Press release, 17.01.2018

Grigory Yavlinsky’s campaign headquarters have collected the required 105,000 signatures to register him as a presidential candidate. However, the party will continue collecting signatures.

As of December 17, Grigory Yavlinsky’s headquarters have collected 105,000 signatures from 79 regions of Russia. By 31 January, Yavlinsky must transfer to the Central Electoral Commission at least 105,000 voters’ signatures in favour of his nomination, whereas only 2,500 signatures per region is allowed.

According to Nikolai Rybakov, the head of Grigory Yavlinsky’s campaign headquarters, Yabloko will continue collecting signatures. “Firstly, we want to present the Central Electoral Commission with the signature lists, the validity of which cannot be disputed. Secondly, we want to win new supporters by collecting signatures”.

“Thousands of people came to our election headquarters to take signature lists for their friends and family members. A large number of people is collecting signatures in small towns and rural areas where we have no election headquarters. They sent signature lists by post,” he also added.

On January 16, Grigory Yavlinsky was accepting his voters’ signatures in the Moscow headquarters himself.

By 31 January, the signatures must transfered to the Central Electoral Commission. Then the Central Electoral Commission will select 20 per cent of signatures for checking purposes. The Commission will have 10 days to check the signatures. If the number of spoiled signatures does not exceed 5 per cent, a candidate will be registered. They election will take place on 18 March, 2018.

Yabloko nominated its presidential candidate in 1996, 2000 and 2012. In 1996 Grigory Yavlinsky represented a democratic alternative to Boris Yeltsin’s policy. In 2000 he was the only democrat who ran against Vladimir Putin and gained 18.6 per cent in Moscow with the voters turnout of 67.1 per cent. Yavlinsky was not registered as a presidential candidate in 2012 on political grounds. In 2004 Yabloko did not nominate its candidate but supported the candidacy of human rights advocate Vladimir Bukovsky. However, he was not registered as a candidate.