Statement by the St. Petersburg branch of YABLOKO, 04.08.2016

The St.Petersburg branch of YABLOKO consistently opposes the system of gathering the voters’ signatures as a means of administrative elimination of the political forces and candidates who are out of favour of the government. The St.Petersburg branch of YABLOKO faced this threshold when it was not allowed to participate in the elections to the Legislative Assembly of St.Petersburg of the forth convocation in 2007. [According to the law, a candidate or a political force are required to gather the signatures of potential voters in their support and submit them to the election commissions. The signature filter is an effective tool for pushing undesirable candidates out of the race.]

We claim that all the political forces and candidates, who submitted their documents in order to participate in the elections to the Legislative Assembly of St.Petersburg, must be allowed to run in the race.

The only criteria for participation in the elected bodies of power must be the will of the citizens.

There must be no mechanisms of artificial selection of parties or candidates such as gathering of signatures or the notorious “municipal signature filter”. YABLOKO is going to propose the corresponding amendments to the electoral legislation in the new convocation of the Legislative Assembly.

Leaders of YABLOKO list of candidates to the Legislative Assembly of St.Petersburg of the sixth convocation:

Mikhail Amosov, Chair of the St.Petersburg branch of YABLOKO

Boris Vishnevsky, deputy of the Legislative Assembly of St.Petersburg (YABLOKO faction)