Press release, 3.07.2016

The YABLOKO party has represented its coalition list of candidates for the State Duma deputies as well as 185 candidates in the single-mandate constituencies. The delegates were discussing the candidatures for 15 hours during the second day of the Congress, July 2. The discussion ended by ballot voting.

YABLOKO’s campaign slogan:” Freedom. Respect. Responsibility.”

The ten top candidates in YABLOKO’s parliamentary election list are as follows: Grigory Yavlinsky, party founder,  head of the YABLOKO faction in St.Petersburg Legislative Assembly, Emilia Slabunova, party Chair, deputy of Karelian Legislative Assembly, Vladimir Ryzhkov, famous politician, professor at the Higher School of Economics, Lev Shlosberg, head of the Pskov branch of YABLOKO, ex-deputy of the Pskov Region Legislative Assembly and journalist, Sergei Mitrokhin, head of the Moscow branch of YABLOKO and ex-Chair of the party, Mark Geilikman, head of the party election head-quarters, Nikolai Rybakov, Deputy Chair of the party and environmentalist, Galina Shirshina, ex-Mayor of Petrozavodsk, Alexander Gnezdilov, Deputy Chair of the party and theatre director, and Dmitry Gudkov, politician and oppositional MP of the State Duma.

The federal list consists of 64 regional groups where 331 nominees are going to run (besides the federal top ten)in the elections. The average age of candidates is 49 years. Over 90 per cent of the candidates have a higher education.

One third (27 per cent) of candidates are non-members of the YABLOKO party and representatives of political parties and organisations who joined the Coalition of Political Alternative. “We managed to make a list which reflects the interests and views of that part of the society which, to different extents, but agrees that [Russia] needs to change the political course and current authorities – both the government and the President,” Grigory Yavlinsky said, presenting the list. All the non-party candidates signed the Memorandum of Political Alternative.

There is a number of distinguished people among the leaders of regional groups. This way, a well-known film director Alexander Sokurov headed YABLOKO’s regional group in St.Petersburg. Andrei Zayakin, co-founder of Dissernet (online group dedicated to exposing intellectual fraud), headed the group which unites the Transbaikal Territory, the Republiks of Buryatia and Yakutia, Kamchatka and the Irkutsk Region. The three groups in Moscow are headed by Sergei Ivanenko, deputy of the State Duma of the 1-3 convocations and YABLOKO deputy Chair, economist Alexei Melnikov and human right defender Valery Borshchev.

The regional group in the Chechen Republic is headed by a well-known human rights defender, Chair of the Civil Assistance Committee Svetlana Gannushkina, the list in the Leningrad Region is headed by deputy of the Legislative Assembly, trade union leader Alexei Etmanov.

Anastasia Kravchuk, vice-speaker of the Legislative Assembly of the Republic of Karelia, headed the group which unites the Arkhangelsk, Murmansk, Kaliningrad Regions, the Nenets Autonomous Area, the Republiks of Komi and Karelia.

Evgeny Vitishko, environmentalist and ex-political prisoner, headed the group which unites the Krasnodar Territory, Crimea and Sevastopol.

Artyem Tarasov, first legal soviet millionaire, headed the Krasnoyarsk group. Pavel Sulyandziga, Deputy Chair of the UN Working Group on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises, headed the list in the Primorsky Territory.

Deputy of the Kursk Legislative Assembly Olga Lee headed the group in the Kursk and Belgorod Regions. Leader of the Dront environmental centre Askhat Kayumov headed the group in Nizhny Novgorod.

YABLOKO nominated candidates for deputies in 185 single mandate constituencies. Politician Vladimir Ryzhkov will run in the Barnaul single mandate constituency of the Altai Territory, Lev Shlosberg will run in the Pskov single mandate constituency.

YABLOKO nominated its candidates in 14 single mandate districts out of 15 in Moscow. Among them are Sergei Mitrokhin (Babushkinsky district), Dmitry Gudkov (Tushinsky district), economist Igor Nikolayev (Kuntsevsky district), co-Chair of December 5th Party Yulia Galyamina (Leningradsky district), former State Duma deputy Vladimir Semago (Lublinsky district), member of Presidential Human Rights Committee Andrei Babushkin (Medvedkovsky district), deputy Chair of the Democratic Choice party Igor Drandin (Orekhovo-Borisovo district), municipal deputy Elena Rusakova (Cheryemushki district).

YABLOKO’s candidates will run in eight single mandate constituencies in St.Petersburg. Among them are leader of the regional party branch Mikhail Amosov (North-Eastern district), co-Chair of the Consumers’ Union of Russia Anatoly Golov (North-Western district), YABLOKO deputy Chair Nikolai Rybakov (Central district).

Vladimir Mikhailov, deputy of the Kostroma Region Legislative Assembly, was nominated in the Kostroma region constituency. Olga Lee, deputy of the Kursk Region Legislative Assembly, runs in the Kursk single mandate constituency.

Evgeny Vitishko runs in the Krasnodar Territory, environmentalist Askhat Kayumov is going to run in the Nizhny Novgorod constituency, member of the Public Chamber of the RF Sergei Symak – in the Samara Region constituency.
The party is going to provide the documents to the Central Election Commission to register the candidates on July 8. YABLOKO’s candidates are exempted from collecting signatures to register a candidate.