| Representatives of the opposition Yabloko and KPRF
parties and several members of the liberal group Committee-2008 intend
to file a lawsuit with Russia's Supreme Court today, challenging the validity
of the results of last year's parliamentary elections. The suitors insist
that the Central Election Commission's protocols on the distribution of
seats in the State Duma must be annulled. The elections, according to
the lawsuit's authors, must be pronounced invalid due to large-scale violations during the campaign and the December 7, 2003, vote.
The appeal to the Supreme Court was signed by Yabloko and the Communist
Party of the Russian Federation (KPRF) as organizations, and by a number
of individuals, namely the State Duma's independent deputy Vladimir Ryzhkov,
former co-chairperson of the Union of Right-Wing Forces (SPS) party Irina
Khakamada, deputy chairman of Yabloko Sergey
Ivanenko, member of the KPRF's Central Committee Vadim Solovyov, editor-in-chief
of Moskovskiye Novosti weekly Yevgeny Kiselyov, president of the Indem
foundation Georgy Satarov and the editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta weekly
Dmitry Muratov.
The violations cited in the lawsuit include numerous discrepancies
between the official results of the polls in certain constituencies and
the results submitted by independent observers.
Secondly, the citizens were denied the right to receive unbiased information
during the election campaign, with most of the coverage on the key TV
channels devoted to pro-Kremlin party United Russia.
The suitors say that if the Supreme Court refuses to consider the lawsuit
or rules against satisfying it, they will appeal to the European court
of Human Rights in Strasbourg
See also:
State Duma elections
2003
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