MOSCOW, January 25 (Itar-Tass) — Secretary of the Central Election Commission Nikolai Konkin on Wednesday passed the representatives of the Yabloko party the protocol of the check into the authenticity of the signatures, collected in support of presidential hopeful Grigory Yavlinsky.
Following a selective check, a CEC working group reported 25.66 percent of unauthentic or invalid signatures, a five-fold increase from the legally permissible norm.
Konkin reminded that "the Party or its candidate has the right to submit their objections to the CEC within two days."
After protocol handover, the CEC, within 48 hours, has the right to consider its refusal to register him as a presidential hopefuls.
On Tuesday, the CEC secretary confirmed that the working group had recommended the CEC to deny registration to Yavlinsky, one of Yabloko founders. Konkin emphasized that there is no politics in such a decision, but only "arithmetic."
He also said he was guided in his decision by provisions of the Russian legislation.
The Yabloko official told reporters he would pass the documents to the Party leadership.
"Specialists will examine them, and a decision will follow," he said.
According to the representative, Grigory Yavlinsky was unable to come to the CEC as he was in St.Petersburg at the time.
On Tuesday, Yabloko expressed indignation over the results of the check into Yavlinsky's signature lists. They also resented the fact that journalists were the first to lean about its results and that none of the Yabloko activists were invited.
Yabloko made several sharp statements on Tuesday evening demanding that Yavlinsky be allowed to run for president. Several political parties supported it.
According to the CEC, other violations were found in Yavlinsky's signature lists. For example, the local branches of the Federal Migration Service in the Khabarovsk Territory and the Murmansk region reported after examining 244 lists that the personal data of those people were wrong that five "signatories" had died since.
Grigory Yavlinsky, one of the founders of the Yabloko party was nominated a presidential candidate at the Party's Congress on December 18.
Under the law, presidential candidates from the parties not represented in parliament and self-nominees must submit at least two million signatures. The CEC has ten days to check these documents or motivate its refusal to register a candidate, starting January 18.