"The regional electoral commission, said Kuznetsov, - deliberately dragged out the registration of the plenipotentiary on financial issues from parties and blocs to make registration of our bloc and other competitors of the present authorities impossible."

For example the meeting of the Regional Electoral Commission (on February 1, 2004), which had to register the financial plenipotentiary, did not take place as there was no quorum. The meeting on February 2, on the last day for registering participants in the election campaign was postponed from 10.00 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Electoral Commission decided to register the financial plenipotentiary at 6.15 p.m.

However, at this hour the plenipotentiary could not open a bank account and deposit the electoral collateral, and, consequently, the electoral bloc could not be registered.

In addition to the "SPS and YABLOKO" bloc, the Union of Budget Workers of the Urals, Our Home Is the Urals and the Union of the New Right-Wing, as well as regional branch of the Party of the Revival of the Urals found themselves in the same situation.

"Mostovschikov (Ed. Press Service, Vladimir Mostovschikov, head of the Electoral Commission of the Sverdlovsk Region) is being used as tool to repress political forces undesirable to the authorities," said Kuznetsov. "He found pseudo-legal pretexts to prevent the opposition from participating in the elections."

The leader of Sverdlovsk YABLOKO said that he had already sent a telegramme to the head of the Central Electoral Commission Alexander Veshnyakov demanding that measures be taken against the prevention of the registration of the bloc. "If the Central Electoral Commission does not listen to our arguments, we will go to court," stressed Kuznetsov.

The elections to the Regional Duma of the Legislative Assembly of Sverdlovsk Region are scheduled for March 14, 2004.

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