Press Release, 30.09.2020

On October 1, the Board of Appeals of the Supreme Court of Russia will consider the complaint of Yabloko about the refusal of the Supreme Court to consider the party’s claim against the Central Electoral Commission which had issued a resolution on a three-day voting in elections.

In early September, the Yabloko party, as well as two candidates for deputies from Yabloko in the Moscow region, appealed to the Supreme Court regarding the resolution of the Central Electoral Commission on a three-day voting.

The plaintiffs asked the court to declare the ruling unlawful because it violates the rights of election participants and contradicts the federal law “On Basic Guarantees of Electoral Rights.”

The Supreme Court did not accept the claim for consideration. For some reason, the court found that the plaintiffs were challenging the provisions of the laws “On Basic Guarantees of Electoral Rights” and “On the Election of State Duma Deputies”, which enshrined early voting and the competence of the Central Electoral Commission to determine the procedure for its conduct. The second reason for the refusal was the fact that the Supreme Court for some reason decided that the plaintiffs were expecting an “additional regulation of the norms” from it, which is absent in the contested decision of the Central Electoral Commission.

In the complaint, which Yabloko filed with the Board of Appeals, such conclusions were called “far-fetched and illogical”. Yabloko did not challenge the federal laws and did not ask the court for normative regulation.

The party’s lawyers believe that the judge went beyond his competence and thereby violated the plaintiffs’ right to access to justice. Yabloko asks the Board of Appeals to cancel this decision of the Supreme Court and allow the claim to proceed.