vlad.tribnet.com / Issue #548 / Special reports / Reading article...

The court of Dalnegorsk on Wednesday ruled to disband the city’s election commission for its failure to handle local Mayoral Office elections effectively in mid October when one of the running candidates was killed in an apparent contract hit.

“Primorye’s election commission applied to Dalnegorsk court with an appeal to dismiss the city’s election commission due to its passive handling of the situation when prompt and effective decisions were most needed,” deputy head of Primorye’s election commission Tatyana Vyalova commented on Thursday.

The second round of Mayoral elections in Dalnegorsk was scheduled to take place on October 22 but three days prior to the event one of the candidates Dmitry Fotyanov was shot dead during the daytime at the entrance of his office.

According to Vyalova, the Dalnegorsk election commission failed to meet and work out a plan to cancel elections after the tragic incident. Two of the candidates submitted applications withdrawing their candidacies less than a day before the elections. The election commission cancelled elections two hours before voters started to come to the polling stations. “Primorye’s election commission had to step in and take control of the situation,” Vyalova stressed.

The Dalnegorsk court’s decision to disband the election commission will come into force in five days and a new commission will be formed.

Meanwhile, another election-related scandal is being considered by Primorye’s regional court in Vladivostok. One of the former candidates for Primorye’s Duma, head of the Far Eastern State Technical University Gennady Turmov, appealed to the court accusing the winning candidate Galust Akhoyan of a dishonest election campaign which included the bribing of the voters.

Akhoyan, Vladivostok Duma deputy, participated in the elections for Primorye’s Duma held October 8 and won in the residential district No.3 of Vladivostok. Turmov came second in the race and blamed Akhoyan’s disgraceful methods for his triumph in the elections. According to Turmov’s court application, Akhoyan paid 200 rubles to each voter to cast a ballot in his favor.

The next court hearing on the case will be held on December 26. Seems like the courts of Primorye will always have work…