A Kremlin-backed candidate has won a key governorship election in Russia’s Far East but critics denounced the vote as a fraud after a popular opposition figure was not allowed to run.
An electoral crisis erupted in the Far Eastern region of Primorsky Krai in September when opposition protests and claims of widespread irregularities in favour of a candidate backed by President Vladimir Putin forced officials to order a re-run of the vote.
During the new gubernatorial poll held on Sunday, acting governor Oleg Kozhemyako — backed by the Kremlin -- took 61.88 per cent of the vote, final results showed.
His closest rival, Andrei Andreichenko of the nationalist LDPR party, took 25 per cent.
It was the first time in modern Russia an election was re-run after protests over vote-rigging allegations.
A popular opposition candidate, the Communist Party’s Andrei Ishchenko, who had accused a ruling party representative endorsed by Putin of “stealing” his victory in the initial election, was not allowed to stand on Sunday.
Authorities said he did not receive the required number of signatures from local lawmakers.