Head of CEC of Dagestan: election in Derbent passed under the law

Magomed Dibirov, chairman of the central electoral commission (CEC) of Dagestan, said today that the elections in Derbent and other municipal formations of the republic have been recognized valid, and no violations have been registered.

He has stated that local electoral commissions have summed up the election totals.

Felix Kaziahmedov, nominee of the "Edinaya Rossiya" Party and the current holder of the post, was elected Mayor of Derbent by winning more than 67 percent of votes.

The head of the Dagestan CEC refuted the information that the election of the head of Derbent had been cancelled by the court and recognized invalid.

According to Mr Dibirov, on the voting day - October 11 - not a single application or complaint on violation of suffrage was lodged to local electoral commissions.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that Yaraliev and two other candidates for the Mayor of Derbent addressed the court with an application demanding to nullify the outcomes, because many polling stations were closed. Their statement of claim lists other violations: for example, two cases of stealing ballot papers from the premises of local commissions, and the fact of kidnapping of Murad Muradov, head of local electoral commission No. 30.

After receipt of this statement, the court of Derbent suspended the process of summing up the totals at all stations. However, the local branch of "Edinaya Rossiya" reported that court marshals "were somewhat late": when they brought the court ruling, the Mayor's Certificate had been allegedly handed over to Kaziakhmedov.

"The CEC of Dagestan believes that by passing this ruling the judge surpassed the bounds of the legislation regulating the order of consideration and deciding on such kind of cases. Under our information, yesterday this ruling officially arrived to the CEC, and today the CEC is going to appeal against it at the higher judicial instance, i.e., at the Supreme Court of Dagestan," Magomed Dibirov has noted.

Meanwhile, the Dagestan Department of the Federal Service of Court Marshals told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that "OMON fighters prevented the court marshals from enforcing the ruling of the court in Derbent."