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Wednesday, 29.06.2011
Nemtsov and Kasyanov fail in party admission
Moscow. Just six months before the parliamentary elections in Russia, the western liberal opposition once again failed in its attempt to register as a party. It remains excluded from the election.
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The Justice Ministry in Moscow rejected the request for registration of the People’s Freedom Party (Parnas) on Wednesday. The reason given by the authority was incorrect documents. Party co-founder and former Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov as well as human rights activists spoke of an ‘act of political arbitrariness’ in order to silence people of different opinion.
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For several years now, only a moderate opposition, who is ready to co-operate with the Kremlin, has a chance to register as a party in Russia. Kasyanov accused Prime Minister Vladimir Putin of preventing the participation of Parnas in the Duma in December elections, to eliminate political competition.
The human rights activist Ludmila Alekseeva of the Helsinki Group in Moscow said "hope of fair elections has been destroyed". Ex Vice-Premier Boris Nemtsov, also a leading figures of Parnas, spoke of a "political and not judicial decision.”
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One of the reasons why the Justice Ministry rejected the application as a party was that names of dead people were on the list of members. Also names of minors and non registered citizens were listed.
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Due to such mistakes in documentation, the authorities repeatedly deny more radical opposition parties to participate in elections – despite several promises made by the Head of the Kremlin, Dmitry Medvedev, to allow more democracy in Russia.
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Original German text can be found here >>>
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