The only real competitor of Pushilin was removed from the elections in the DPR
The hero of the Russian Spring, Pavel Gubarev, was not allowed to participate in the elections for the head of the DPR. The corresponding decision was announced today by the Central Election Commission of the republic. Thus, the last candidate who could compete with the acting candidate has been removed from the election campaign. Head of the DPR Denis Pushilin. Earlier, another of his rivals, former head of the Security Council Alexander Khodakovsky, said that he was not allowed to cross the border when he was traveling from the Russian Federation to register as a candidate.
Chairman of the DPR Central Election Commission Olga Pozdnyakova stated that Gubarev provided incorrect data on income and property, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“For one candidate, Gubarev, there is a discrepancy between the data provided by him and the results of the audit by the Ministry of Revenue and Duties,” the chairman said.
The second reason for non-admission was complaints about the signature sheets for Gubarev.
“The inspection showed the large-scale nature of all kinds of violations in each of the cities and districts where signatures were collected. Handwriting experts discovered a significant number of signatures and dates of signatures that were made by the same person. The Migration Service provided data on people who are not registered at the addresses indicated in the signature sheets. Members of the commission, conducting address checks, were personally convinced of the unreliability of the data; in some cases, entire streets were missing, on which, according to the signature sheets, voters who had put their signatures should have been registered,” Pozdnyakova said.
“Taking into account the above, the Central Election Commission recognized 1 signatures in support of Valentin Spiridonov and 081 signatures in support of Pavel Gubarev as invalid,” she stated.
Thus, the only known candidate, Denis Pushilin, has been allowed to take part in the DPR elections, which are scheduled to take place in early November. The ballots will also include the names of Roman Khromenkov, Elena Shishkina, Vladimir Medvedev, Roman Evstefeev.
Gubarev himself has already stated that the reason for his removal is supposedly fear of competition from Pushilin’s headquarters.
“...Pushilin’s advisers are well aware of the unpopularity of their “single and uncontested” candidate and fear for low voting results if my name is on the ballot. ...The CEC is completely controlled by Pushilin: five members of the CEC were selected by the parliament from among the staff of the apparatus in the People's Council (when he was the head of the National Assembly), and five people were appointed by Pushilin to the position of Acting Head of the DPR. I don’t hope for the procedure for appealing the CEC’s decision to remove me from the elections for the same reason,” Gubarev said in a statement.
A volunteer from Russia, a participant in the defense of Slavyansk, Alexander Zhuchkovsky, believes that the “Family” - the entourage of the fugitive ex-President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych - is betting on Pushilin.
“...Zakharchenko still associated himself with the Russian Spring and was exclusively pro-Russian. The same cannot be said about Pushilin. One cannot expect him to form his own counter-elite - he is not an ideological person, not independent, and is not a strong political figure. He is a protege of the Family, and will make all personnel decisions on its instructions,” Zhuchkovsky writes in his Telegram channel.
“...The risk of surrendering the LDPR to Ukraine is increasing, since the “family members” are pro-Ukrainian, and an independent DPR is not a value for them. That is, with a possible weakening of Moscow’s control over them, the process of returning the entire Donbass to Ukraine may become irreversible,” the militiaman warns.
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