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Russian Opposition Supporters Elect Leaders Online


Opposition blogger Aleksei Navalny won the most support in an unprecedented online poll.
Opposition blogger Aleksei Navalny won the most support in an unprecedented online poll.
Supporters of the Russian opposition to President Vladimir Putin have elected new leaders in an unprecedented online vote.

More than 80,000 people cast their votes in the election that ended on October 22.

The vote was extended over three days instead of the planned two after cyber attacks brought down the servers on October 20.

Voting was held both online and at polling stations across a handful of Russian regions.

Opposition supporters chose 45 members of a Coordinating Council from among 200 candidates.

Organizers said anticorruption blogger Aleksei Navalny secured most support with more than 43,700 votes.

Other prominent opposition figures elected to the council included Dmitry Bykov and Garry Kasparov.

Their task will be to unite the often fractious opposition and reinvigorate the anti-Putin protest movement.

Based on reporting by Reuters, AP, and Interfax

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