Putin Critic Navalny's Presidential Bid Blocked by Election Body
- Central Election Commission cites Navalny’s criminal record
- Opposition leader calls for ‘voters’ strike’ in protest
Alexei Navalny
Photographer: Evgeny Feldman/ Navalny Campaign via AP Images
This article is for subscribers only.
Russia’s Central Election Commission refused to register opposition leader Alexei Navalny as a candidate in the 2018 presidential elections, confirming warnings that he wouldn’t be allowed on the ballot because of a criminal conviction.
Navalny, an anti-corruption activist and outspoken critic of President Vladimir Putin, has denounced the case against him as a politically motivated effort to keep him off the ballot. The European Court of Human Rights pronounced his conviction illegal, but he was re-tried and found guilty on the same charges and given a five-year suspended sentence in February.