Russia's liberal opposition party Yabloko has been completely shut out of the regional parliamentary elections in St. Petersburg. The Central Election Commission upheld the rejection of the party's candidate list.
The St. Petersburg election commission had removed Yabloko's candidates from the list last week, citing that the notarized power of attorney did not explicitly grant the party representative the authority to sign financial disclosure documents.
Although the party submitted corrected documents addressing the deficiency, the election commission refused to accept them on the grounds that the correction could not grant retroactive authorization. At a meeting on Friday, the Central Election Commission unanimously rejected Yabloko's appeal.
Yabloko Chairman Nikolai Rybakov said they would take the decision to court. Rybakov accused election officials of systematically targeting the party because it "opposes the authorities and defends the residents and the city of St. Petersburg."
This block in St. Petersburg contradicts the Central Election Commission's decision on Wednesday to allow Yabloko to take part in the State Duma elections.
Yabloko is the only officially registered political party that opposes the war in Ukraine and runs on a peace platform. Russian authorities have jailed several prominent members of the party in recent years for criticizing the invasion of Ukraine.