Kasparov gooit handdoek in de ringKasparov throws in the towel

Ex-world chess champion and leader of the Russian opposition Garry Kasparov is dropping his presidential bid. Today Kasparov said in Moscow that he's being hindered too much by the Russian government: "In all Moscow we have not been able to find a hall where our supporters could meet," he said. His movement had encountered problems obtaining premises for a meeting officially required for his candidacy to be put forward in time. Because of all the problems Kasparov has encountered to promote The Other Russia, Kasparov finishes his electoral campaign tomorrow.

Russian election law requires that a candidate who is not nominated by a political party with seats in parliament must get the support of an 'initiative group' meeting of at least 500 people. The election commission must be informed five days in advance of the initiative group meeting, meaning the meeting cannot take place later than Dec 13. "We pay and the people agree. There are no problems. And then they call us to say they are refusing, can't give us the hall any more," Kasparov said. "They refuse to give us the hall for technical reasons."

According to Kasparov, The Other Russia will continue to fight for "holding real elections in Russia". There will be presidential elections in early March, which will most probably be won by Dmitri Medvedev, the personal favourite of Putin himself.