Press Release, 30.09.2020

The Regional Council of the Chelyabinsk branch of Yabloko issued a statement on non-recognition of the results of elections of deputies to the Legislative Assembly of the Chelyabinsk region, stating that the elections of deputies to the Legislative Assembly of the Chelyabinsk Region held in the Chelyabinsk Region for three days (in accordance to the recent resolution of the Central Electoral Commission) on September 11, 12 and 13, “were a fake, and their result cannot be recognised as legitimate”.

Pretense, as a characteristic, can be given to everything that representatives of federal and regional authorities did in one way or another to prepare and conduct elections, as well as political parties that took part in them.

Due to the coronavirus epidemic and related restrictions, under the guise of concern for the health of citizens during COVID-19, the election legislation was once again changed, runs the statement of the regional branch of the party.

Yabloko noted that this time there were introduced a three-days voting procedure and a possibility of collecting signatures in support of the nomination of candidates on the portal of the State Services. The three day voting complicated the observation process and created opportunities for multiple fraud, while collection of signatures via the State Services web-site turned out to be useless due to various technical mistakes and malfunctions.

Instead of assistance and guarantees in the exercise of citizens’ electoral rights, the authorities once again intervened in the electoral process, making the elections uncontested even at the stage of registration of candidates. To imitate competition, a number of candidates from the parties controlled by the authorities were registered in the elections, while independent candidates and parties were denied registration. At the expense of the administrative resource, the authorities once again solved the problem of self-preservation.

Participation in the elections of the Governor of the Chelyabinsk region and a number of other federal and regional politicians who actively used the advantage of their posts and status for electoral purposes was also another fake. All of them subsequently refused their mandates. There was also a massive change of the “party registration” of a number of candidates to cover up the absence of a real rotation of deputies.

Yabloko notes that behind-the-scenes agreements, influenced the distribution of the mandates of the deputies, rather than the expression of the will of people and their ideological preferences.

According to Yabloko, “all this testifies to the existence of facts of political corruption that must be investigated. We will seek compensation for harm to everyone who suffered from the unlawful and unjustified refusal by the Electoral Commission to register the regional list of candidates from the Yabloko party in the elections to the Legislative Assembly of the Chelyabinsk Region. This highest measure of constitutional and legal responsibility was applied not only to candidates from the Yabloko party, depriving us of the right to be elected, but also to voters who supported the nomination of a regional list of candidates and were ready to come and vote for the party on election day.”

The Chelyabinsk branch of Yabloko notes that restrictions on political competition and the elimination of alternatives in elections are inconsistent with the generally recognised democratic principles of freedom and justice, which is unacceptable in a rule of law.

“We cannot agree with this, and we intend to protect our rights and the rights of all citizens living in the Chelyabinsk region,” runs the statement of the Regional Council of the Chelyabinsk branch of Yabloko.

The Regional Council further reiterates that it does not recognise the results of the elections of deputies of the Legislative Assembly of the Chelyabinsk Region of September 13, 2020, noting that the Legislative Assembly of the Chelyabinsk Region cannot be considered a body of people’s representation, since it is formed by a clear minority of voters with significant and unlawful manipulations by the current government. “Will seek an objective investigation of all facts about violations of the electoral rights of citizens and bringing to justice those responsible for the unlawful refusal to register the regional list of candidates from the Yabloko party in the elections of deputies to the Legislative Assembly of the Chelyabinsk region (including members of the Electoral Commission of the Chelyabinsk region, guilty of violations), as well as compensation for harm caused by them”.