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Sergei Mitrokhin in the State Duma: a new law on political parties can not be considered as “a victory of common sense” until formation of electoral blocs is permitted
Press Release, Video, March 23, 2012.

The new law on political parties can not be considered “a victory of common sense” as long as the electoral law bans creation of electoral blocs. This statement was made by YABLOKO leader Sergei Mitrokhin at the hearings of the State Duma. It was the third and final reading of the draft law on liberalization of establishment of political parties.

"What victory of a common sense can we speak about if voters get their ballots with dozens or maybe hundreds of pages innumerating the names of political parties, or when the voter sees unstructured political area and a register of absolutely unknown names of political parties?” Mitrokhin asked deputies of the Duma.

According to Mitrokhin, if the parties are not allowed to make electoral blocs, they will simply disperse the votes, and "a huge number of voters will remain turn out below a 5 per cent threashold” to the Duma, and thus will get no representation in the parliament...

The YABLOKO party complied with the state registration requirements stipulated by the law “On Political Parties”
Press Release, September 11, 2002
The Russian Democratic Party YABLOKO met all state registration requirements in compliance with the law “On Political Parties”. Registration certificates for the party in 54 federation subjects (in 46 federation subjects the party members have over one hundred members) were forwarded to the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation on September 11, 2002.

The Yabloko faction has managed to make essential amendments to the draft law “On Political Parties”
Press release
The Yabloko faction believes that it has managed to considerably improve the draft law “On Political Parties” compared to the variant adopted in the first reading.

The Yabloko faction will insist on the adoption of amendments aimed at democratising the draft law "On Political Parties"

Press release

Deputies of the Yabloko faction will insist on the adoption of a number of amendments aimed at democratising the draft law "On Political Parties" at the time of the review of the draft at the second reading.

Mikhail Amosov (the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg, leader of the Yabloko faction): the adoption of the law on parties represents a positive trend in Russia’s politics

Rosbalt Information Agency, March 12, 2001

St. Petersburg. The adoption of the law on parties represents a positive trend in Russia’s politics, said Mikhail Amosov, leader of the Yabloko faction in the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg. According to Amosov, “until present the parties served on one the hand as an instrument for attaining personal goals during election campaigns and disappeared immediately after the election campaigns and, on the other hand, were objects to criticism as conductors of somebody’s ideas.”

The Union of Right-Wing Forces and Yabloko will try to make changes to the draft law on political parties at its examination in the second reading
Press Release, 07.02.01

The Union of Right-Wing Forces (SPS) and Yabloko conventionally support at the first reading the draft law "On Political Parties" submitted by the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin. On February 7 the draft was examined together with four alternative drafts.

The Yabloko faction is ready to support the presidential draft law "On Parties", provided that it is amended.
Press Release,06.02.01

The Yabloko faction is ready to support the draft law "On Parties" submitted by its colleague Alexander Shishlov at a meeting of the State Duma on February 7, but is also ready to support the draft submitted to the Duma by President Vladimir Putin.

The Yabloko faction may propose its own draft law on political parties

Press Release,11.01.01

The Yabloko faction has its own variant of the law prepared by an expert group headed by Alexander Shishlov which is an alternative to the presidential one. However, the Yabloko faction thinks that if it is decided to submit Yabloko’s draft, this step should only be regarded as a tactic, as the Duma’s support for the presidential draft is already a foregone conclusion.

Yabloko to submit to the Duma its version of the draft law “On Parties”

Press Release,01.11.00

According to Mitrokhin, the Yabloko congress discussed in detail the draft law “On Parties” developed by the Central Electoral Committee. “There are many provisions in this draft that satisfy us, but at the same time there are debatable points,” said Mitrokhin. He believes that the greatest threat is posed by monopolisation of the political space by the ruling party. He also noted that the law does not provide clear restrictions on the activity of the political parties in some public institutions, such as schools, the army, the police, etc. “All these bodies can be subject to total enlistment in the party, and the party may use them for its own politicalpurposes,” stressed Mitrokhin.

