The Republic of Bashkortostan's Electoral Commission has revoked the registration of State Duma deputy Aleksandr Arinin as a candidate in the presidential election scheduled for 14 June, ``Kommersant-Daily'' reported on 7 May. Officials say the republican branch of the Interior Ministry found that seven percent of the signatures endorsing Arinin's candidacy were invalid, which exceeds the amount allowed under the republican electoral law. But Arinin claimed at a Moscow press conference that police went from door to door and forced people to disavow their signatures in support of his candidacy. Arinin, a member of the Our Home Is Russia faction, blamed incumbent President Murtaza Rakhimov, whom he described as ``the top policeman in a police state''. The Central Electoral Commission is sending a group of monitors to Bashkortostan to investigate the decision to exclude Arinin from the race. LB
7 мая 1998г. Радио ``Свобода'' / ``Свободная Европа'' --- Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty