Russia's Central Election Commission Registers Yabloko Party for State Duma Elections

Russia’s Central Election Commission (CEC) has registered the anti-war Yabloko party for the upcoming State Duma elections scheduled for September 18–20. While the party initially declared 271 candidates for its federal list, the CEC excluded two individuals—Egor Karpenkov due to residency in Italy and Oleg Shabalin due to Ukrainian citizenship—leaving a final list of 269 candidates. Additionally, 135 Yabloko members are running in single-mandate districts.

Yabloko, which campaigns under the slogan “For Peace and Freedom,” is described as the only officially registered party directly opposing the war. Party Chair Nikolai Rybakov stated that this provides citizens a legal way to vote for peace and a ceasefire. However, the registration has been met with criticism from other political figures; State Duma deputy Alexey Zhuravlev accused Yabloko candidates of lacking experience in the "SVO" zone, while Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov dismissed the organization as "nothing more than a cell" rather than a party.

Despite the federal registration, Yabloko faces significant regional obstacles. Election commissions in Petrozavodsk and St. Petersburg have refused to register the party's candidates for local legislative races. Furthermore, reports indicate that Russian authorities have used administrative statutes regarding "extremist symbols" to bar politicians from running. At least 23 politicians—including at least 14 members of Yabloko—have been disqualified through these charges, which in some cases involved posting photos of Alexei Navalny or using logos from banned social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram.

CEC Chair Ella Pamfilova maintained that the commission treats all parties equally. Other registered parties for the election include United Russia, CPRF, New People, LDPR, A Just Russia, the Pensioners' Party, and Communists of Russia, with several other parties still awaiting review. Analysts note that while Yabloko is permitted to run, the broader electoral environment is characterized by a decline in support for the ruling party and an expansion of remote electronic voting (DEG) to 33 regions, which critics argue favors the administration.