Russia's Central Election Commission (CEC) will not annul the results of the mayoral election in the southern city of Astrakhan, where an opposition candidate has been on a hunger strike almost a month demanding a re-run, CEC deputy head said on Wednesday.
"Despite electoral violations which took place during Astrakhan's elections, they were held in accordance with the law," Leonid Ivlev told reporters in Moscow.
"There are no grounds for the central election commission to initiate their annulment."
Ivlev also urged Oleg Shein, who, according to the official result of the March 4 election, lost to the pro-Kremlin mayoral candidate Mikhail Stolyarov, to "return to the legal field."
Shein alleged violations at more than a half of Astrakhan's 203 polling stations and and launched a hunger strike. He and several supporters have refused food for 27 days.
Shein, who belongs to the leftist A Just Russia party, has been denied access to video recordings made by webcams at polling sites.
CEC earlier said it had registered widespread violations at the Astrakhan vote.
Prosecutors in Astrakhan, some 1,440 kilometers south of Moscow, have also admitted there were violations but said they did not affect the outcome of the election which was held on the same day as the presidential vote won by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
Speaking during his last speech to parliament as prime minister on Wednesday, Putin said the dispute in Astrakhan was a matter for the courts.
Opposition activists have staged several demonstrations in Shein's support have been held in Astrakhan, and a fresh protest in scheduled for Saturday.
Opposition figurehead Alexei Navalny has joined the Astrakhan protesters.
A six-member delegation from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) arrives in Moscow on Wednesday for a three-day post-election visit.
In a press release, PACE said the delegation will meet with lower house speaker Sergei Naryshkin and Central Election Commission head Vladimir Churov, as well as with leaders of both parliamentary and non-parliamentary parties and political groups.
