Nearly half of the candidates nominated by the liberal Yabloko party for St. Petersburg’s regional parliamentary elections in September face disqualification after election authorities claimed they failed to submit required paperwork, Russian media reported Tuesday.
The disqualifications are connected to elections for St. Petersburg’s 50-seat legislative assembly, which will take place alongside federal parliamentary, regional and municipal votes later this year. The ruling United Russia party currently holds the majority of seats in the assembly.
Members of Yabloko told local media that 11 of their 25 nominees received formal notices claiming their submissions were incomplete.
“The documents are submitted, officially logged and then suddenly disappear,” lawyers representing Yabloko told the news outlet Fontanka.
Under Russian law, candidates are barred from submitting missing paperwork after the official filing deadline, which Fontanka said expired last week. Earlier, the outlet reported that election officials have used technicalities to reject “several dozen” prospective candidates from Yabloko and other opposition parties in separate municipal races due to be held in St. Petersburg in September.
