In Novosibirsk, Coalition 2020 candidates Mikhail Ryazantsev and Ekaterina Tereshchenko were removed from the city council elections

The Novosibirsk Election Commission refused to register Mikhail Ryazantsev and Ekaterina Tereshchenko, representing the “Coalition 2020” formed by independent deputies, to register for by-elections to the local city council. The reason for the refusal was data from the Ministry of Justice about their participation in protests initiated by extremist organizations banned in the Russian Federation. By-elections were called after the deprivation of parliamentary powers of Helga Pirogova and Sergei Boyko (included in the register of foreign agents), who were also part of the “Coalition 2020”. Their colleagues in the parliamentary association promised to challenge the refusal to register.

The denial of registration to Ekaterina Tereshchenko, who previously worked as an assistant to the Novosibirsk parliament deputy Helga Pirogova, and the coordinator of the “Crippled Novosibirsk” movement Mikhail Ryazantsev became known on November 3. Both ran for the Novosibirsk City Council with the support of the “Coalition 2020”, formed by independent deputies during the main elections of 2020. Mrs. Tereshchenko was nominated in the 40th district, Mr. Ryazantsev – in the 49th.

By-elections to the Novosibirsk City Council were scheduled for December 17 after June 28, 2023 deprived Helga Pirogov and Sergei Boyko of parliamentary powers due to loss of confidence. The decision was made on the proposal of the prosecutor’s office, which claimed that both deputies did not provide information on income for 2022. Their defense insisted that in fact “no inspection was carried out” by the supervisory authority, but they failed to appeal this decision. Mr. Boyko left Russia in the fall of 2021, fearing arrest in a criminal case for creating an extremist community, and Ms. Pirogova went abroad in July 2022 after a criminal case was opened against her for spreading fakes about the Russian armed forces.

According to Coalition 2020, the basis for refusing registration to Mikhail Ryazantsev was a letter from the Ministry of Justice to the head of the regional election commission, Olga Blago, which stated that the candidate was involved in the activities of the public movement “Navalny’s Headquarters” (recognized as extremist and banned in the Russian Federation) and the Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK, recognized as an extremist organization and banned in the Russian Federation). In particular, with reference to police data, the letter refers to Mr. Ryazantsev’s participation in protests “initiated by Navalny’s Headquarters in Novosibirsk” in January 2021, and in the information support of FBK. In a similar letter regarding Ekaterina Tereshchenko, the Ministry of Justice reported her involvement in the activities of the “Vesna” movement (included in the register of foreign agents, recognized as extremist and banned in the Russian Federation): according to the police, in September 2022, Ms. Tereshchenko participated in protests initiated by “Vesna” promotions

“Despite the ideal signatures that Mikhail collected in abundance and to which the commission had no complaints, he was denied registration. This summer, Mikhail was part of the initiative group for holding a referendum with the goal of returning direct mayoral elections in Novosibirsk. All members of the initiative group are also checked for compliance with the requirements of the electoral legislation, but then no questions arose from the law,” the statement notes. Telegram– channel “Coalition 2020”. As for the “protest action” with the participation of Ekaterina Tereshchenko, “on that day a round dance took place on Lenin Square in Novosibirsk, which the court recognized as “the simultaneous presence of citizens in a public place,” the report says. The coalition intends to appeal the election commission’s decision.

“We thought that there might be a refusal, but we proceeded from the fact that we had to fight for victory. That’s how they acted,” independent city council member Svetlana Kaverzina told Kommersant.

According to the GAS “Elections” as of November 3, 12 people were nominated in constituency No. 49, of which self-nominated candidates Mikhail Ryazantsev, Evgeny Shamro and Andrey Vezner, as well as Maxim Novikov from Yabloko, have already been denied registration. In district No. 40, 10 people were nominated; there is no information about refusals to register in the system yet. In addition to Yabloko, the parties “United Russia”, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, “A Just Russia – For Truth”, “New People”, “Communists of Russia” and the Party of Pensioners also nominated candidates for the by-election.

Political scientist Vladimir Leontyev believes that candidates removed from the elections have little chance of challenging the decision of the election commission. “If people took part in unauthorized rallies, not to mention supporting Alexei Navalny, then the election commission has the right to refuse registration of such candidates. Moreover, the conclusions adopted by the commission are always supported by documents. We can say that the commission made a balanced decision in this case, but it is still based on the law that does not allow the registration of candidates who violated the order.”

Oksana Pavlova, Novosibirsk