Press Release, 9.08.2024

Photo: Yabloko candidates for the 2024 gubernatorial elections Roman Morozov, Vladimir Dorokhov, and Yaroslav Shcherbakov

Yabloko’s election campaigns for the gubernatorial elections have ended. Three candidates from the party in the Kaliningrad, Tula and Chelyabinsk regions did not pass the so-called municipal filter – collection of a certain number of signatures of municipal deputies in support of their nomination. Roman Morozov, Vladimir Dorokhov and Yaroslav Shcherbakov led their signature collection campaigns under the general party slogan “For Peace and Freedom! For the Ceasefire Agreement!”.

Yabloko candidates talk about how their signature campaign went, what goals they set and how they evaluate the results. Yabloko Chairman Nikolai Rybakov and Deputy Chairman of the party Anna Cherepanova give a political assessment of the party’s participation in the gubernatorial elections under the conditions of the special military operation and the municipal filter.

Vladimir Dorokhov, the Tula region:

The municipal filter for gubernatorial elections is an absolutely prohibitive barrier. Its essence is to give the current governors the opportunity to select their competitors. Such a practice has nothing to do with the main principles of free elections: competitiveness and equality of all candidates. We must also understand that in order to overcome the municipal filter, we must get the signatures of not only the deputies of settlements elected by voters, but also those of the appointed deputies of municipal districts, who are delegated by the assembly of deputies of settlements [and who are not allowed by the authorities to give signatures to the opposition].

However, an attempt to work with deputies to overcome the filter is also an interesting experience in itself. All my meetings with deputies were very interesting. Our position for peace and freedom is shared by many, even if they are not ready to publicly voice it due to the repressive practices that have developed in the country. We were counting on one or two signatures at the start. By the end of the campaign, we had collected already about ten signatures of deputies, but this was also not enough. There was no point in notarising these signatures, so instead of them I submitted to the electoral commission a cult work of the 20th century – the novel “1984” by George Orwell. I hope that the members of the electoral commission will read it before the meeting, and some will even revognise themselves in it.

I think it is absolutely right to continue to insist on the abolition of the [municipal] filter and the return of real competition in the gubernatorial elections.

Yaroslav Shcherbakov, the Chelyabinsk region:

I became a candidate for governor of the Chelyabinsk Region to propose sound changes and publicly declare my position on the need for peace and freedom: concluding a ceasefire agreement, abolishing repressive laws and ending political repression against dissidents. Without this, the killing  of people will not stop, there will be no future and development for the Chelyabinsk region and the country.

Sound changes mean preserving local self-government in settlements, strengthening local budgets, fair inter-budgetary relations, and direct elections of city and district heads.

There will be no alternative to the gubernatorial elections due to the municipal filter.

Appealing to municipal deputies for support, I observed how quite a large number of them independently signed, without thinking, for the liquidation of their rights and powers granted to them by their voters.

Roman Morozov, the Kaliningrad region:

In 2014, I already ran for governor, so the procedure was not new to me. I set a goal based on the real political situation, there was no task to get the support of deputies at any cost.

The authorities almost directly hinted at their readiness to give signatures, but one had to come, bow, ask and negotiate. But there could be no talk of an agreement on my part and Yabloko. Therefore, the main goal of the nomination was like this: to tell about ourselves, Yabloko, about an alternative position, which first of all proclaimed the need for a ceasefire, achieving peace and freedom for political prisoners.

At the same time, being a legal defender of [political prisoner] Igor Baryshnikov, I even came to the penal colony in a T-shirt with the words “YABLOKO means change!” The goal was fully achieved: we managed to show ourselves as an alternative, travel around the region and reflect our views in the news agenda.

I have long adhered to the principle: the main thing is not to wean people off voting! The substitution of concepts cannot last forever, and regime change occurs only when there is an alternative. By participating in elections, we point in the direction of light and good. I hope that someday people will notice this light and go towards it. We look to the future with optimism and fill the present with our ideas.

Nikolai Rybakov, Chairman of Yabloko:

As in any other election campaign, all the candidates for governor nominated by Yabloko campaigned for peace and freedom, for an immediate ceasefire agreement. Great respect to all the municipal deputies who, despite all the risks for them, signed up in support of our candidates, in support of our position. Therefore, despite the formal non-admission of our candidates to the elections, we continue the political campaign for peace – in these regions and throughout the country.

Anna Cherepanova, Deputy Chairman of Yabloko, the Novgorod Region:

The Yabloko Party has repeatedly stated the need to cancel or at least mitigate the municipal filter. As a compromise, we proposed to cancel the filter for gubernatorial candidates from parties represented in the parliaments of those regions where the elections are taking place. However, all these attempts were unsuccessful for one simple reason. The municipal filter is an instrument for controlling elections, and, we have to note, quite efficient. Only loyal candidates approved by the authorities are allowed to participate in the elections, those who act as “backup dancers” for the main candidate from [the progovernment] United Russia [party].

I participated in the elections of the governor of the Novgorod region twice: in 2017 and in 2022. Both times, the authorities, using administrative resources, collected, on a centralised basis, signatures for approved participants in the elections in numbers much higher than required in order to artificially deprive the candidate from Yabloko of the necessary support.

The phrase “gubernatorial elections” can certainly be taken in quotation marks. These are not elections. This is an expensive show for taxpayers to appoint a candidate recommended by Vladimir Putin to the post of governor. Nevertheless, it makes sense to participate in this procedure. At least in order to offer a political alternative and announce the extremely important initiatives now put forward by the Yabloko party at all levels: concluding a ceasefire agreement and the release of all political prisoners.