Tiraspol, 5 December. /Novosti Pridnestrovya/. The Supreme Court has upheld a decision made by the Tiraspol Municipal Court to abolish Gennady Kuzmichyov’s registration as a presidential candidate. The decision was made on 1 December 2016 following V. V. Maymust's report on the absence of masthead on the top side of some campaign materials.
Kuzmichyov lodged an appeal to the Supreme Court, whose session lasted for two hours today. Journalists were not admitted to the court's room. Upon the end of the session, the candidate's representative Sergey Braga wrote on Facebook: «Kuzmichyov has been removed from elections.»
The former candidate himself told his supporters, who met him near the court's building, that «we fought till the end» and «did everything right».
«Today all the arguments have been rejected on various formal grounds. The court does not hear the gist [of the problem], is not guided by the spirit of the law. We've been withdrawn in the most impudent way, which means they are afraid [of us], do not want [us to run]. I think we'll continue this struggle anyway — we'll later inform you about the form of it," said Kuzmichyov, thanking his supporters.
As the chair of the Central Election Commission, Yelena Gorodetskaya, noted in an interview with our agency, the court's decision comes into force from today. This means that tomorrow voters taking part in early voting will be able to choose among six and not seven official candidates.
«Only candidates with such a status can be voted for. Gennady Kuzmichyov does not have this status any longer; therefore, his surname will be crossed out from the ballot paper," she explained.
Also, from this day on the former candidate is prohibited from campaigning.
