ASTRAKHAN, July 19 - RAPSI. All four of Astrakhan's district courts have refused to recognize the March mayoral elections as unlawful in lawsuits filed by A Just Russia candidate Oleg Shein, the plaintiff told RIA Novosti on Thursday.

The reason for the dismissals has yet to be presented.

Shein lost the elections to United Russia candidate Mikhail Stolyarov.

Shein disagreed with the election results, claiming that the vote counting procedure had been violated. He then went on hunger strike together with his supporters for 40 days. He sued the city's election committee in April, seeking to invalidate the election results.

Two months later, the court held against his lawsuit and advised him to file lawsuits against the local election committees in the city's four district courts.
Shein followed the advice. This week, all four courts dismissed his claims.

Shein has yet to receive the statements of motivation.

Having anticipated the outcome, he said that he is ready to file an appeal with the Astrakhan Regional Court and to send his complaint to the European Court of Human Rights in September.