Russian CEC can nullify election of Derbent Mayor

In Derbent, where at election of the city head only 22 polling stations out of 36 were open, repeated voting can be appointed.

At 11:00 p.m. on October 11, the territorial electoral commission of Derbent reported that the incumbent Mayor Felix Kaziakhmedov was the winner with 63 percent of votes. The remaining votes were cast for his main opponent - Imamali Yaraliev, former public prosecutor of Dagestan and current head of the Suleiman-Stalskiy District.

As reported by Gennady Raikov, a member of the Central Electoral Commission (CEC) of the Russian Federation, 14 polling stations of the city could not start working for lack of quorum of the respective local electoral commissions. The total voters in the territory of the city of Derbent make 63,000, and the above 14 stations cover 24,000 voters, that is, about 38 percent," Mr Raikov has explained. He added that the election is valid at voter turnout of at least 75 percent, as reported by the "Echo Moskvy" Radio.

On October 10 it became known about disappearance of Murad Muradov, chairman of one of precinct commissions. The version of his kidnapping was not confirmed; however, he did not appear at his station. On October 10, he was beaten by unknown persons in masks and camouflage and brought home. He was warned against ever appearing again at his polling station; otherwise he could face new problems. Relatives of Zoya Abdurakhmanova, a member of one of local electoral commissions, filed an application to the City Prosecutor's Office about her disappearance. The polling station, located in the building of School "President", was closed as power agents had information that it could be mined. The administrative resources were completely used for hampering citizens' voting in this way or other, as the "Kommersant" writes.

The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent has already reported that those stations that were opened saw lines of voters, which, according to observers from oppositional candidates, were deliberately formed. Rooms for voting were full of OMON fighters, but voters were not let in. Those who tried to video or photo the events were beaten; and the equipment was taken away. It was also reported that law enforcers wounded a local resident who tried to protect the journalists, from whom militiamen tried to take away their filming equipment. According to the version of power agents, a crowd of young men tried to rush to the station, one of them made an attempt to take a pistol away from a militiaman and was wounded.

Meanwhile, Russian CEC has no the information that OMON interfered with people's voting.