Russia's elections head threatened on air to sue anyone who brought up an incident during the disputed 2011 parliamentary elections in which state TV showed voting figures that added up to 146 percent, the Russian News Service reported Thursday.
Vladimir Churov, chairman of Russia's Central Elections Committee, suggested that the incident was a deliberate provocation ordered by the special services of foreign countries to tarnish Russia's reputation. Churov added that the TV employee behind the deliberate miscalculation was now in "a good position abroad."
"I have publicly reiterated that the Central Elections Committee never had 146 percent [as a combined percentage of votes]," Churov told the Russian News Service. "This was a special operation aimed at discrediting the election, and it was not thought up by us."
Russia's 2011 parliamentary elections, which some international observers said were fraudulent, sparked a wave of mass street protests in Moscow and in other Russian cities.
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