Press Release, 14.09.2022

Photo: Yabloko campaign leaflets “For Peace!” and “For Peace and Freedom!”

Elections were held in a number of Russian regions on 11 September. 462 Yabloko candidates took part in election campaigns in 12 regions. 2,167,203 voters had the opportunity to vote for peace, against the policy pursued by the current Russian authorities, supporting the slogan of the Yabloko candidates “FOR PEACE AND FREEDOM!”

In the municipal elections in Moscow, many candidates from Yabloko were leading during voting at  polling stations, but the results of remote electronic voting “downgraded” most of them several positions down, depriving them of their mandates. However, the remote electronic voting was unable to take away the victory from four Yabloko candidates.

Thus, Vasily Dikarev, a researcher at the Lomonosov Moscow State University, was elected in the Yakimanka district of Moscow. Dikarev has been deputy of the Council of Yakimanka since 2017, and was rated first at the polling stations of the district. However, after the votes received through the remote electronic voting were counted, Dikarev dropped to the fourth place, but retained his mandate.

Anatoly Zakharov, a candidate in the Bogorodskoye district of Moscow, professional manager and IT entrepreneur, managed to become a deputy. Zakharov came third as of the votes cast at polling stations, but the remote electronic voting moved him one position down, but failed to deprive him of his mandate.

The programmer Vladimir Shomin became a deputy from Yabloko in the Gagarinsky district of Moscow. According to the results of the ordinary voting, Shomin came first in the district. After the counting of the remote electronic votes, our candidate was downgraded to the third position.

In Preobrazhensky district of Moscow, Olga Lapshina, an employee of the Moscow Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, became a deputy. She received the majority of votes in her constituency, but remote electronic voting rated her fifth.

In the Sverdlovsk region in the Urals, Yabloko received a mandate in the Duma of the Sukhoi Log urban district. Yabloko candidate and entrepreneur Vladimir Sevostyanov was elected to the Duma. Sevostyanov finished fifth out of 16 in his constituency: 23.89% of the votes were cast for him.

In the Krasnoyarsk Territory, Siberia, Alexander Zagainov, a current deputy of the Esaul village Council of Deputies in the Berezovsky district, retained his mandate. Zagainov, a woodworking factory worker and a Yabloko candidate, finished fifth out of 16 in the constituency, receiving 23.32% of the vote.

In Pskov, North-West Russia, Yabloko, according to the official data, received 9.04% of the vote in the elections to the City Duma and came third. Yabloko as a party of peace was supported by 3,003 people, remote electronic voting inclusive. According to the single electoral list of the party, Tatyana Pasman, a teacher and educator, who has represented Yabloko in the city parliament for the past eight months, gets the deputy mandate in the Pskov City Duma.

The achievements of Yabloko in other municipalities of the Pskov region are as follows:

Bezhanitsky district: 8.23%, 1 mandate;

Gdovsky district 21.70%, Yabloko came second, 3 mandates (including Alexander Konashenkov who won in a single-mandate constituency);

Dnovsky district: 7.4%, 1 mandate;

Krasnogorodsky district: 6.15%, 1 mandate;

Loknyansky district: 7.45%, 1 mandate;

Novorzhevsky district: 8.41%, 1 mandate;

Novosokolnichesky district: 6.06%, 1 mandate;

Opochetsky district: 7.97%, 1 mandate;

Pustoshkinsky district: 7.64%, 1 mandate;

Pushkinogorsky district: 6.08%, 1 mandate;

Usvyatsky district: 8.90%, Yabloko came second, 2 mandates.

Fifteen leaders of  Yabloko teams become deputies. The names of the deputies from Yabloko will be announced later, as the counting of votes continues in the region and the several mandates have been pending.

“The Yabloko Party and its candidates participated in the election campaign, realising that we are participating in the elections, which are held in the regime of a special military operation launched on 24 February, 2022. Our candidates were not allowed to be nominated through application of new laws, and they were removed after the nomination (every fifth candidate in the elections in Moscow was removed). Nevertheless, Yabloko will continue to work in Russian politics so that to defend and promote the stance that millions of Russians support and present a European democratic alternative to the current dead-end course,” Yabloko Chairman Nikolai Rybakov commented on the results of the election campaign.