The Altai Krai Court on August 21 annulled the registration of Communist Party candidate Lyudmila Klyushnikova for the regional legislature, where she was running in a single-mandate district, according to 7x7 and the Altai branch of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF).
Two of Klyushnikova's rivals filed the lawsuits: Irina Klyuchnikova of the Communists of Russia party and Tatyana Arbuzova of the Party of Pensioners. The claims concerned the fact that the incumbent deputy submitted her registration documents in two stages. The CPRF said the election commission itself had asked her to bring additional certificates, after which it registered her, and called the situation a "bureaucratic trap."
The party noted that Klyuchnikova's surname differs from Klyushnikova's by one letter. Similar pairs of candidates from the CPRF and Communists of Russia exist in two other districts, 7x7 reports. The party is preparing an appeal against the court decision.
Klyushnikova remains a registered candidate for the State Duma. The Altai branch of the CPRF is considered one of the strongest in the country — the Communists hold an 18-member faction in the regional legislature.
Ahead of the elections to the State Duma and the regional legislature, criminal cases on fraud charges were opened against Klyushnikova and fellow CPRF deputies Yuri Kropotin and Andrei Chernobai. The Altai regional committee of the CPRF called the criminal cases pre-election pressure.