The Central Election Commission said Wednesday that it saw no reason to annul the results of a disputed mayoral election that has electrified the political opposition.
Mayoral candidate Oleg Shein, who received 30 percent of the vote, compared to 60 percent for the United Russia-backed winner, has been on a hunger strike over the results since March 16.
"Most of Shein's claims of violations do not match the facts," Leonid Ivlev, deputy head of the Central Election Commission, said at a meeting to discuss the mayoral election.
"There are no grounds for the Central Election Commission to cancel the results of the election," he said, Interfax reported.
Election officials earlier urged Shein to turn to the courts to resolve his complaint.
President-elect Vladimir Putin expressed the same opinion Wednesday. Putin said in answer to a question at the State Duma on Wednesday that if election violations are discovered to have taken place in the disputed election that would affect the results, a court should annul the tally.
“As far as I know, Oleg Shein began a hunger strike but did not go to court. Honestly, it's a little strange. Why starve? Perhaps a court will still investigate and everyone will agree with the results of that investigation,” Putin said in answer to a question from Just Russia parliamentarian Yelena Drapeko.
Following Putin's response, the entire Just Russia fraction left the Duma hall.
Shein and 20 supporters stopped eating three weeks ago to draw attention to what they call a fraudulent election. Their protest has galvanized the opposition, which has organized mass protests over purported fraud in the State Duma elections in December and the presidential vote last month.