Russia's Central Election Commission (CEC) rejected an appeal from the Yabloko party against a decision by the St. Petersburg election commission, which had earlier refused to register the party's candidate list for the single citywide district in the Legislative Assembly elections.
The formal reason was a power of attorney issued to Yabloko's financial representative Maxim Brankin. The document did not separately specify the right to sign the first financial report, which the party was required to submit for list registration. The election commission deemed the report signed by an unauthorized person. The party insisted the wording was technical in nature and that a notary corrected the power of attorney after the commission was notified. However, the CEC found that the change did not grant the representative authority retroactively.
CEC Deputy Chairman Nikolai Bulaev cited a "legally illiterate power of attorney" as the reason for the exclusion. He rejected accusations of bias, noting that two days earlier the commission had registered Yabloko's federal list for the State Duma elections. CEC Chairwoman Ella Pamfilova was absent from the meeting; the day before, she met with St. Petersburg Governor Alexander Beglov and thanked him for his assistance to election commissions.
The refusal to register the list was preceded by problems for the party's candidates in single-mandate districts. According to The Insider, 11 of 25 candidates received notices about allegedly incomplete document packages; candidate Dmitry Khorzov filmed his document submission, showing a certificate of employment that the commission later said it could not find. Incumbent Legislative Assembly deputies Boris Vishnevsky, Alexander Shishlov and Olga Shtannikova were also unable to run.
Yabloko plans to appeal the exclusion in the St. Petersburg City Court. Party chairman Nikolai Rybakov said the party would continue to fight "for St. Petersburg and for the right to participate in the city parliament elections." In the 2021 campaign, the party received more than 9% of the vote in St. Petersburg and won two seats.
Separately, the St. Petersburg city election commission ordered territorial commission No. 11 to reconsider the registration of Yabloko candidate Marina Peslyak, who was earlier removed from the race. The commission also annulled the registration of Yaroslav Kostrov, a city heritage advocate nominated by A Just Russia, due to his arrest on charges of displaying extremist symbols, which entails a temporary loss of passive voting rights.