Press Release, 18.08.2021

Photo: candidates Nikolai Solodkov and Dmitry Lysov / Photo by the Yabloko Press Service

Soon Dmitry Lysov, Mikhail Molchanov, Anna Shiryaeva, Nikolai Solodkov and Yulia Bobyleva will receive their long-awaited candidates’ certificates. In order to achieve a positive decision of the electoral commission on their registration in the election race, they had to go through two court instances.

The electoral commission of the Lanskoye municipality in St.Petersburg reconsidered its rejection in registration to five Yabloko candidates to the municipal council elections in the municipal district Lanskoye. By a majority of votes, it was decided to register all the five Yabloko candidates. Thus, the electoral commission had to comply with the court’s decision.

It should be noted that on 17 July the electoral commission of the Lanskoye municipality in St.Petersburg refused registration to five candidates from the Yabloko party. The commission explained its decision by the fact that the politicians were nominated by the subject of nomination – the St. Petersburg branch of Yabloko which had been undergoing the registration process – the activities of which had been suspended.

However, in accordance with the Yabloko party by-laws, all the powers of the party branch are vested in the Federal Bureau of the party. Therefore, all the candidates were nominated by the Federal Bureau of Yabloko, and the nomination was fully in line with the Yabloko by-laws. The correctness of the nomination was confirmed by the district court on July 27 and 28. The court ruled out that the decision of the electoral commission had been unlawful and obliged the electoral commission to revise its decision on the registration of Yabloko candidates.

Representatives of the electoral commission filed an appeal against the decision of the Primorsky District Court. However, their reasoning has not changed. On August 17, the St. Petersburg City Court ordered the electoral commission to reconsider the decision on registration of Yabloko candidates to the municipal council.