Court strips Yabloko from Pskov ballot — fifth region to block party from regional vote
A Pskov court has removed opposition party Yabloko from the region's legislative election ballot over an alleged paperwork defect, making it the fifth region where authorities have moved to keep the party out of regional races.
The Pskov Regional Court has struck Yabloko's candidate list from the ballot for the region's legislative elections, ruling that the seal on the authorization form the party submitted to the election commission was missing required information.
The removal followed a lawsuit from the Rodina party. Rodina also brought the case that led Russia's Supreme Court to strike Yabloko's federal list from State Duma elections on August 10.
According to Yabloko, Pskov is now the fifth region where officials have attempted to bar the party from regional parliament elections. Its list was previously removed in St. Petersburg, the Leningrad region and Karelia. In the Kaliningrad region, the Communists of Russia party — distinct from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (KPRF) — is separately seeking Yabloko's removal.
Despite these challenges, Yabloko candidates remain in regional races in the Kaliningrad, Novgorod, Pskov, Sverdlovsk and Tomsk regions.
Pskov is notable as the only region where Yabloko currently holds seats in the regional legislature, and as the home region of the party's deputy chairman, Lev Shlosberg. On August 17, a court sentenced Shlosberg to 11 years in prison on charges of repeatedly discrediting the army and spreading false information about the military — a conviction stemming from his public anti-war statements.
