At least 36 single-mandate district candidates dropped out of races for Russia’s State Duma and regional parliaments, the independent outlet Verstka has calculated. Among them are 19 representatives of the opposition Yabloko party, eight from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, six candidates from other Kremlin-approved parties, and three independents. The outlet counted cases in which it sees signs of political pressure, including two instances of candidates withdrawing in a nominally voluntary manner after reporting pressure from the authorities. Those who have had their registration reinstated through the courts were not included in the count.
The most common grounds for disqualification, affecting 27 would-be candidates, were allegations of displaying “extremist symbols” (Article 20.3 of the Administrative Code). In 17 cases, the complaints concerned posts about the late Alexei Navalny or projects linked to him. Seven more concerned the sharing of links to the “forbidden” social networks Facebook and Instagram. In Kaliningrad, Yabloko candidate Anton Gendrikson was sentenced to 10 days in jail over a post featuring the Facebook logo.
Nikolai Bondarenko, a Communist Party candidate for the State Duma from Saratov, was fined 1,000 rubles ($11) over a photo of Navalny posted on the Telegram channel Nikolai Bondarenko Live, even though the politician denied having any actual connection to the channel bearing his name. In the Moscow Region, the registration of Yabloko’s Viktor Bystrov was canceled over errors in his paperwork, which his defense attributed to quirks in the Central Election Commission’s software.
Five more candidates were removed from the ballot over their ownership of foreign securities.
Notably, foreign stock holdings were previously found in the financial disclosure form of “war correspondent” Yevgeny Poddubny, who is on United Russia’s federal top-five list. Poddubny declared shares in Apple, Intel, Procter & Gamble, and Nebius Group, as well as units in foreign funds. United Russia’s press service told the business outlet Kommersant that by the time he filed his registration documents, Poddubny had allegedly taken all necessary steps to divest these assets and had submitted confirmation to the Central Election Commission. The candidate from the Kremlin-aligned “party of power” remains on United Russia’s electoral list.
Complaints against individual candidates have been accompanied by the cancellation of party list registrations. As The Insider wrote earlier, on Aug. 10, Russia’s Supreme Court revoked the registration of Yabloko’s federal list, which included 269 candidates; the decision was then upheld on Aug. 17. By Aug. 28, the party had also lost the ability to run on party lists in regional parliament elections in at least five regions: the city of St. Petersburg, Leningrad, Pskov, and Sverdlovsk regions, and the Republic of Karelia.
Candidates who are continuing their campaigns elsewhere in Russia are also running into obstacles. In Kostroma, Andrei Tarasov, a Yabloko-nominated candidate for the State Duma, said that two advertising contractors refused to display his campaign banners, citing a ban from the municipal Outdoor Advertising and Information Center. According to Tarasov, the companies justified their refusal by arguing that “all spaces would be taken up by information about the special military operation.” At the same time, Tarasov claims, campaign materials for his rival from United Russia are being displayed all around the city.
Tarasov says he has approved seven banners with the election commission and spent about 60,000 rubles ($700) on producing them, in addition to more than 200,000 rubles ($2,300) for their placement. However, on Aug. 24, the first contractor backed out of the agreement, followed shortly by the second one. Tarasov appealed to Investigative Committee head Alexander Bastrykin, asking him to look into the actions of Kostroma city administration officials. Results have not been forthcoming.
