Press Release, 21.11.2019

The Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation accepted the appeal of Anastasia Bryukhanova, member of the Yabloko party, who disputes the principle of “either the Central Electoral Commission or the court” in resolving disputes in elections.

Anastasia Bryukhanova was one of four Yabloko candidates who were not registered in the Moscow City Duma elections this year. In September, Yabloko challenged the norm of the Code of Administrative Procedure in the Constitutional Court. According to this norm the appeal of a decision of an electoral commission to a higher commission excludes the possibility of a candidate applying to court.

During the election campaign in Moscow this summer, candidates challenged the refusals of district electoral commissions to register them in the Moscow Electoral Commission and Central Electoral Commission. When higher commissions turned down the appeals of the candidates, they applied to courts, but the courts did not even accept their claims for examination.

“In fact, this story is much wider than the events of this summer. It refers to absolutely all elections and refusals to register independent candidates, ”Anastasia Bryukhanova explained on her Facebook page.

According to Bryukhanova, the use of both the methods of appealing a refusal – to a higher electoral commission and a court – is now impossible, the candidate is forced to choose only one way. “This leads to the fact that higher electoral commissions can maintain any unlawful refusal to register a candidate, and the candidate will not be able to defend his/her interests in court,” Bryukhanova wrote.

Grigory Vaipan, lawyer at the Institute of Law and Public Policy, dealing with this complaint, says that the Constitutional Court accepts approximately one out of 200 complaints. However, the Constitutional Court has already repealed the norms of the laws depriving citizens of the right to go to court or excluding the possibility of judicial control over decisions and actions of officials. “This is just our case,” Anastasia Bryukhanova concluded.