| By the end of the registration period on 31 July, the
number of candidates
to compete in the 21 September gubernatorial election in St. Petersburg
had
dwindled from a high of 33 to just 14, Russian media reported. Among the
14
who submitted either the required number of signatures or paid an election
deposit were presidential envoy to the Northwestern Federal District
Valentina Matvienko; St. Petersburg Deputy Governor Anna Markova; Duma
Deputy Petr Shelishch (Fatherland-All Russia); pornographic film director
Sergei Pryanishnikov; Regional Programs President Sergei Belyaev;
entrepreneur Rashid Dzahabarov; First Petersburg Pasta Factory Director
Viktor Yefimov; city legislators Konstantin Sukhenko, Aleksei Timofeev,
Vadim Voitanovskii, and Mikhail
Amosov; Petrogradskii Raion Deputy Aleksandr
Gabitov; Petrolakt General Director Gennadii Vasilenko; and Oleg Titov,
a
senior air steward for Pulkovo Airlines, Interfax and newsru.com reported.
Amosov heads the Yabloko faction in the city's Legislative Assembly. A
fifth
city legislator, Yurii Shutov, also sought to register, but was disqualified
because his assistant failed to present the required number of signatures.
Shutov complained that a "full blockade" was been organized against
him
because of his current imprisonment on suspicion of conspiracy to commit
murder.
See also:
Gubernatorial
elections in St.Petersburg 2003
|
|
RFE/RL, August 1, 2003
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