Russia's Central EC rejects Alexei Navalny's bid to run against President Putin next year

Russia's Central Election Commission has unanimously rejected top opposition figure Alexei Navalny's bid to run against President Vladimir Putin next year. The commission voted 12 to zero in barring Navalny from the presidential election, citing a controversial embezzlement conviction



for which he received a five year suspended sentence. 

The decision prompted the 41-year-old protest leader--who maintains that the court case against him was fabricated for political reasons to call for a boycott of the election.