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Russian Opposition Candidate To End 40-Day Hunger Strike


Oleg Shein
Oleg Shein
A Russian opposition politician who has been on a hunger strike for 39 days to protest alleged vote rigging in a mayoral election says he will end his protest fast on April 24.

Oleg Shein, a candidate in the March 4 election in the city of Astrakhan, said, "the hunger strike has achieved its goals."

Official results show Shein finished second in an mayoral election that was won by a candidate from President-elect Vladimir Putin's ruling United Russia party.

Shein and his supporters launched a hunger strike on March 16 against what they called vote-count irregularities.

Putin earlier this month asked why Shein was on a hunger strike instead of challenging the official results in court, prompting lawmakers from Shein's A Just Russia party to walk out of parliament.

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"Watchdog" is a blog with a singular mission -- to monitor the latest developments concerning human rights, civil society, and press freedom. We'll pay particular attention to reports concerning countries in RFE/RL's broadcast region.

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