vlad.tribnet.com / Issue #596 / Special reports / Reading article...

Vladivostok’s Leninsky court on Monday revoked the City Duma electoral registration of Viktor Ivanovich Cherepkov’s bloc, barring the group from participation in this Sunday’s elections.

According to the court’s ruling, the bloc of the State Duma deputy, also Vladivostok’s former mayor, was invalidated because it had exceeded campaign finance regulation spending by 5 percent.

The complaint against the bloc was lodged by the Bloc for Freedom and People’s Power, led by Viktor Ivanovich’s namesake, Viktor Grigoryevich Cherepkov, which claimed group members exceeded funds for the campaign.

Interestingly, in late October the city’s municipal election commission annulled the registration for the Bloc for Freedom and People’s Power itself, but later the group was permitted to participate in the elections under the name ‘Freedom of Choice.’

Members of the ex-mayor’s bloc intend to appeal the decision to Primorye’s regional court, news reports said.

Yet despite his bloc being banned from elections to the Vladivostok Duma, Viktor Ivanovich Cherepkov is on the ballot for the regional branch of Russia’s Patriots participating in the elections to the State Duma which will also be held on Sunday, December 2, together with the elections for Vladivostok legislature.

Viktor Ivanovich Cherepkov, 65, is notorious for various incidents related to his participation in elections, most recently his barring by court from participating in the second round of Vladivostok mayoral elections in July 2004.

He was Vladivostok's Mayor from 1993 to 1998, and during his term had numerous conflicts with then-Primorye Governor Yevgeny Nazdratenko which led to disruptions in trash collection and other municipal services for weeks. However, he attracted huge investment to city construction projects. Vladivostok residents have mixed feelings about his leadership, though he is widely supported by elderly voters.