RYBKIN'S SUPPORTERS FILE SUBSCRIPTION LIST WITH CENTRAL ELECTION COMMISSION

MOSCOW, January 27, 2004 (RIA Novosti correspondent Nikolai Makarov) - A group of voters, which was set up to support Ivan Rybkin as a candidate for the presidency, has started filing subscription lists with the Central Election Commission (CEC).

A total of 2.5 million signatures in Ivan Rybkin's support will be filed with the commission, said a group activist.

The deadline for submitting the signatures is set at January 28, 6 p.m. Moscow time. Since presidential hopeful Anzori Aksentyev withdrew from the upcoming race on Tuesday, three candidates (Sergei Glazyev, Irina Khakamada and Vladimir Bryntsalov) have not as of yet submitted the lists.

Under Russian law, CEC has 10 days to check on the lists. The randomly sampled signatures are to be tested by experts. Then the commission decides to grant or deny a candidate registration.

The names of all presidential hopefuls will have been published by February 9, while the presidential poll will take place on March 14.

Ivan Rybkin was the Russian Security Council Secretary in 1996-2000, and now he is the leader of the Liberal Russia party.