Press Release, 22.07.2024

Photo: Roman Morozov / Photo by the regional party branch

Roman Morozov, a human rights defender and a candidate for Governor of the Kaliningrad region from Yabloko, failed to pass the municipal filter to register for the elections. Last Friday, he submitted documents to the regional electoral commission without the mandatory signatures of municipal deputies in favour of his nomination. On 22 July, the electoral commission decided to refuse his registration. Roman Morozov led an all-party campaign for peace and freedom.

It should be noted that in order to be registered as a candidate, Morozov had to obtain 30 signatures of deputies from 17 municipalities. Throughout the existence of the municipal filter, Yabloko has criticised this procedure, considering it an artificial barrier for candidates opposing the government and real competitors.

Yabloko candidate Roman Morozov, together with the leader of the Kaliningrad regional branch, Alexander Lisovsky, traveled through six cities in the region, not counting the regional centre, within the framework of the collection of signatures, in each city of which they offered local officials and deputies to meet. Read more about how the meetings took place and what Yabloko talked about with the municipal authorities in the Telegram channel of the Kaliningrad Yabloko.

“The goal of our campaign was not just collecting signatures, but working with people. Residents of the Kaliningrad region could once again, after several years, hear about the Yabloko party. Local authorities also noticed us, and we were able to offer them a political alternative. Our tour of the region demonstrated the inconsistency of the municipal filter and its harm for citizens’ choices,” Alexander Lisovsky comments.

As a result, despite the responsive reception in a number of cities, not a single municipal deputy agreed to sign for the candidate running in the elections under the slogan “For Peace and Freedom! For the ceasefire agreement!”.

Roman Morozov’s participation in the elections, according to the candidate, was a statement of an alternative position, proposing a wide range of changes in the current system of government.

Morozov formulates the reason for his failure to pass the municipal filter as follows: “I refused to compromise and soften my rhetoric”.

“We need to stop human losses. Our country needs people who are ready to work on its improvement and the development of regions, and not waste irreplaceable resources on uncertain goals. My nomination was an attempt to make people think and draw attention to really important issues,” candidate Roman Morozov comments.

Chairman of the Kaliningrad Yabloko, Alexander Lisovsky, summing up the results of the election campaign that has already ended for the regional branch, notes that the party team does not lose hope that it will be able to convince people of the correctness of the Yabloko position.

“It is necessary to constantly declare the importance of the interests of supporters of peace, freedom and the need to conclude a ceasefire agreement,” Lisovsky notes.