Yabloko party statement, 14.03.2019

On 14 March, the State Duma plans to examine draft federal law No 631751-7 “On Amendments to the Federal Law “On General Principles of Organisation of Local Self-Government in the Russian Federation”(in the Part of Improving the Issues of Territorial Organisation of Local Self-Government)”.

Adoption of this draft law will become a final sentence to the reform of local self-government, which began in 2003.

The most important outcome of this reform was restoration of local self-government in rural settlements and cities, which was abolished during the period of the so-called “phased constitutional reform” in 1993-1994. By the beginning of the 2000s, local self-government bodies had been absent in more than half of Russian cities and most rural areas. Heads of local administrations were appointed by governors; there was no control or responsibility of the local executive power before local deputies and citizens. As a result, corruption and arbitrariness of local officials have reached unprecedented scale. Now the “vertical of power” tries to return Russia to its former condition.

Election of mayors of cities and heads of districts is canceled almost everywhere. The bill gives the right to the Russian regions (and, virtually, the governors) the right to liquidate local self-governments in cities and rural settlements by giving municipal districts the status of a municipal territory, which does not envisage having a local self-government in cities and rural settlements that used to be part of the municipal district.

Thus, liquidation of local self-government, which took place without any prior arrangement in a number of regions of the Russian Federation in violation of the provisions of the Federal Law “On the General Principles of the Organisation of Local Self-Government in the Russian Federation”, is legally established. This process has acquired particularly ugly forms in the Moscow region, where merger of urban and rural settlements and the empowerment of municipal districts with the status of urban districts occurred under harsh pressure from security forces, threats of criminal prosecution for local deputies and heads of districts, cities and rural settlements, falsified public hearings, prohibition and dispersal of rallies and harassment of civic activists.

The liquidation of local self-government at the settlement level and abolishment of election of mayors of cities and heads of districts directly contradict the Constitution of the Russian Federation, according to which local self-government is guaranteed in the Russian Federation, and is carried out in urban and rural settlements and other territories through elected bodies of local self-government.

However, the courts built into the “Putin’s vertical of power”, the Constitutional Court inclusive, do not fulfill their constitutional duty to provide judicial protection to local self-government.

Liquidation of political competition, including at the level of local self-government, which is a source of personnel for government bodies and administrations all over the world, has already led to total incompetence of officials and skyrocketing corruption.

The policies of Vladimir Putin’s system with regard to local self-government leaves no doubt about degradation of the system and complete negligence of the interests of citizens.

The YABLOKO party strongly protests against the adoption of this draft federal law and assures the citizens of Russia that Yabloko has always defended local government and democratic institutions and will continue to do so.

Emilia Slabunova,

Yabloko Chair