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Procedural infringemnts couldn’t affect Astrakhan electn results

The Central Election Commission (CEC) of the Russian Federation will continue studying videos from polling stations in Astrakhan

MOSCOW, April 17 (Itar-Tass) —— The Central Election Commission (CEC) of the Russian Federation will continue studying videos from polling stations in Astrakhan, the commission’s press service reported on Tuesday. It was stressed, however, that procedural infringements could not have influenced the voting results.

“Due to complete continuous video recordings anyone can get convinced that procedural infringements in a number of precincts in the city of Astrakhan could not have an effect on the election results. District election commissions were able to verify the results of the voting to elect the head of the municipal entity ‘the city of Astrakhan’,” the press service noted.

Candidate of United Russia Mikhail Stolyarov won the mayoral election in Astrakhan on March 4, earning some 60 percent of the poll. However, members of A Just Russia party assert that it was Oleg Shein, a deputy of the Astrakhan regional duma from A Just Russia party who won the election. According to official information he earned some 30 percent of the votes. In protest against the announced results of the voting, some representatives of the party, among them Shein, went on a hunger strike on March 16. A number of oppositionists in the capital joined in the hunger strike later.

Russia’s Central Election Commission stated that there are no reasons to annul the results of the mayoral election in Astrakhan. Meanwhile Sergei Mironov, the leader of A Just Russia, asked CEC head Vladimir Churov personally to watch the videos from Astrakhan’s polling stations. Churov expressed the readiness to watch the videos jointly, with the participation of Shein. The watching of the videos at the Central Election Commission began on Monday evening and lasted all through the night.

“During the watching that lasted nine hours (from 20:00 Moscow time to 6:00) videos from 42 polling stations were seen. It was decided not to watch the videos from the other ten polling stations as those who made complaints had no remarks to make about the voting procedure and vote counting,” the CEC reported.