Billionaire politician Mikhail Prokhorov has challenged the candidacy of lawyer Alexei Navalny for the Moscow mayoral election, saying that he would not be able to cope with the demands of the job, a news report said Monday.
The Civil Platform party leader Prokhorov, who last week pulled out of the mayoral race, also said that he could not be reconciled with Navalny's nationalist leanings, Interfax reported.
"Alexei is a courageous guy. He's got drive, he's a genuine fighter, and I like that in him," Prokhorov told NTV television. "He is a fantastic, if you like, cleaner, corruption fighter, but as a creator he is weak," Prokhorov said.
"He has never managed anyone," Prokhorov said. "It is obvious that he wouldn't cope with the task of building up a management team able to manage a large organization such as the city of Moscow."
Prokhorov also pointed to policy differences with Navalny, who has risen to prominence as a charismatic leader and activist. Navalny "has made some very harsh statements on the subject of nationality and nationalism," said Prokhorov, "and on this I cannot agree with him."
Prokhorov said that since the result of the election is a foregone conclusion, he might cast his vote for Sergei "the Spider" Troitsky, the frontman of rock group Korroziya Metalla. If Troitsky was able to register, he said, the elections would at least be "more fun."
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