Press Release, 2.08.2021

Photo from the official web-site of the Central Electoral Commission of the RF

On 2 August, the Central Electoral Commission of Russia overturned the decision of the Electoral Commission of the Leningrad Region to remove Yabloko candidates Anton Gordyuk and Nikolai Prokudin from the elections to the regional parliament.

The Central Electoral Commission of Russia came to the conclusion that when removing Anton Gordyuk and Nikolai Prokudin from the elections, the Electoral Commission of the Leningrad Region was guided by the formal norm of the regional law and ignored the fundamental principles of electoral law. “The regional law is in conflict with the Federal Law, our principles and the ruling of the Constitutional Court,” said Ella Pamfilova, Chair of the Central Electoral Commission of Russia.

“The Electoral Commission of the Leningrad Region has grossly violating the law and, from this point of view, was acting unreasonably and unlawfully. Perhaps that is why the decision of the regional electoral commission did not contain a single argument,” Boris Ebzeyev, a member of the Central Electoral Commission of Russia and a retired judge of the Constitutional Court, said.

It should be noted that on 23 July, the Electoral Commission of the Leningrad Region did not believe the two Yabloko candidates that they were real Yabloko party members and excluded them from the party list of candidates to the regional parliament.

The Central Electoral Commission of Russia ordered the regional electoral commission to re-consider the applications for the registration of the two Yabloko candidates. Ella Pamfilova also called for bringing the regional law in line with the principles that govern the Central Electoral Commission and most of regional commissions.