Three Russian opposition figures go on hunger strike

Three Russia opposition activists have gone on hunger strike in Novosibirsk to protest authorities' decision to disqualify them from a local election.
Leonid Volkov, campaign chief for the opposition, and candidates Yegor Savin and Sergei Boyko began the strike today after the election commission in Russia's third-largest city did not accept the signatures they submitted to register to run in the upcoming local legislature vote.
Volkov wrote in his blog that the protest will continue until the Central Election Commission reviews their case. He contested the commission's decision which found faults with over 1,300 signatures of the more than 11,600 they submitted.

The opposition viewed the regional campaign ahead of the September vote as a dress rehearsal for next year's parliamentary election.