The Yabloko Party lost its majority of candidate lists in the Russian elections
The Russian liberal party “Yabloko” lost most of its regional candidate slates on the eve of the elections. Of the eight regions where the party fielded candidate lists for elections to legislative assemblies, it managed to remain in the race only in the Novgorod and Tomsk regions.
At the same time, the party’s participation in the Tomsk region is now also under threat.
A lawsuit to that effect was filed by the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, led by Leonid Slutsky.
The Tomsk Regional Court will hear the lawsuit. If the lawsuit is granted, “Yabloko” will remain a participant in regional elections only in the Novgorod region.
Party officials stated that the LDPR’s claims almost entirely mirror the arguments previously used against Yabloko’s federal list.
Specifically, these include:
- the distribution of campaign materials on social media platforms with restricted access;
- possible violations of intellectual property law;
- issues regarding campaign financing.
A separate part of the lawsuit concerns campaign expenses. Representatives of Slutsky’s party claim that the cost of posting party-wide materials on social media and messaging apps exceeded the statutory limit for the election fund of candidates in the Tomsk region.
According to the plaintiffs, these materials were also used to benefit regional candidates, as they were distributed under the common name, emblem, and slogans of “Yabloko.”
Another part of the claims concerns the party’s sources of funding.
The plaintiffs cite donations that “Yabloko” received from Russian contractors, who, in turn, received funding from foreign states.
The lawsuit alleges that, at the time the party’s election fund was established in the Tomsk region, these donations had not been returned.
At the same time, “Yabloko” contributed more than 1.1 million rubles of its own funds to the regional election fund.
The party had previously lost its eligibility to participate in elections to the Russian State Duma.
On August 10, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation removed Yabloko’s federal list from the State Duma elections following a lawsuit filed by the Rodina party.
The allegations at the time also included possible violations of intellectual property laws during the campaign, questions regarding the source of funding, and the distribution of certain materials through foreign platforms.
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