Press Release, 21.06.2017

The Yabloko party has nominated Yevgeny Roizman, Mayor of Yekaterinburg, candidate in the gubernatorial elections of the Sverdlovsk region. This decision was adopted by the Federal Bureau of the party. According to the results of the secret ballot, nine our of ten members of the Bureau present at the meeting voted for Roizman, one member of the Bureau voted for the candidacy of Sergei Tyurikov, an entrepreneur and member of the Bureau of the Sverdlovsk Region branch of YABLOKO.

In speeches before the vote, most members of the Bureau supported Royzman’s candidacy. Deputy Chairman of the party Nikolai Rybakov said that Roizman was “one of the few popularly elected mayors” and he did “not depend on the Kremlin and President Putin.”

Party Chairman Emilia Slabunova called Roizman “the brightest and most talented public politician”. “It seems to me that it is very important for politicians who work in the opposition that such people as Roizman show their willingness to fight in our unthinkable hard conditions,” Slabunova noted.

Grigory Yavlinsky in his speech said that the second candidate Sergei Tyurikov was a very promising politician, but pointed to a number of obstacles that prevent him from supporting his nomination to Governor. “He has no political experience. We can not support a candidate without political experience as Governor of one of the largest regions of Russia,” Yavlinsky said. In addition, he noted that Sergei Tyurikov was a member of the Sverdlovsk Bureau of Yabloko, but did not see the problem that led to the breakdown of the regional party conference, and therefore bore responsibility for what had happened when the regional party conference failed to nominate Roizman due to pressure from the regional authorities on the chair of Yabloko’s branch.

Speaking about the candidacy of Yevgeny Roizman, Grigory Yavlinsky noted that he had six points in favour of his support. “There are no such strong and courageous people as Roizman in Russian politics. Do you understand that the fight against the drug mafia is the road to the cemetery? “ Grigory Yavlinsky addressed the Bureau members. “And he fought simultaneously with the authorities, and with the drug mafia. This means that a person has the experience, willingness and ability to fight against mafia – and this is almost the key thing for the Governor of the region. Mafia is the main feature of regional life. He should be nominated even for this personal trait only.”

At the same time, Grigory Yavlinsky noted that Yevgeny Roizman had a colossal experience: he was a deputy of the State Duma, a member of the government commission on combating drug addiction, initiated a number of laws and had been the head of Yekaterinburg. Yavlinsky noted Roizman’s charisma and popularity in the region.

Also Yavlinsky stressed that he had agreed with Roizman all the ten opints of the Memorandum of the Political Alternative each Yabloko candidate had to sign.

Answering the journalists’ questions at the press conference after the nomination, Yevgeny Roizman said that he would try to the municipal filter [to get registered in the campaign each candidate has to collect signatures of municipal deputies in favour of the nomination]. “We are in contact with all the potential deputies who did not give their signatures [for my nomination]. Their number is already less than the required 126 deputies … but the pressure [from the authorities on the deputies] is very strong,” Roizman said.

According to Grigory Yavlinsky, the Yabloko party together with Yevgeny Roizman would raise the issue of canceling the municipal filter even if Roizman is elected Governor. Party Chair Emilia Slabunova in turn recalled that Yabloko had already submitted its proposals to the Central Electoral Commission for improving the electoral legislation and abolishing the municipal filter for those parties that had their own deputies in regional parliaments. A corresponding draft federal law was introduced by Yabloko factions through the legislative assemblies of Karelia and the Pskov Region, but in Karelia it was already rejected by the majority of the ruling United Russia.