Central Election Committee rejected appeals of candidates for presidency Khakamada and Kharitonov

Russian Central Election Committee refused to satisfy the appeals of Irina Khakamada and Nikolai Kharitonov.
They claimed that Russian legislation had been violated by broadcasting the meeting of Vladimir Putin with his authorized representatives on the national TV Channels February 12.
 
According to the Central Election Committee resolution, First Channel and Russian TV Channel “broadcast in their news programs the election campaign event of presidential candidate Vladimir Putin “on their own initiative”.
 
 "Speech of Mr. Putin was fundamental and of big interest to the public, therefore there are grounds to consider the purpose of TV Channels as informing the voters, not conducting propaganda for the candidate”, states the resolution.

At the same time the Committee wrote “giving information on the election campaign should not violate the equality between the candidates”.
 
The Central Election Committee refused to satisfy the appeals of Kharitonov and Khakamada and “took into account the claims of First Channel and Russian TV Channel promising to inform the public of the election campaign of all the registered presidential candidates in accordance with law”.
 
The Central Election Committee requested the TV Channels management “strictly comply with federal legislation, including impartial informing the public on the election campaign”.

Source: RIA-Novosti