The veteran opposition politician, Boris Vishnevsky, was preparing to participate in this month’s elections when he learned that his two opponents not only have the same surname as him, but they even have the same name in their official portrait. The same facial hair.
The 65-year-old seeking to renew his seat in the St. Petersburg legislative assembly accused the authorities of sending “spoiler” candidates to confuse his voters and reduce his vote.
He said that the other two Boris Vishnevsky (Boris Vishnevsky) have changed their first and last names, and even changed their appearance in the election photos to make them look more like him. He posted photos of the three of them on Twitter.
The veteran opposition politician, Boris Vishnevsky, was preparing to participate in this month’s elections when he learned that his two opponents not only have the same surname as him, but they even have the same name in their official portrait. The same beard https://t.co/28SWkCgvWD 1/6 pic.twitter.com/aZEQlb3Tuq
-Reuters (@Reuters) September 7, 2021
Two other candidates could not be reached for comment.
“What kind of person do you have to be to change your name, change your last name, change your appearance to please your political boss?” Vishnevsky said in an interview.
The chairman of the Central Election Commission Ella Pamfilova (Ella Pamfilova) condemned the incident as “embarrassment and anger” in a comment on Kommersant’s FM radio station. But she said that because of the wording of the law, they can still vote.
According to RIA Novosti, she proposed that two candidates submit new photos. But there were no changes to the photos of the local election committee office on Tuesday.
According to TASS News Agency, the committee rejected Vishnevsky’s complaint and asked his competitors to provide their previous names on the ballot, on the grounds that the three candidates could be distinguished by different middle names.
Russia is scheduled to hold a series of elections from September 17 to 19, including voting for the Federal Parliament. Despite its declining ratings, President Vladimir Putin’s United Russia Party is expected to win.
Vishnevsky, a member of the Liberal Opposition Yabloko Party who holds a seat in the 50-seat legislative assembly in St. Petersburg, said that he believes this incident shows that his opponent views him as a strong competitor.
“For many years, in every election, we said it was the dirtiest and most dishonest election in history, and then we repeated the same thing in the following elections,” he said.
“It turns out that the previous ones are better, and these are worse,” he said.
Allies of the jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, whose networks were banned from being extremists this year, claimed to have carried out a full-scale pre-election suppression and were prohibited by law from participating.
The Kremlin denied any targeted repression and stated that any criminal proceedings were only against individuals who violated the law.
