Navalny: this election gives birth to genuine Russian opposition

(Interfax – September 10, 2013) No incidents occurred during the Monday rally staged by supporters of opposition activist Alexei Navalny, who ranked second in the Moscow mayoral elections, on Bolotnaya Square.

“This election has finally molded politics in Russia,” Navalny said at the rally.

He called his election result a victory. “I know that a third of Moscow voters cast their ballots in our favor, and I know that this is a victory. A large opposition, a genuine political movement has been born in Russia,” Navalny said.

He promised cooperation with other political movements. “With the Liberal Democratic Party, A Just Russia, Yabloko and the Communists, we will be working together and we are urging them to follow us and to become a united political force in Russia,” the opposition activist said.

Navalny repeated that his team insisted on a review of the Moscow mayoral election’s outcome and the holding of a second round of voting and said that the rally achieved its main goal: the Moscow city elections commission had agreed to process the complaints of his campaign staff about voting violations.

He also did not rule out his possible imprisonment.

“I know what they will do. They will sentence me to imprisonment or pass a suspended sentence. They will drag me through courts. But today we are witnessing the birth of a genuine political movement and we know what to do next,” he stressed.

A Kirov court sentenced Navalny on July 18 to five years in prison for embezzlements from the Kirovles enterprise. The other suspect, Pyotr Ofitserov, was sentenced to four years. Both were taken into custody and released on the same day with travel restrictions until the sentence came into effect.

Navalny ranked second in the September 8 mayoral elections in Moscow. The Moscow city elections commission said he had 27.24 percent of the vote. Acting Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin won the election. His official rating was 51.37 percent. Navalny disagreed with the election’s outcome and insisted on holding the second round of voting.

[featured image is file photo from past opposition political demonstration not directly related to Moscow mayoral election]