Press Release, 6.04.2023

Photo: The Council of Deputies of Novosibirsk / Photo by gorsovetnsk.ru

The Novosibirsk regional branch of the Yabloko party submitted its initiatives to the organising committee of the Novosibirsk Council of Deputies within the frameworks of preparation for public hearings on the draft amendments to the city charter. Yabloko’s proposal is to leave unchanged the articles of the charter that provide for the direct election of the mayor.

It should be noted that the draft bill of the City Council emerged in March, after the February amendments to the regional law cancelling the election of heads of municipal districts in the Novosibirsk region. Yabloko asks city deputies to show political will and apply to the regional parliament with the initiative to return direct elections of heads of districts, including mayors of cities.

The regional branch of the Yabloko party believes that the draft decision of the Novosibirsk City Council regarding the abolition of direct elections of the mayor of the city undermines the foundations of local self-government and guarantees of the rights of citizens to exercise local self-government in Novosibirsk, and also hinders the direct exercise of local self-government by the residents of the city. These rights are guaranteed by the Constitution of the Russian Federation, the Federal Law on Basic Guarantees, and the Federal Law on General Principles of Organisation of Local Self-Government. By abolishing direct elections of heads of municipalities, deputies’ assemblies deprive the population of the right to choose, and the heads of municipalities, contrary to the logic and spirit of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, become unaccountable to residents of municipalities.

The second Yabloko’s amendment concerns the types of electoral systems used in the municipal elections of the region.

Yabloko says that parliamentary elections in the city should be held according to a mixed electoral system, when 25 deputies of the City Council are elected from a single electoral district in proportion to the number of votes cast for the lists of candidates, and 25 deputies are elected according to the majoritarian electoral system. Yabloko proposes to organise the election of the mayor according to the majoritarian electoral system of an absolute majority, in which a candidate who receives 50% +1 vote of is recognised as elected.

The Novosibirsk branch of Yabloko plans to take part in public hearings on the issue of changing the city charter. The hearings will be held by the City Council on 11 April.