Press Release, 9.11.2023

Photo: Yabloko candidates Pyotr Kopylov and Maxim Novikov

The territorial electoral commissions of the Central and Oktyabrsky districts on Novosibirsk refused to register Maxim Novikov and Pyotr Kopylov, candidates for deputies for by-elections to the Novosibirsk City Council, previously nominated by the Novosibirsk branch of the Yabloko party.

The reason for the refusal to register Novikov was the insufficient number of voters’ signatures collected in favour of his nomination. The reason for the refusal to candidate Kopylov was that the electoral commission and the Ministry of Internal Affairs recognised the passport data and registration addresses of almost 20% of voters who filled out this data with their own hands as “unreliable”.

The candidate for the 49th district of the Central District of the city, Maxim Novikov, did not have enough signatures for nomination. As noted in the regional office of Yabloko, during door-to-door visits, many citizens did not dare to leave their signatures for the nomination of a candidate from the Yabloko party, who was running in the elections with the slogan “For peace and freedom!”

As regards the nomination of Pyotr Kopylov, inspectors from the Territorial Electoral Commission of the Oktyabrsky district of Novosibirsk and the Ministry of Internal Affairs “discovered” 20% of defected signatures. The regional branch of Yabloko claims that the so-called experts checked the passport details and registration of signatories using their internal closed database. In accordance with the law, citizens themselves must put down their last name, first name, patronymic name, date of birth, and also sign on the signature sheet. The “experts” identified inconsistencies in passport data of signatories in Pyotr Kopylov’s signature sheets. Considering that the signature collectors mandatory checked the series and number of the passport the signatory put down with the document, and criminologists confirmed that the signatures were genuine and not forged, the peculiarities of people’s handwriting could be considered an “error.” It is known that inspectors do not bother to decipher the illegible handwritings on the signature sheets and check the information against the database using an exhaustive search method. In addition, checking the procedure for entering data from the signature sheet into the computer by an expert is not provided for by law. Thus, the results of such an audit can be conditioned solely by the will of the inspectors. We should also note that, as usual, when checking the signatures of opposition candidates, the “experts” paid close attention to handwriting. Several signatures were also invalidated by this criterion.

Thus, the candidates “For Peace and Freedom!” this year will not take part in the elections in Novosibirsk. Novosibirsk Yabloko believes that in many ways this is a politically motivated decision. “Only politically sterile representatives of parliamentary parties, who did not collect voters’ signatures in a door-to-door canvass, and one self-nominated, a developer by profession, were allowed to continue the election campaign. Is the situation ‘politically stable’? activists of the regional branch of the party comment.

The Novosibirsk branch of Yabloko expresses gratitude to all citizens who supported and helped the candidates in nomination and collection of signatures

“Your efforts were not in vain: over a thousand residents of Novosibirsk, and even citizens beyond its borders, learned about our campaign “For Peace and Freedom!”. The invaluable experience we gained will definitely be useful to our team in the future.”

A report on the funds collected and used will be submitted to the electoral commission within a month and published by the regional office of Yabloko.