Russian candidate barred from presidential election

Officials from Russia's electoral commission reported irregularities in more than a quarter of the signatures collected in support of Grigory Yavlinsky.

Independent candidates, whose parties failed to get into parliament, have to collect two million signatures to take part in the 4 March election.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is widely expected to become president again. Yavlinsky, 59, was not considered a major rival to Mr Putin, who is seeking a third term as president.

Officials check at least 400,000 signatures presented for each candidate and if more than 5% are found to be irregular the candidate is disqualified.

Billionaire businessman Mikhail Prokhorov, another independent candidate, called the disqualification of Yavlinsky "a blow to the legitimacy of the elections".

Mr Yavlinsky insisted that "all the signatures are authentic".

His leadership of the liberal Yabloko party dates back to the 1990s when he challenged Boris Yeltsin for the presidency. But recent opinion polls have put his support at under 5%.

Claims of vote-rigging in the December parliamentary vote sparked protests across Russia against Putin and his United Russia party.

The governor of Irkutsk region in Siberia, Dmitry Mezentsev, was also barred from running in the presidential election on Friday.

So far the officials have approved the candidatures of Putin of United Russia, Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov, nationalist Liberal Democrat Party leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky, Sergei Mironov of A Just Russia and Prokhorov.