Russia election: Opposition party fights against exclusion

Court case

Russia election: Opposition party fights against exclusion

The liberal opposition party Jabloko wants to score points in the parliamentary elections by criticizing Russia’s war against Ukraine. Your opponents loyal to the Kremlin want to prevent this from happening in the Supreme Court.

The liberal Russian opposition party Yabloko has appealed to the Supreme Court in Moscow against their threatened exclusion from the parliamentary elections in September. Millions of Russians are ready to give their vote to his party, which is fighting the war of aggression against the Ukraine criticized, said Yabloko boss Nikolai Rybakov. “Political competition is the essence of elections,” he emphasized. The lawsuit filed by the Kremlin-loyal Rodina party to exclude them from the Duma election aims to deprive people of a free choice.

The trial, presided over by Judge Vyacheslav Kirillov, will be broadcast live on the Internet. It is not clear when a verdict will be handed down.

Hundreds of people lined up outside the courthouse in Moscow that morning to get into the courtroom. It is only designed for 150 people, said the party, which also published a video of the crowd. Rybakov spoke of a “historic process” because no party admitted to the election has ever been excluded later. The Central Election Commission unanimously approved Yabloko for election in July.

The Kremlin-loyal Rodina party accuses Jabloko of violating copyrights in its election campaign material – for example in depictions of doves of peace – and of spending an impermissible amount of money on election advertising on the Internet. Lawyers from Jabloko contradicted the points in the 40-page lawsuit in hours of arguments.

The party wants to run for the election under the slogan “For Peace and Freedom” and promises a “life without fear” in view of the political repression in the country. Rybakov criticized Rodina for not presenting any evidence for the allegations, but for formulating fabrications and absurd ideas.

“The plaintiff is confusing the courtroom with one Talk show on television, where loud slogans, labels such as “extremism” and subjective associations take the place of the law,” said Rybakov about the allegations. Yabloko is an “exclusively peaceful, civilized, lawful political organization.”

A Rodina representative criticized in court that Yabloko’s election program consisted of only 43 words and that the demand for a ceasefire in the war against Ukraine contradicted the war goals. Specifically, he mentioned the conquest of the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, which the Kremlin stated was the war goal.

Other parties loyal to the Kremlin had also called for exclusion from the vote in September. Several Duma deputies who support Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine denounced Yabloko members as traitors and agents of the West. What is particularly criticized is that not a single participant in the war is on Jabloko’s electoral list.

Observers explained Yabloko’s threatened exclusion by saying that the party had enjoyed great popularity since being admitted to the election – and that the risk of possible success had become too great for the Kremlin. Based on surveys, experts said that the party had a chance of overcoming the five percent hurdle in the election and getting back into the Duma for the first time in more than 20 years.