Russia's Central Election Commission (CEC) has conducted a lottery to determine the order of parties on the ballot for the State Duma elections. United Russia drew the first position, Yabloko the second, and New People the last, 11th. The Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) came in third, while the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF) placed eighth.
The full list of parties on the ballot: United Russia, Yabloko, LDPR, Direct Democracy Party, The Greens, A Just Russia, Rodina, CPRF, Party of Pensioners, Communists of Russia, New People.
Yabloko chairman Nikolai Rybakov said he had wanted exactly this number, since "the choice for citizens is either United Russia or Yabloko." Rybakov himself, along with several other party candidates, has been barred from participating in the elections. Party founder Grigory Yavlinsky earlier characterized the elections as a "referendum": Yabloko is the only party allowed to participate that calls for an immediate end to the war in Ukraine.
In several regions, including Karelia and St. Petersburg, Yabloko's regional lists were not admitted to the elections, though the federal list was registered. Ahead of the September State Duma elections, about 40 Yabloko members lost the right to participate in the campaign on various grounds. More than 10 party members have become defendants in various criminal cases over recent months, and 11 people have been added by the Russian Justice Ministry to the register of "foreign agents." Some candidates from other forces were also barred from the campaign under various pretexts. Politician Boris Nadezhdin, who had tried to register as a candidate, left Russia days ago.
Yabloko's participation in the campaign has sparked debate among anti-war politicians and public figures: some call for supporting the party, while others believe its participation in the elections is decorative and that the voting results will be falsified anyway.
Voting will take place over three days, from September 18 to 20. The authorities plan to hold it, among other places, in the occupied territories of Ukraine. In the previous elections, United Russia ran under the fifth number, and in the one before that, under the fourth.