On September 18, three-day voting began in Russia for the State Duma elections, and only 98 of Yabloko’s 135 single-mandate candidates, initially registered by the CEC, remained on the ballots. By September 4, 123 party representatives were still in the campaign, and by September 18 their number had fallen by almost 30% from the original list.
The most common reason for removal was cases involving the display of “extremist symbols” under Article 20.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses, which automatically bars participation in elections. In many cases, the claims concerned posts about Alexei Navalny and projects associated with him, as well as links to Facebook and Instagram or their logos, which are recognized as “extremist” in Russia.
On August 10, the Supreme Court decided to remove the party’s list from the State Duma elections. After that, the authorities began removing single-mandate candidates through the courts as well, and in the regional elections Yabloko managed to keep its list only in Novgorod Oblast.
In six other regions, the party is represented only by single-mandate candidates — in Novgorod, Pskov, Sverdlovsk, Kaliningrad, and Tomsk oblasts, as well as in Saint Petersburg and Karelia. At the same time, the registration of the party’s lists in the regional elections was canceled by court in Karelia, Pskov, Kaliningrad, Sverdlovsk, and Tomsk oblasts.
In July, the Saint Petersburg Election Commission refused to register the party for the city legislative assembly elections. On August 13, in Leningrad Oblast, registration of Yabloko’s region-wide list for the regional legislative assembly elections was also denied.
On September 9, Yabloko presented supporters with a “Plan B”: on September 20, the party proposed making ballots invalid in the list vote by marking more than one square. The party gave the same advice for the single-mandate district ballot if there is no Yabloko candidate on it.
The party is running in these elections under the slogan “For peace and freedom”.
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