 ST.
PETERSBURG - Voters in St. Petersburg went to the polls Sunday to
elect a new Legislative Assembly following a campaign marked by
trickery and accusations of vote-buying.
Hundreds of fake leaflets, along with
money and vodka distributed in
the names of some candidates, clouded the
campaign, which takes place every
four years.
The vote was declared valid in all 50 districts after turnout
reached 28.3 percent, exceeding the required 20 percent minimum,
election officials said after the polls closed. Official results
were expected to be announced next week.
The fake leaflets were made to look
like they were issued from the
block formed by the parties Yabloko and
Union of Right Forces. The two
liberal parties joined forces to challenge
supporters of the city's governor
Vladimir Yakovlev.
In one fake leaflet, a candidate
demanded an end to the war in
Chechnya. In another, a candidate proposed
giving Kaliningrad back to
Germany and a third threatened to commit
suicide if not elected.
"I'm scared to think that someone can
take my seat in the Legislative
Assembly," said a leaflet purportedly from
Mikhail Amosov, the leader of the
Yabloko faction in the city's parliament.
"I've taken the firm decision to
commit suicide if on Dec. 8 my
electoral district doesn't support my
candidacy," the leaflet said. "Please
vote for me."
Nikolai Rybakov, a Yabloko candidate,
said another fake leaflet
accused him of yanking 1,000 bushes out of a
garden.
"I think most people realize these
leaflets are fake, but they can
damage the voters' trust in a candidate and
hurt attendance at the polls,"
he said.
About 150 complaints of campaign
violations were filed at the City
Court, election commission spokeswoman Rita
Malova told the St. Petersburg
Times newspaper.
Most of the complaints were about
vote-buying and financial abuses.
Some of the candidates had bought sports
costumes for all the children in
one district's kindergarten hoping to win
their parents' vote, one complaint
said.
Alexander Veshnyakov, head of the
Russian Central Election Committee,
arrived in St. Petersburg on Friday to
oversee the election. He said the
number of Russian and foreign observers
should guarantee honest elections,
the Interfax news agency said. (AP)
See also:
Elections
to St. Petersburg Legislative Assembly, 2002 | 