Alexander Shishlov: Participation of the state in the creation of political parties should be reduced to a minimum

Press Release,10.11.00

The Constitutional Court makes removal of candidates from electoral lists more difficult for the parties

By Galina Mikhalyova, Executive Secretary of YABLOKO’s Political Committee
kommentarii.ru, November 14, 2009

The [Constitutional Court’s] decision will broaden the rights of members of our mostly authoritatively constructed parties only to a small extent… However, while it is allowed to have “locomotives” (Ed. well-known persons topping party election lists and bringing a large number of votes for the party and resigning right after the election), this decision will not be able to cardinally change the situation. The key problem lies not only in our legislation but also in the law enforcement practices. The laws on parties and on elections are abundant with excess regulations complicating performance for the parties, especially for the opposition parties, however, the laws lack a clear framework that would make the parties to abide by democratic procedures (e.g., a ban on dismissal and appointing of the governing bodies).

The YABLOKO party complies with requirements of the law “On Political Parties” regarding state registration procedures
Rosbalt, September 11, 2002
Moscow. September 11, 2002. The Russian Democratic Party YABLOKO met all requirements of the law “On Political Parties” regarding the state registration procedure. According to information from the Press Service of the YABLOKO Party, registration certificates on registration in 54 federation subjects were forwarded to the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation on Wednesday.

Third Meeting of Russian Democratic Council Devoted to Protection of Freedom of Speech
RIA "OREANDA", February 17, 2002
Moscow. The third meeting of the All-Russia Democratic Assembly in Moscow is scheduled for February 18. The meeting will be devoted to protection of freedom of speech. The participants will discuss and confirm the programme of activities aimed at ensuring freedom for the mass media. The programme was developed by a working group of the Assembly. According to the press service of the Yabloko faction, the rotation principle concerning a change of chairman implies that the regular meeting will be headed by the Chairman of the Glasnost Protection Fund Alexey Simonov. The main report will be made by the secretary-general to the Union of Journalists Igor Yakovenko.

Money instead of power
By Sergei Shelin, The New Times, September 2001
The law "On Political Parties" has passed the second decisive reading in parliament. The boldness manifested by the deputies showed both to the people and to the Kremlin that when it gets to epoch-making decisions, our Duma ceases to be a "pocket" one.

Sergei Ivanenko: the new law on parties will not affect Yabloko

Rosbalt Information Agency, March 28, 2001

St. Petersburg. The new law on parties will not affect Yabloko, but may affect the political system of Russia, said the First Deputy Head of the Yabloko faction in the State Duma of the RF Sergei Ivanenko. Ivanenko added that the faction had prepared a package of amendments to the draft law, amounting to over 100 pages of text. One of the amendments proposed by Yabloko concerns abolition of state financing for political parties and abolition of the control of the law enforcement agencies over the political parties.

Party Building is Postponed

Alexandre Sadchikov, Izvestiya, March 19, 2001

This week the Duma Committee on Public Associations should formally finish preparations of the draft law on political parties for its second reading. However, predictions that the document will not be adopted before the end of the session are frequently heard in the Duma.

First, all the interested parties - the President, the Central Electoral Committee and deputies of the Duma – were full of enthusiasm, writing plans for party building in the Russian state...

Russian parties face shake-up

Financial Times, January 15, 2001

A bill to change radically the landscape of Russian party politics awaits the Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament, when it returns on Monday for its spring session. The bill was sent to the parliament by President Vladimir Putin during the Christmas recess. It proposes allowing only parties with at least 10,000 members to register legally and to compete in national and regional elections.

Proposed Law Could Eradicate Most Parties

St Peterburg Times , December 15, 2000

The Central Elections Commission is pushing for a new law on political parties that would slash the number of existing political groups by over 90 percent, leaving only a dozen or so major players and barring the rest from participating in parliamentary elections.