Penza, 20 January 2015. PenzaNews. Penza Communists declared their support for the decision of the court for a recount of votes at polling stations No. 32 and No. 33 of district No. 7, where the City Duma of the sixth convocation election results were canceled, and spoke in favor of the soonest implementation of this decision.

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“[...] The question of the recount is being constantly put off. The reason for this is the government's actions and Mr. Zhuravlev in particular. There is a paradoxical situation: deputy [Vasily] Zhuravlev considers himself a winner, confidently sits in his parliamentary seat in the City Duma, but is afraid of vote recount at two polling stations. It is obvious that, if he is so confident of victory, he should insist on the very process of the recount, but Mr. Zhuravlev is trying to prevent it by any means, including legal. This position calls into question the legitimacy of his election, and therefore the legitimacy of the entire City Duma. Quite vague is the position of the city electoral commission, which should be preoccupied with the soonest completion of the sensational case. We are convinced that the city electoral commission shall soon put an end in this case, otherwise it will always bare the burden of responsibility for the consequences, the greatest of which could be the next social unrest. After all, the voters, who are not satisfied with official results, have already expressed their readiness to protest,” reads the statement received by PenzaNews agency from Georgy Kamnev, first secretary of the regional committee of the Communist Party, member of the Legislative Assembly of the Penza region, on Tuesday, January 20.

It also noted that the office of the Penza regional Committee of the Communist Party, advocating for fair elections, insist on an objective resolution of the situation.

“We believe that the question of the legitimacy of the City Duma work is the main one, and the actions of the government, including Mr. Zhuravlev, thus give the reason to doubt this legitimacy,” the statement emphasizes.

As PenzaNews agency reported earlier, Monday, September 15, it became known that Penza Election Commission sent a request to the court for a partial cancellation of the voting in district No.7 — they questioned the validity of the ballots.

According to the regional election committee, in district No. 7 the votes are distributed as follows: Vasily Zhuravlev (United Russia) — 46,59%, Lyudmila Kolomytseva (self-nominated) — 46,52%, Anton Ishchenko (LDPR) — 2,15% and Timur Yusupov (Russian Party of National Control) — 1,64%.

The difference between the two closest rivals made only two voices: Vasily Zhuravlev received 1,453 ballots, Lyudmila Kolomytseva — 1,451.

Later it was reported that Lyudmila Kolomytseva expressed disagreement with the results of the vote counting at two polling stations and also sent a petition to the court.

During the meeting held on Friday, September 19, it was decided to combine the claims for co-production of one civil case.

On September 22, Oktyabrsky district court of Penza annulled election results to the City Duma of the sixth convocation at the polling stations No. 32 and No. 33, and ordered a recount.

On October 22, the first tier court decision on the case of Vasily Zhuravlev and United Russia party were countered.

On December 11, the court commission on administrative cases reviewed the complaints as well as a request from Elena Kosolapova, a person unrelated to the case. They disagreed with the decision of the Oktyabrsky regional court. All three complaints were left unsatisfied.

Moreover, the court discussion denied the decision of the city election committee to set the date of vote recount for the polling stations No. 32 and No. 33 of the district No. 7.

On December 25, Lyudmila Kolomytseva said the Penza region election committee attempts to delay the recount because they do not want to touch the election lists.