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Yavlinsky confirmed he would lead the Yabloko faction in St.Petersburg legislature

Yabloko to decide on participation in presidential election on Dec 18
Photo ITAR-TASS
Photo ITAR-TASS

MOSCOW, December 7 (Itar-Tass) — The Yabloko Party will decide on whether it will participate in the March 4 presidential election at its Congress on December 18, Party chairman Sergei Mitrokhin and a likely presidential hopeful Grigory Yavlinsky told a news conference on Wednesday.

Yavlinsky reminded that at the December 4 parliamentary elections, the Party failed to make the 5-percent barrier, and now has to collect two million signatures to register its candidate.

"We don't want to give up but before taking the decision, we have to weigh our chances," he said.

The Party has a large experience in collecting citizens’ signatures, but "it will not be easy to collect two million, with the whole country ‘lying under the Christmas tree’."

"Also, we have two New Years and two Christmases, and the lists of signatures are to be submitted by as early as January 18," Yavlinsky added.

Answering an Itar-Tass question, he confirmed he would lead the Yabloko faction in St.Petersburg legislature.

In his opinion, the Party's participation in the parliamentary and regional elections was successful, on the whole.

The support given to Yabloko has shown that there is a demand for changes in the society. Yabloko was able to form three factions in regional parliaments: in Karelia, the Pskov Region and St.Petersburg.

"St.Petersburg is a serious political rostrum for Yabloko," he told Tass.