KHABAROVSK, Russia -- A son of the jailed former governor of Russia's Far Eastern region of Khabarovsk has been denied registration for next month's parliamentary elections.
Khabarovsk's election commission on August 13 announced its decision regarding the application of Anton Furgal, saying that some 5,000 of almost 15,800 signatures of the hopeful's supporters were not valid due to numerous issues, including using "a wrong ink color."
Furgal, 29, said he will appeal the decision.
His father, Sergei Furgal of the nationalist Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, was elected in 2018 to the post of the region's governor in a runoff that he won handily against the longtime incumbent from the Kremlin-backed ruling United Russia party.
His arrest in July 2020 on charges of involvement in two murders in 2004-05 sparked mass protests in the capital, Khabarovsk, and several other towns and cities in the region by his supporters almost daily for many months.
The protests highlighted growing discontent in the Far East over what demonstrators see as Moscow-dominated policies that often neglect their views and interests.
On September 19, Russia will vote to choose members of the Russian parliament's lower chamber, the State Duma, 39 regional parliaments, and nine regional governors.
In the run-up to the elections, the Kremlin has cracked down on opposition political figures and independent media as the popularity of United Russia and President Vladimir Putin has been declining amid Kremlin efforts to deal with an economy suffering from the coronavirus pandemic and years of ongoing international sanctions.
