A United Russia politician has been re-elected to his seat in the Tver city government, despite being forced to disclose his rape conviction to the local electorate.
Voters were confronted by entrepreneur
Anton Sekerzhitsky's criminal past when they went to the polls on
Sunday.
"United Russia are running low on resources," one local woman wrote on Twitter. "They ran out of thieves, so now they're starting with the rapists."
Sekerzhitsky, who was convicted of rape in 1997, was still able to secure 31 percent of the vote. He was previously part of the Tver city government's anti-corruption committee.
Sunday's elections saw a landslide for the ruling United Russia party, who built on their majority in Russia's lower house of parliament, the State Duma. The event also saw local officials elected across the country.
Under Russian law, all candidates running for office must disclose their criminal convictions on the ballot paper.
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