Statement by the Saratov branch of Yabloko, 29.07.2019

Photo: Alexander Yermishin and Vera Afanasyeva

On 28 July, 2019, the Kirovsky District Court of the City of Saratov dismissed the claim of Vera Afanasyeva, candidate from the Yabloko party, to district electoral commission No. 10 for the refusal to register her as a candidate for the by-election to the Saratov City Duma of the fifth convocation.

During the trial, the side of the claimant convincingly proved that, at the time of making the decision to refuse registration, district electoral commission No. 10 did not have sufficient and documented grounds for adopting such a decision. The court, however, took the side of the administrative defendant, not taking into account the fact that some of the documents submitted by the defendant during the court hearing, had obvious signs of forgery.

We received yet another proof that the procedure of collecting signatures in support of a candidate is used by electoral commissions as a mechanism to prevent opposition candidates from participating in elections.

We regard the refusal to register our candidate as an attempt to return to the practices of gross falsification of election results characteristic of regional and the city campaigns in Saratov in 2000 – 2017, and we demand that the Electoral Commission of the Saratov Region give a public legal assessment of the activities of the electoral commission “The City of Saratov” and, in particular, district electoral commission No. 10.

We demand changes in the electoral legislation regarding the need for independent candidates to collect signatures in their support, as restricting the constitutional right of Russian citizens to elect and be elected to the representative bodies of the state and municipal power bodies. The practices of manipulating the results of voting at elections of all levels must be put an end to.

Alexander Yermishin,

Chairman of the Saratov regional branch of

the Russian United Democratic Party Yabloko