Opposition election goes on online in spite of constant hacker attacks
MOSCOW. Oct 22 (Interfax) - More than 70,000 Russians have cast their votes for the opposition Coordination Council, the opposition Central Election Committee posted on Twitter.
"As of 10 a.m. Moscow time, 70,000 people have cast their votes and 96,400 have been cleared to elect the Council," it said.
The Committee noted that the ballot would continue until 8 p.m. on Monday.
Committee Head Leonid Volkov said on Sunday that the electoral website had been stable in spite of the continuing DDos attacks.
The extra-systemic opposition is electing its collegial body, the Coordination Council.
Left Front coordinator Sergei Udaltsov proposed to form the Coordination Council before a protest action of late January. Detailed information about the Coordination Council goals, the voting procedure and candidates is available on the opposition Central Election Committee website.
The Council will be elected online by cleared voters and by people who would show their passports at numerous polling stations in practically all regions of Russia and seven foreign cities: Washington DC, Dresden, London, Munich, New York City, Paris and Prachuap Khiri Khan, Thailand.
Candidates include opposition members Alexei Navalny, Sergei Udaltsov, Garri Kasparov, Yevgenia Chirikova, Boris Nemtsov and Ilya Yashin, television personalities Xenia Sobchak, Tatiana Lazareva and Mikhail Shats, journalists Sergei Parkhomenko and Tikhon Dzyadko, writer Dmitry Bykov, theater and film director Vladimir Mirzoyev and former Russian presidential advisor Andrei Illarionov.
Two days before the election, A Just Russia deputy Ilya Ponomaryov, writer Lyudmila Ulitskaya and journalist Irina Yasina withdrew their candidatures for various reasons.
