Press Release, 2.07.2024

The head of the Yabloko faction in the St. Petersburg parliament, Alexander Shishlov, appealed to the city Public Prosecutor Viktor Melnik: the list of those municipal deputies who put their signatures for the candidate for Governor of St. Petersburg Alexei Kovalyov included members of Yabloko who did not support him.

One of the party members, municipal deputy Dmitry Gorokhov, applied to Alexander Shishlov saying that he did not sign for Kovalyov, but his signature appeared in the list of those municipal deputies who signed for Kovalyov. Gorokhov asked for help in identifying and bringing the perpetrators to justice. In this regard, Shishlov turned to the city Public Prosecutor.

In his letter to Viktor Melnik, Alexander Shishlov noted that not only Dmitry Gorokhov’s signature was forged: there were also other deputies on Kovalyov’s list, who did not actually support him. This is not just about Yabloko members.

“The publication by the St. Petersburg Electoral Commission of a list containing forged signatures of municipal deputies in support of one of the gubernatorial candidates once again confirms the need to abandon the “municipal filter” that gives rise to such scandals even at the stage of candidates submitting documents. Yabloko reiterates the need to abolish the “municipal filter”. It is obvious that supporters of maintaining the filter are driven by fear of fair elections and open, public competition. The result of this approach is the transformation of elections into a farce and the loss of confidence in them,” Alexander Shishlov emphasised.

It should be noted that the Yabloko faction in the Legislative Assembly of St.Petersburg has repeatedly proposed bills to abolish the municipal filter or at least reduce it (in St. Petersburg it is the highest in the country, 10%). The parliamentary majority both in the Legislative Assembly and in the State Duma have never supported Yabloko’s initiatives.