RUSSIA: Supporters of Russian protest leader Alexei Navalny come to demand the second round in the Moscow mayoral vote

Record ID: 214053

  • Title: RUSSIA: Supporters of Russian protest leader Alexei Navalny come to demand the second round in the Moscow mayoral vote
  • Date: 9th September 2013
  • Summary: MOSCOW, RUSSIA (SEPTEMBER 9, 2013) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF CROWD ON EMBANKMENT CROWD WALKING TOWARDS STAGE (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) ALEXEI NAVALNY'S SUPPORTER OLGA LOZHKINA, SAYING: "Initially I was handing out (agitation) newspapers in the metro for three days and understood that probably there is a chance to change something. Because I will be 47 in two days time and I can't live in this country anymore like this, but I don't want to leave either. That's why I came here." PEOPLE WALKING TOWARDS STAGE (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) ALEXEI NAVALNY'S SUPPORTER NIKOLAI LEBEDEV, SAYING: "We hope to hear from the candidate what the next actions should be. We would prefer it to be legal, but something we could transform into new actions." POLICE IN RIOT GEAR CROWD WALKING TOWARDS STAGE POLICEMAN CROWD WALKING TOWARDS STAGE RALLY IN PROGRESS SUPPORTER FILMING RALLY ON IPAD RALLY IN PROGRESS
  • Embargoed: 24th September 2013 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Russian Federation
  • Country: Russia
  • Topics: Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA9EMY0ELA9TZDKPS3YN3TDUXZ9
  • Story Text: Thousands of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny's supporters arrived at Bolotnaya square in central Moscow on Monday (September 9) to demand the second round in the Moscow mayoral vote and to protest against what they believe was a rigged election.
    "Initially I was handing out (agitation) newspapers in the metro for three days and understood that probably there is a chance to change something. Because I will be 47 in two days time and I can't live in this country anymore like this, but I don't want to leave either. That's why I came here," said one of Navalny's supporters Olga Lozhkina.
    Protesters said they wanted to know what their next steps should be.
    "We hope to hear from the candidate what the next actions should be. We would prefer it to be legal, but something we could transform into new actions," another Navalny's supporter Alexei Navalny said on Monday he didn't accept the results of the vote.
    Nearly complete results showed that the acting mayor Sergei Sobyanin, an ally of President Vladimir Putin, won Moscow's mayoral election on Sunday (September 8), narrowly clearing the 50 percent barrier needed to win outright.
    But Navalny said the results had been falsified and that his campaign team's figures showed Sobyanin had fallen short of the mark in Sunday's voting, meaning the two should face each other in a second-round runoff.
    The pro-Navalny rally Monday evening took place on the same Moscow square where he helped lead anti-Putin protests that erupted following allegations of widespread fraud in a December 2011 parliamentary election won by Putin's ruling party.
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