Opposition leader banned from ballot

THE Russian elections commission has said that prominent opposition leader Grigory Yavlinsky will be disqualified from running for president in March, a move that would prevent his party from fielding observers.

Commission secretary Nikolai Konkin was quoted as saying that the body would formally block Mr Yavlinsky from the ballot later this week, after finding that hundreds of thousands of the signatures submitted on his nominating petition were invalid.

Mr Yavlinsky is a leader of the liberal Yabloko party and a critic of prime minister Vladimir Putin, who is seeking a return to the presidency in the 4 March election and is all but certain to win.