According to Igor Artemyev, "a specially created working group from YABLOKO and the SPS worked for two years on coordinating candidates from our parties, to ensure that the candidates [from our parties] did not compete against each other at parliamentary elections. However, the SPS has suddenly violated these agreements - first of all in St. Petersburg, Moscow and Moscow region, - without providing any coherent explanations."

Artemyev also noted: "Consequently YABLOKO had to respond and nominate its own candidates in all the previously agreed electoral districts." According to Artemyev, it is likely that in this case the Union of Right-Wing Forces is demonstrating the a "conscientious political line – which the SPS began implementing after Alfred Kokh was appointed head of the [SPS] election campaign."

Artemyev also noted that there was still hope that agreements would be reached with the SPS: "We are waiting for corresponding decisions from the Union of Right-Wing Forces here. Regarding the decision passed by the Congress, it can be amended by the Presidium of the party; i.e the variant where YABLOKO and SPS will not compete in single-mandate electoral districts is still possible."

"We don’t understand why SPS holds such aggressive policies against us, as this will split our electorate," noted Artemyev.

According to an Interfax correspondent, the federal list of YABLOKO, including the leaders Grigory Yavlinsky, Vladimir Lukin and Igor Artemyev, includes, by decision of the Congress, Sergei Mitrokhin, Alexei Arbatov, Alexander Shishlov, Alexei Melnikov (deputies of the present Duma), as well as Viktor Kuschenko, Vice President of EPIcenter, journalist Boris Vishnevsky, Deputy Finance Minister Mikhail Motorin, President of the Institute of Open Economy Konstantin Kagalovsky, Head of Department of Strategic Planning of YUKOS Galina Antonova and others - 17 people in total.

Journalist from thepopular newspaper "Moskovski Komsomolets" Alexander Minkin is number one in the list of the "Central District Group" (Moscow, Smolensk and Tver regions); well-known human rights activist Sergei Kovalyov as well as Russian musician and academician Alexander Gorodnitsky top the list of the St. Petersburg group (St. Petersburg, Leningrad, Pskov, Novgorod and Kaliningrad regions).

Based on Interfax reports.

See also:

Address of the 11th Congress of the Russian Democratic Party YABLOKO to the Congress of the Union of Right-Wing Forces Party. Moscow, September 7, 2003

Press Release. September 7, 2003. YABLOKO's representatives will not participate in the SPS Congress

11th Congress of YABLOKO

YABLOKO and SPS

State Duma elections 2003