The Election Commission of Noyabrsk refused to register Lyubov and Elvina Bondarchuk, the mother and wife of acting opposition deputy Alexander Bondarchuk, for the City Duma election. This information was shared with "7x7" by a source close to the politician.
Some signatures collected in support of Lyubov and Elvina Bondarchuk's bid were deemed invalid. The working group of the territorial election commission also invalidated all 19 signatures endorsing Alexander Bondarchuk's candidacy. According to the "7x7" source, the signatures were considered unreliable due to errors in the writing of certain voters' names: for example, in some names, the working group read F instead of R and Y instead of K.
A decision on whether to bar the deputy from the election has not yet been made. The family plans to appeal the registration denial in court. Previously, the election commission refused registration to Bondarchuk's children, Denis and Emilia.
Alexander Bondarchuk also fears detainment. He claims that the police have started following him. Recently, law enforcement officers came to the shop where the politician was collecting signatures and demanded footage from the surveillance cameras. Bondarchuk also suspects that his apartment has been bugged.
This year, Alexander Bondarchuk has submitted his candidacy for the election along with his family members to increase the number of independent deputies in the City Duma. The authorities nominated a representative of the City Hall and Alexander's namesake, Maria Bondarchuk, to compete against the oppositionist.
On Monday, July 29, police officers detained Alexander Bondarchuk and drew up an administrative report based on the Anti-Corruption Foundation* (FBK) symbol published on the politician's fake page on VKontakte. The court fined him 1,000 rubles. If Bondarchuk does not appeal the fine before the election, he will not be able to run for deputy.