Members of St. Petersburg Electoral Commission from pro-government parties United Russia, the CPRF, LDPR and New People support barring Yabloko from election
Press Release, 26.07.2026
Photo: Yabloko representatives submitting candidates’ documents to the St. Petersburg Electoral Commission on 9 July / Photo by the Yabloko Press Service
The St. Petersburg Electoral Commission refused to register Yabloko’s list of candidates for the election of deputies to the 8th convocation of the Legislative Assembly. The decision was taken on 24 July.
All members of the St. Petersburg Electoral Commission voted in favour of the refusal, with the exception of Pavel Shapchits (Yabloko) and Yekaterina Fesik (A Just Russia).
Yabloko considers the decision by the City Electoral Commission to be intentionally unlawful and politically motivated, calling into question the legitimacy of the election to the St. Petersburg Legislative Assembly.
All the necessary documents had been submitted in full, and all the electoral commission’s comments had been promptly addressed within the time limit established by law. There were no lawful grounds for refusing registration. The party will appeal against this unlawful decision.
The matter of refusing to register Yabloko for the election had been prepared as a covert political operation: it had been placed on the agenda immediately before the meeting, even though the regulations require draft decisions to be published no later than one day in advance. The Yabloko party’s commission member received the draft decision two hours before the meeting.
Yabloko stresses that the attempt to remove the oldest democratic force in St. Petersburg from the ballot is a blow to citizens’ right to choose. The refusal to register the party speaks volumes about the real level of support for the city authorities’ current political course and about the alleged ‘low level’ of support for Yabloko: citizens are being deprived of the right to an alternative.
On 27 June, the party’s Federal Congress approved (https://eng.yabloko.ru/38395-2/) the nomination of candidates. The party list was headed by incumbent Legislative Assembly deputy Dmitry Anisimov, lawyer Viktoria Razina, public administration specialist Yegor Karpenkov and political scientist Dmitry Khorzov. There are 62 candidates across 25 regional groups.
Posted: July 28th, 2026 under Elections, Freedom of Speech, Governance, Human Rights, Regional and Local Elections, Regional and Local Elections 2026, YABLOKO and Other Political Parties, Yabloko's Regional Branches, Без рубрики.