Navalny Named As Candidate For Moscow Mayor

Aleksei Navalny (center) addressed the meeting after winning its nomination

Russia's Parnas party has forwarded anticorruption blogger and opposition figure Aleksei Navalny as its candidate for Moscow mayor.

Russian news agencies reported on June 14 that the party met and endorsed Navalny as their candidate by a vote of 88 to eight.

Navalny was at the party session. In his acceptance speech, he said, "Now our goal is to pry the city from the grip of United Russia," President Vladimir Putin's party.

Two other people filed documents to run for mayor of the Russian capital on June 14.

Rock musician Sergei "the Spider" Troitsky handed in his registration forms as did the chairwoman of the Volya party, Svetlana Peunova.

Two other people have also registered for the race in which the incumbent, Sergei Sobyanin, is a heavy favorite to win.

One candidate who did not throw his hat in the ring, as some expected, was Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov.

Based on reporting by ITAR-TASS and Interfax