The Rodina party has filed a lawsuit with the Pskov Regional Court demanding that the Yabloko party's list be removed from the ballot for the regional legislative assembly elections. The court's press service announced the filing, with the hearing set for August 25 and no further details disclosed.
Artur Gaiduk, chairman of the Pskov branch of Yabloko, said that "there are no legal grounds to deprive residents of the Pskov region of the opportunity to vote for peace, freedom, and life without fear." He added that such grounds are also absent in the Supreme Court's review of the party's federal list registration.
Yabloko noted that the Pskov region is the only one of five regions where the party was allowed to participate in elections and where it currently holds seats in the regional parliament. In addition to the Pskov region, the party's lists were registered in the Kaliningrad, Novgorod, Sverdlovsk, and Tomsk regions.
On August 10, the Supreme Court, acting on a lawsuit from Rodina, removed Yabloko's federal list from the State Duma elections. The court ruled that the party used intellectual property without indicating authorship and committed violations in campaign financing. On August 17, Yabloko's appeal was rejected, and the next day the Central Election Commission excluded the party from the federal ballot.
The Supreme Court's decision did not affect single-mandate candidates: 126 Yabloko candidates are running for the State Duma. However, competitors are also seeking their removal. This week, the Moscow Regional Court upheld a lawsuit against party candidate Viktor Bystrov, filed by a representative of the Green party. In late July, the Supreme Court of Karelia canceled the registration of Yabloko's list for the republic's legislative elections following a complaint from Rodina.