VLADIVOSTOK, September 20. /TASS/. A regional election commission invalidated the results of the gubernatorial race’s runoff in the Far Eastern Primorsky Region at its meeting on Thursday, a TASS correspondent reported.
A total of 12 members voted in favor of the proposal, while just one voted against. The commission’s chief, Tatyana Gladkikh, said the decision was made since it was impossible to confirm how the electorate had really voted.
Amid reports of violations and given that the two candidates ran neck-and-neck, the commission has no trust in the vote's outcome, Gladkikh said, noting that "a recount is being ruled out."
On Wednesday, the Russian Central Election Commission unanimously recommended that the regional election authority invalidate the election results since it was impossible to confirm how voters had expressed their will. The CEC found out that a number of serious violations of the law were committed during the polls, including ballot-stuffing, rewriting protocols and vote buying.
The new election is due to be held by December 16. The date is expected to be set at the regional election commission’s meeting on September 26.
The scandal flared up after the Communist Party’s candidate Andrei Ishchenko, who had a clear lead over his rival from the ruling party, Andrei Tarasenko, surprisingly lost in the last-minute vote count in the September 16 gubernatorial race’s runoff.
With 100% of the vote counted, Acting Governor Andrei Tarasenko, from the ruling United Russia party, secured 49.55%, while the Communist Party’s candidate Andrei Ishchenko gained 48.06%. Ishchenko declared a hunger strike and complained about the vote rigging. Tarasenko’s headquarters, in its turn, accused Ishchenko of vote buying.
The ruling party’s candidate will continue fulfilling his duties as the acting governor until the new election is held. In comments to the decision to invalidate the vote outcome, Tarasenko said: "From the very beginning, I backed the idea of canceling the runoff’s results in the Primorsky Region. There were too many complaints, and everything should be fair and decent. And cancelling the election results is fair," he told TASS.
Tarasenko, the former director general of the Rosmorport federal unitary enterprise, which is responsible for developing Russia’s sea transport infrastructure, was appointed Acting Governor of the Primorsky Region in October 2017. Former Governor Vladimir Miklushevsky, who had led the region since 2012, was relieved from office upon his own will.