Election Commission Strikes Rival Candidates from Gubernatorial Ballot

TALAS — The Territorial Election Commission yesterday struck the main rival nominees from the ballot for next month's gubernatorial election, among them Pavel Gritsenko, an independent backed by trade unions in Nurzhan, and Arkady Melnikov, a Nurzhan businessman aligned with the Russo deputies in the legislature.

The commission applied rules adopted by the DPI majority this year, which require a candidate for Governor to submit 10,000 verified signatures of registered voters and to have lived in the ISEZ continuously for ten years before nomination. It said Gritsenko's nomination had fallen short of the verified signatures required after checks against the voter registers, and that Melnikov had not met the residence requirement. A commission member said the rules applied equally to all candidates.

Gritsenko's campaign said the disqualifications were "an election decided in advance" and that it would appeal. Opposition groups announced protests in Talas and Nurzhan. The election on 3 November is the first since the 2013 amendment removed the limit on gubernatorial terms. Governor Erlan Toktarov and Lieutenant Governor Daniyar Tologonov are standing again on the DPI ticket. The DPI said it welcomed "a lawful and orderly campaign".