ST. PETERSBURG, January 25 (Itar-Tass) — The Yabloko party will decide on appealing the Russian Central Election Commission’s (CEC) decision to deny registration as an RF presidential candidate to the party nominee Grigory Yavlinsky, after the CEC makes it officially, Grigory Yavlinsky told reporters on Wednesday.
“I think that after the CEC makes a formal decision to deny me registration as a candidate the party will make a corresponding decision,” Yavlinsky said.
Grigory Yavlinsky, who heads the Yabloko faction in the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg, expressed regret at the position of the CEC, assuming that the decision to limit the number of presidential candidates looks strange against the background of proposals put forwards by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on reducing the number of signatures in support of the candidate. According to him, the spirit of law and the Constitution of Russia say that the citizens should be given an opportunity to decide themselves who will be presidential candidate.
Also, a Yabloko leader expressed sincere gratitude to politicians in Russia who supported him. “This is important, despite the fact that we are opponents, I value this support,” said Yavlinsky. According to him, this is recognition of democracy by them.
Yavlinsky expressed special gratitude to millions of Russian citizens who have put signatures in his support. He stressed that the signatures were collected free of charge, Yabloko did not pay for the collection of signatures. He claims that during the registration of the party at elections to the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg, a handwriting analysis of signatures presented by some parties was conducted, which revealed up to 60 percent of invalid signatures. Nevertheless, the St. Petersburg election commission decided to register them in the elections. “I am convinced that in the name of the rule of law and Russia’s future, other decisions must be made,” he commented on the CEC conclusions regarding his registration.
The CEC is expected to make a formal decision on Yavlinsky on January 27. Earlier, CEC Secretary Nikolai Konkin confirmed that the working group on verification of the signature lists recommended the CEC to deny registration to a Yabloko leader because he submitted a large percentage of invalid signatures. Konkin emphasised that “there is no politics, just arithmetic,” in this decision. He explained that he was guided in his decisions solely by the law.