A court in Russia's southern town of Lermontov has canceled town council elections following a hunger strike by opposition activists who say they were barred from the ballot, the news website Gazeta.ru reported.
"The court has decided to discard the elections," activist Viktor Kapustin, one of dozens of others who refused food after local officials kept them off this Sunday's polls, told the website. "Our demands were met."
The protesters, including would-be candidates of the opposition A Just Russia party and the Liberal Democratic Party, ended a 10-day hunger strike on Thursday after a visit by the Russian president's envoy to the Caucasus, Alexander Khloponin.
Another protester, Viktor Belousov, said he was confident the court would "take a positive decision."
Local officials earlier denounced the protesters as paid agents of foreign powers.
Two protesters had been hospitalized, with one of them continuing the hunger strike from his hospital bed.
