Press Release, 23.08.2024

Photo: Yabloko candidates to municipal deputies of the Kurkino district, Moscow/ Photo by the Yabloko Press Service

Today, the Tushinsky District Court of Moscow removed six previously registered Yabloko candidates from the snap election to the municipal council of the Kurkino district in Moscow. Earlier, the Moscow Regional Court deregistered three candidates for the Council of the Leninsky Urban District. All candidates will challenge the courts decisions, and are currently continuing their election campaigns under the slogan “For Peace and Freedom! For the Ceasefire Agreement!”.

Two self-nominated candidates filed lawsuits with the Tushinsky District Court against the electoral commission that registered the Yabloko members in the elections in the Moscow district of Kurkino. The reason for the removal of candidates was the alleged absence of secret ballot results for each candidate in the protocol of the Conference of the Moscow branch of Yabloko submitted to the electoral commission. Since the claim to the documents of the regional branch was unfounded, several hours before the start of the court hearings, all candidates received notifications of new grounds for removal from the elections. In particular, several candidates allegedly did not provide a primary financial report, while others were “found” to have invalid signatures in their previously verified signature sheets.

The plaintiffs’ statement is political, not legal in nature, Kirill Goncharov, Deputy Chairman of the Moscow branch of Yabloko, says.

“We were ready for resistance, because we understand the mood of the residents and the high level of support for the values ​​and views that we represent,” Goncharov notes.

On 23 August, the Tushinsky District Court removed all Yabloko candidates in Kurkino one by one. It should be also noted that the representative of the Kurkino Territorial Electoral Commission in court was the same employee of the Moscow City Electoral Commission who participated in the city court hearing on the refusal to register the current Moscow City Duma deputy Maxim Kruglov. The candidates’ headquarters are preparing to challenge the decision.

The candidates for the Council of Deputies of the Leninsky Urban District of the Moscow Region were removed by the decision of the appellate instance. The opponent of the Yabloko party from the pro-government A Just Russia party appealed to the City Court of the city of Vidnoye with a demand to cancel the registration of the candidates campaigning for peace. The court of first instance sided with Yabloko. However, on 19 August, the Moscow Regional Court overturned this decision. The basis for the removal was the same claim as in Sergiyev Posad in the Moscow Region, as well as in St. Petersburg – the nomination of candidates at the stage of the Conference of the regional branch. The candidates intend to appeal to the cassation court.

According to Maxim Kruglov, a Moscow City Duma deputy and Deputy Chairman of Yabloko, the authorities have decided in principle not to allow candidates from Yabloko to participate in elections at any level.

“This delegitimises the institution of elections as such: citizens who share our views are left without political representation. We know from Russian history where such a monopolisation of power leads to. Unfortunately, today’s political elite is absolutely deaf to both the experience of history and common sense,” Kruglov states.

Maxim Kruglov promises that Yabloko will continue its work on formulating a political alternative for Russia; this is the party’s responsibility to citizens.

Meanwhile, Ivan Dorofeyev, Maria Chuprina, Nikolai Zerov, Mikhail Chistov, Yevgeny Lyapin, Alexander Kupriyanov, and Maxim Fedyakin in Moscow, as well as Alexander Muravyov, Yevgenia Yegorova and Vladimir Tolkachev continue to work with voters in their districts, talking about the need for an immediate ceasefire agreement between Russia and Ukraine and the release of all political prisoners.