papers, information material, that is, all printed materials,” said the chairman of the Ulyanovsk election commission Lyudmila Fadeeva.
In turn, the new participant in the second round considers the court’s decision fair: “This is the result of the dishonest fight that Sergei Gerasimov waged in the first round, so I think it’s fair. “I have very difficult, unequal conditions, there are four days left before the elections, and I have not led the campaign, but I think my voters will vote for me again.” Nevertheless, Sergei Morozov still remains the main favorite in the fight for the post of regional governor. Daria GUSEVA |
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