Prokhorov: Navalny’s performance phenomenal but I would have won in first round

Mikhail Prokohrov file photo

(Interfax – MOSCOW, September 9, 2013) Election performance of opposition candidate Alexei Navalny was phenomenal, Civil Platform party leader Mikhail Prokhorov said, adding that he could have defeated Acting Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin already in the first round.

“The preliminary result of Alexei (Navalny) makes me think that they (the authorities) must have realized there would have not been any second round of voting if I had run in that election,” he said on a live broadcast of the Nedelya program anchored by Marianna Maximovskaya, which was aired by the RenTV channel on Monday.

The anchor asked Prokhorov if he meant he could have defeated Sobyanin in the first round. “Frankly, I have no doubts about that now,” Prokhorov said.

Alexei Navalny file photo

file photo

“I think that Navalny’s performance is simply phenomenal considering the low voter turnout, which, in particular, was caused by the absence of a Civil Platform candidate. No one expected him to produce such results,” Prokhorov said.

However, he said they should wait for final ballot reports.

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