Press Release, 17.08.2021

Yabloko was the only party out of 14 political parties participating in the parliamentary elections that did not agree with the form of the ballot paper for the elections to the State Duma, which was approved by the Central Electoral Commission today. Yabloko insisted that the name of the organisation considered a “foreign agent” by the authorities with which political prisoner Andrei Pivovarov is affiliated – the well-known NGO Open Petersburg – should be indicated in the ballot.

Grigory Makarov, a member of the Central Electoral Commission with an advisory vote from Yabloko, said in his speech that the new law neither prohibited mentioning the name of a “foreign agent” organisation, nor did it require the use of any specific wording.

Makarov stressed that the norm of the law on labeling legal entities and physical persons “foreign agents” aimed at informing voters, and that is why the name of the “foreign agent” organisation should be indicated. The voter should be able to check on the Internet what kind of organisation it is and make sure that it does not conduct any destructive activity.

“When a nameless foreign agent is indicated in the ballot, it will look like the stigma “enemy of the people” in Soviet times. If the goal is to put the Yabloko party on a pillory, then this should be said – a spade should be called a spade,” the lawyer emphasised.

Political prisoner Andrei Pivovarov, who is in the Krasnodar pre-trial detention centre, has been nominated by Yabloko as candidate within the Yabloko candidates list of the Krasnodar regional group.