Press Release, 29.09.2014

YABLOKO Bureau had a meeting on September 27 and stated that despite tough opposition to Putin’s regime the party gained support of the voters at the elections.

“The YABLOKO party openly announced its stance before the elections were announced and during the election campaign – against the annexation of Crimea and war with Ukraine, against isolationism and nationalism, for the European way of development. Not only YABLOKO members but representatives of non-system opposition and civil activists who sighned the political Memorandum on the agreement with those stances were on YABLOKO list of candidates in Moscow”, stated the Bureau.

YABLOKO gained 12,5 percent on the average at the Mosocw City Duma elections. Bureau consider this result important. YABLOKO gained good results in Zhurovsky and Korolyev (the Mosocw region) but due to election fraud the results were changed: in Zhukovsky from 50 percent (the first place) to 16 percent, in Korolyev from 30 percent (the second place) to 4,99 percent.

Despite mass obstacles YABLOKO gained mandates in a number of regions of Russia: the Moscow region, the Krasnodar Territory, the Krasnoyarsk Territory and the Republic of Karelia.

“It’s obvious that a large number of active Muscovites and other citizens of Russia support YABLOKO and disapprove of the political course of aggression and isolationism chosen by the authorities.

It’s our basis to continue the activities despite the fact that the elections have become an imitation institute at many points. Nevertheless, the only way to change the regime by the constitutional way is to participate in the elections”, runs in the Bureau statement.

However, YABLOKO Bureau declare that elections of September 2014 took place within the atmosphere the state propaganda of hatred to dissidence, propaganda of aggressive militarism and anti-Westernism.

The administrative resource was traditionally used at maximum level at these elections: mobilization of “dependent” voters”, elimination of opposion candidates’ campaigning materials, campaigning only for pro-government candidates in the local and city mass media, the absence of information about the candidates in valued information means, black PR and libel against opposition candidates who had good chances to win, mass-scale early voting of dependent voters.

In a number of regions members of the election commissions and election observers were eliminated from the polling stations with the help of police and fraud of election protocols was practiced as well on the voting day.

The procedure of gubernatorial “elections” actually resolved into re-appointment, the competitive character of the electoral procedure was gone, stated the Bureau.

There are no “elected” governors who weren’t agreed with Presidential Administration, no one who opposes the Kremlin’s policy”, runs in the statement.

The lineup of the elected representative bodies in the regions on the whole displace the loyal and patriotic spector of the State Duma: the party of power and its parliamentary branches”, runs in the statement.

YABLOKO Bureau also fix the reduction of interest to working in the election commissions and election observation within the active citizens: “the election observation once again returns to the line of responsibility of political parties, not the active citizens”.

YABLOKO Bureau calls all the party members, regional and local branches to use the experience gained at the elections to strengthen the party positions and prepare for the coming elections to the State Duma in 2016.