Putin’s main rival banned
RUSSIA: Russia’s main opposition leader has called for an election boycott and promised nationwide protests after he was barred from running for president.
Alexei Navalny, 41, announced he would run a year ago but was formally ruled out yesterday because of a fraud conviction that supporters say was trumped up to discredit him.
The decision by the central electoral commission clears the way for President Vladimir Putin, 65, to reclaim the Kremlin practically unopposed for a fourth term – which would extend his effective rule over Russia to 24 years.
Navalny, a lawyer and anticorruption campaigner, accused the commission of carrying out a political order to exclude him from the March 18 vote.
‘‘There will be no elections because Vladimir Putin is extremely frightened. He’s afraid of competing with me,’’ he said.
‘‘This procedure in which we are being asked to participate is not an election. Only Putin and the candidates he has personally chosen and who represent absolutely no threat to him are taking part,’’ he said. ‘‘To come to the polling station now is to vote for lies and corruption and against the future of the country.’’
Asked on Twitter if there would be demonstrations over the decision to bar him, Navalny said: ‘‘Yes, of course, we are going to hold a nationwide protest action. And we are going to prepare it thoroughly.’’
The decision was widely expected but it had been unclear when it would be announced. It was confirmed at a hastily arranged hearing at the commission in Moscow after he submitted documents late on Sunday to show he had gathered 500 supporters to endorse him.
Navalny was convicted of fraud in 2014 and given a five-year suspended sentence. The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled the prosecution was ‘‘arbitrary’’ and unfair two years later. Russia held a retrial and issued the same punishment again.
‘‘For once in your life, do the right thing,’’ Navalny told the electoral commission. Ella Pamfilova, the chairwoman, replied: ‘‘We are not biscuits here, that have to be liked.’’
He cited the ECHR ruling and a constitutional provision that only people behind bars can be banned. She said his documents were in order but the commission was obliged to take his conviction into account, despite ECHR rulings.
Among the candidates expected to run against Putin is Ksenia Sobchak, 36, a journalist and former socialite who is the daughter of the president’s former boss and political mentor. Others are expected to be unknowns, or fringe candidates who have reliably lost to Putin for almost two decades.
Navalny is de facto banned from state TV. His rallies are often broken up and those present are fined or jailed. He was jailed three times this year.
Putin claimed this month that Russia’s opposition was weak because it had no positive programme. – The Times