The candidates for the mayor position of Nefteyugansk, Nizhnevartovsk and Pyt-Yakh cities in Russia have asked to be kept secret their name, citing the law "On protection of personal data". The electoral commissions in these cities agree that this situation is absurd, but accepted the wishes of the candidates and, after they registered them in the electoral race, failed to display their identity.

For example, in the town of Pyt-Yakh, where elections are to be held on October 21, the voters still do not know the names of the candidates for the office of mayor. The admission committee said, to znak.com that it has received documents from four candidates for mayor, but none of them wanted to make their name public. "All we can say is that they registered four candidates. All of them asked to remain anonymous, indicating this thing in their applications. The procedure for submission of documents will last until October 19," stated the officials from electoral commission. 

A similar situation is observed in the neighboring town Nefteyugansk, where the period of submission of documents ended on October 15. Half of those who enrolled in the electoral commission asked not to be disclosed their identity. The press, however, learned the names of candidates.  

In Nizhnevartovsk, where these days is conducted the registration process in the electoral race, are now registered nine candidates for mayor position of the city. These nine candidates as well asked not to be disclosed their identity.

"We understand the absurdity of this story and the fact that is inconsistent with slogans about the transparency of the electoral process, declaimed by Kremlin. For us it is a paradox when a person applies for participation in an open electoral contest for mayor of a big city and at the same time, wants to remain incognito. Probably the candidate does not want anyone to know about his plans seize on the power until he will win", stated a member of the election commission.