Press Release, 05.06.2018

Yakov Yakubovich, head of the Tverskoy municipal district of Moscow, who won the primaries in Yabloko (58 per cent of the vote in the second round), will not take part in the forthcoming Moscow Mayoral elections, because he is confident that he will not be able to overcome the municipal filter [mandatory collection of municipal deputies’ signatures in favour of his nomination]. He made this statement at a briefing in the party’s office after the end of the vote count in the primaries.

“After I won the debate in the run-up to the second round of the primaries, I conducted consultations on passing of the municipal filter. It became clear to me that I would not be able to collect the required number of signatures,” Yakubovich said. At the same time, he noted that he considered it unacceptable to use the experience of the Moscow Mayoral election in 2013, when Alexei Navalny passed the municipal filter and managed to register in the election as Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin asked municipal deputies to sign for him.

Yakov Yakubovich recommended that the federal Bureau of the party and the conference of the Moscow branch of Yabloko to nominate Sergei Mitrokhin as the party candidate for the Mayor of Moscow. Mitrokhin got into the second round of the primaries and scored 42 per cent of the vote.

“When I was standing by the Yabloko party office, where the polling station was located, I answered questions about my political experience, thorough knowledge of all the corners of Moscow, its problems and my recognition, and I understood the answers to these questions and was ready to give them. But I also realised that the municipal filter is the fork that will not allow me to achieve the desired result. Meanwhile, I am certain that Sergei Sergeyevich [Mitrokhin] will succeed,” Yakubovich said.

He promised to take an active part in supporting Sergei Mitrokhin and if Mitrokhin the election to become a member of the Federation Council from Moscow, as he had promised.

Yakov Yakubovich thanked the electors who gave him their votes. “I would like to thank every elector, every supporter who came and voted for me in these primaries. I am responsible for every vote. I carry this responsibility not only from the point of view of your support, but also from the point of view of the forthcoming election campaign. Each vote opens the way to politics for me,” he said.