Navalny urges residents of the Caucasus not demean themselves at election

Alexei Navalny, an oppositional politician, has urged residents of Dagestan, Chechnya, Ingushetia, Kabardino-Balkaria and North Ossetia to monitor the course of the presidential election and expose the deception with the traditionally high figures of voter turnout.

After the Russian Central Election Commission (CEC) refused to register Navalny as a presidential candidate, he urges his supporters to boycott the election.

A video appeal of Alexei Navalny to residents of the republics of Northern Caucasus is posted on the YouTube. He states that for many years these republics have showed doubtfully high voter turnout.

"Local authorities are inventing figures and then declare: 82% of voters have come to ballot boxes in Tatarstan! And Ingushetia answers to them: but we have 86%! And Dagestan reports: but we have 91%! And, finally, Chechnya reports: but we have 99.6%! And all the 100% of republics' residents know that this is a fake," says Navalny.

He believes that not all the residents of the above republics are happy with the situation, since the high voter turnout became the topic for "humiliating jokes".

Mr Navalny has stressed that the election observation in national republics and Northern Caucasus, in his opinion, is "most important", since "even fewer people come to the polls there than in the rest of Russia."

At the 2016 elections, Chechnya had the highest voter turnout in Russia; and the "Edinaya Rossiya" (United Russia) Party won most of the votes.