Press Release, 2.10.2026

Photo: Artur Gaiduk and Yana Ivanova / Photo by Pskov Yabloko

On 28 September, Artur Gaiduk, a member of the Legislative Assembly and Chairman of Pskov Yabloko, and his deputy Yana Ivanova submitted the documents to the regional parliament. The bill was drafted in light of the recent election campaign with the aim of simplifying electoral legislation and eliminating the contradictions it contains. It comprises four amendments to the Electoral Code of the Pskov Region and proposes the following:

Removing the seal impression requirement from the power of attorney for the authorised financial representative

The absence of a seal impression was the only flaw in Pskov Yabloko’s documents submitted to the electoral commission. Because of it, the court deemed the document not to have been submitted and cancelled the registration of the party’s list of candidates for the Pskov Region Legislative Assembly. The team considers this ruling unlawful and continues to challenge it.

According to the lawyers’ calculations, 25 documents bearing Pskov Yabloko’s seal were submitted to the Pskov Region Electoral Commission from the start of the campaign for the certification and registration of the list of candidates. “We therefore consider the mandatory requirement for a seal impression on the financial representative’s power of attorney to be superfluous, and believe it should be removed. Moreover, there is no such requirement in federal legislation,” Pskov Yabloko writes.

Moving the deadline for changing a single-mandate constituency, or for transferring a candidate from the party list to a single-mandate constituency, from the end of the nomination period to 50 days before voting day

This rule was in force until 2008. That year, when introducing amendments, the legislature breached the rules of legal drafting, which resulted in two different versions of the same provision. The version published on the official legal information portal differs from the one the electoral commission follows.

This is a serious breach, which we propose to correct, while also making the deadlines more convenient for those taking part in elections. The proposal is based on the legal model used for elections to the State Duma.

Separating the deadline for parties to submit their lists of single-mandate candidates from the deadline for the candidates themselves to submit their nomination documents

Instead of a single 30-day period for everyone, the bill proposes giving parties 30 days to submit their lists of single-mandate candidates and giving candidates in single-mandate constituencies 35 days to submit their individual sets of documents. This would reduce the burden on electoral associations, spread out the flow of submissions and benefit everyone involved in the electoral process.

Allowing voters’ signatures to be collected via Gosuslugi, the state services portal

Federal Law No. 67-FZ provides that this may be established by regional law for regional elections. Such a provision already exists in 22 constituent entities of the Russian Federation, including four regions of the North-Western Federal District. In the Pskov Region, signatures in support of candidates can only be collected in the traditional way, on signature paper sheets.

During the campaign, Pskov Yabloko’s lawyers identified other irregularities in the regional electoral legislation, which will also be drafted as proposals and submitted to the legislature.

The Pskov Yabloko team believes that changes to electoral legislation at any level are best made after elections rather than before them. This approach makes it possible to genuinely learn from mistakes and improve conditions for participants, rather than create additional tools for fighting the opposition.