Moscow elections commission won't hold talks with Navalny - commission head
MOSCOW. Sept 9 (Interfax) - All contacts between the Moscow city elections commission and opposition figure Alexei Navalny will be conducted in the framework of the law, not at the negotiating table, commission head Valentin Gorbunov has said.
"As for talks, I understand, of course, that Mr. Navalny is a businessman and in business the custom is - a table, talks, partners, sides. In my practice - and I have engaged in election law all my life - talks about nothing are never held," Gorbunov told the press on Monday.
"Candidates may sit down, political parties can agree and form some blocs but relations between candidates and elections commissions are strictly regulated by law," he said.
Earlier on Monday Navalny twitted that he was ready to hold talks with Sergei Sobyanin who won the Sunday election.
"Our demands at the talks will be simple and clear and based on law - pubic and open vote recounting and analysis of video recordings from all problematic polling stations," he noted. He also intended to demand a public check of all registers of applications for home voting and the cancellation of results there where the registers are improperly compiled.
Meanwhile, Sobyanin's team has said that such talks lie beyond its competence while the purity of the campaign results has been confirmed by independent monitors.