All candidates for municipal deputies from the St. Petersburg Yabloko were denied registration in the elections. Yabloko will challenge unlawful denials in registration in court
Press Release, 22.07.2024
Photo: Another stage of the St. Petersburg Yabloko Conference, at which some candidates for municipal deputies were nominated / Photo by the regional party branch
Territorial electoral commissions of St. Petersburg refused to register 84 Yabloko candidates for municipal elections. Candidates were not registered territorial electoral commissions refused to recognise the Conference of the regional branch of Yabloko at which the nomination took place. The claims, all written identically, as a copy-paste, assert that the Conference allegedly did not take place at all, because it was convened two years ago.
At the same time, nomination at the next stages of an opened Conference does not contradict either the law or the Yabloko By-Laws, and representatives of the electoral commissions and the Ministry of Justice were present at the Conference and did not make any comments.
The Bureau of the St. Petersburg branch of Yabloko believes that the electoral commissions are carrying out a political order to exclude Yabloko candidates from the race, and the campaign to remove Yabloko candidates from elections is coordinated “from the top”. All the “claims” of electoral commissions are of political, rather than legal nature.
“The electoral system of St. Petersburg is fulfilling a political order, the purpose of which is to prevent candidates from the only party openly advocating a ceasefire, peace and freedom from participating in the elections, and to create the illusion of popular support for what is happening,” the Bureau statement runs.
Unregistered candidates, with the support of the regional office, are preparing lawsuits to challenge unlawful decisions of electoral commissions.
In late June, the St. Petersburg branch of Yabloko nominated candidates for deputies for 21 municipal councils at the next stages of the Conference, the decision to close which was not made. Yabloko’s candidates are people of various professions: entrepreneurs, journalists, teachers, artists, film directors, art gallery owners, artists, engineers, lawyers, builders, economists, IT specialists, railway workers, students, pensioners, historians, electromechanics, activists, urban and human rights activists, and doctors.
Posted: July 22nd, 2024 under Elections, Freedom of Speech, Governance, Human Rights, Judiciary, Regional and Local Elections, Regional and Local Elections 2024, Yabloko's Regional Branches, Без рубрики.