Press Release, 26.07.2024

Photo: Maxim Kruglov outside the Moscow City Court on 26 July, 2024 / Photo from Maxim Kruglov’s personal archive

Maxim Kruglov is challenging in court the refusal of the electoral commission to register him in the Moscow City Duma elections. Today, the Yabloko candidate in electoral district No. 13 filed a lawsuit with the Moscow City Court demanding that the district electoral commission’s decision to deny Kruglov access to the elections be declared unlawful. The court must consider the application within five days.

According to the final protocol of the signature verification, 1,037 voters’ signatures in favour of Kruglov’s registration were declared invalid. At the same time, the electoral commission refused to consider the candidate’s written objections to the working group’s decision. In addition, the candidate was not provided with full copies of the official documents on the basis of which the signatures were declared invalid. Thus, the requirement of the Electoral Code of the City of Moscow (Article 37, Clause 11) was violated. In the lawsuit, Kruglov also reports that some of the signatures recognised as technical defects meet all the requirements, the signatures are real and they are clearly identifiable. In addition, it is reliably known that the list of “invalid” signatures includes signatures of citizens whose data was entered into the Ministry of Internal Affairs database with errors.

On these grounds, Kruglov asks the court to cancel the decision of the district electoral commission and oblige it to register him as candidate.

It should be noted that the current deputy of the Moscow City Duma, Maxim Kruglov, managed to collect signatures of Muscovites in support of his nomination and necessary for his registration in 18 days. The district electoral commission invalidated 1,037 signatures out of 5,664 submitted – 18.3% of the total. Candidate Kruglov’s team filed objections to the final protocol of the commission’s working group. According to experts from Yabloko, only 166 signatures can be invalidated, that is, 2.9% of the total. Such a percentage of defects would allow Kruglov to be registered as a candidate in the elections. Nevertheless, the electoral commission refused to register Kruglov, ignoring written objections.

In his statement of claim to the Moscow City Court, Maxim Kruglov also points out the unconstitutional nature of the Moscow City Electoral Commission’s decision on the number of voters’ signatures required for a candidate to be registered in the elections, which was made on the basis of Article 37 of the Law “On Elections”. He asks the court to send a request to the Constitutional Court of Russia on the compliance of the signature filter with the constitutional right of a citizen to be elected.

“Realising my full responsibility before the residents of Moscow, who elected me as their deputy five years ago and supported my nomination this year, I will defend their choice in court. I represent real Muscovites. They signed for me, despite the enormous risks. This is very valuable to me. And this should be indicative for the authorities, who are trying to prevent an incumbent deputy and a candidate who represents an alternative to the majority in the Moscow City Duma from participating in the elections,” Maxim Kruglov commented.

Maxim Kruglov, like other Yabloko candidates in elections at various levels, is campaigning under the slogan “For Peace and Freedom! For the Ceasefire Agreement!”

MAXIM KRUGLOV

is a Deputy Chairman of Yabloko,

a member of the Federal Bureau of the Party,

Deputy Chairman of the Moscow branch of Yabloko,

head of the Yabloko faction in the Moscow City Duma,

Candidate of Political Sciences.