The Russian Communist Party presented a pair of scissors to Central Election Commission head Vladimir Churov on Friday, calling on him to live up to his promise and get rid of his beard following reports of mass fraud in December parliamentary elections, Communist lawmaker Anatoly Lokot said.
Back in 2007, ahead of parliamentary elections in December that year, Churov vowed to shave his long, bushy beard if the vote was unfair.
However, as the CEC disagreed with Western monitors’ assessment of the polls as “unfair” and “undemocratic,” Churov has kept his beard.
As mass protests swept across Russia in December 2011 over alleged mass violations in favor of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party in December 4 parliamentary vote, Churov has faced unprecedented pressure from protesters and the opposition who have urged him to resign.
“Churov once promised to shave his beard if there are violations [in the polls],” Lokot said after presenting the scissors to Churov as he was delivering a report on the conduct of the elections at the Russian parliament’s lower house.
“I told him that the scale of violations is so huge that he should fulfill his promise and shave his beard,” the lawmaker said, adding: “I put the pair of scissors into a box after sharpening it and cleaning it with cologne water.”
“When I was presenting it, Churov asked: are they good? I said I’d sharpened it myself,” the lawmaker added.
