The Supreme Court of Altai refused to appeal his rival's election to the head

The only claim to appeal the results of the gubernatorial elections based on the results of a single voting day on September 14 was rejected. The Supreme Court of the Altai Republic refused to satisfy the complaint of the candidate for the head of the region, the ex-head of the government of the subject Vladimir Petrov, who demanded to cancel the voting results. The current leader of Altai, Alexander Berdnikov, received a margin of 532 votes, necessary for holding elections in one round. Vladimir Petrov's lawyers intend to appeal the court's decision to the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation.

Head of the Altai Republic Alexander Berdnikov (left) and ex-candidate for head of the Altai Republic Vladimir Petrov (right)
Photo: Alexander Tyryshkin, Kommersant

Mr. Petrov ran for the “Civil Force” in the elections on September 14. He is the only one who appealed the results of the gubernatorial elections (held in thirty regions). In addition, the only rally in the country was held in the republic demanding the cancellation of the results of the gubernatorial elections.

According to lawyer Maxim Prokofiev, who represented the interests of Vladimir Petrov in court, “the basis of the claims of the lawsuit was the discrepancy between federal and regional legislation regarding the control ratio of ballots.” According to him, the number of ballots issued during early voting in territorial election commissions was incorrectly reflected in the final protocols, which may serve as a basis for a recount. For example, “the number of voters who took part in the voting is underestimated by 790 people, the number of lost ballots is 798, while the election commission indicates that only one ballot was lost.” In addition, a total of 4,221 ballots were issued for early voting in the republic, and there were 725 more in the ballot boxes. Let us recall that according to the results of voting in the election of the head of the republic, the current governor, United Russia member Alexander Berdnikov scored 50.63%, while a margin of 532 votes was enough for him to win in the first round. Vladimir Petrov took second place, receiving 36.44% of the votes.

The election commission assured that the elections were held in accordance with the law. “We assumed that if there were errors during the counting of votes, they could have been of a purely technical nature. But the court’s decision showed that no discrepancies were identified between the REC protocol and the State Automated System “Elections” system,” Irina, head of the republican commission, told Kommersant. Karanina.

Vladimir Petrov is ready to challenge the decision in the Supreme Court: “The Republican court received an order not to create a precedent; similar problems with summing up election results also occur in other Russian regions.” According to Maxim Prokofiev, in most regions this difference is of a “technical nature”, since the heads won by a large margin; in the Altai Republic the margin was several hundred votes, which is covered by the discrepancy between the numbers in the protocols.

The head of the interregional association of voters, Andrei Buzin, explained to Kommersant that discrepancies in the protocols regarding the number of voters who voted early may lead to an adjustment of the final voting protocols, and not the cancellation of the election results. “This does not indicate falsification, but the courts may require the protocols to be drawn up again,” the expert emphasized.

Andrey Pertsev, Yuri Belov, Novosibirsk

Alexander Berdnikov defended his gubernatorial minimum