The Constitutional Court will examine the refusal of self-employed people to register for elections

The Constitutional Court will consider the claim of Ekaterina Silaeva, who was unable to register as a candidate for the 2022 municipal elections in Moscow, reports “Vedomosti”. The Electoral Commission rejected her due to her occupation being indicated as “self-employed” in her documents. In tax documents, she was indicated as a payer of professional income tax.

Ms. Silaeva notes that it is the type of occupation – self-employment – that indicates that this person is a taxpayer of professional income tax. She also noted that the term “self-employed” is used in federal legislation. The plaintiff believes that uncertainty gives rise to contradictory law enforcement practice and does not allow determining what document should confirm self-employment.

The Izmailovo court previously sided with the election commission. In his opinion, information about Ms. Silaeva’s occupation “contradicts the information in the document confirming the candidate’s occupation and is unreliable.” The Moscow City Court found that the documents provided by the candidate and the very fact of registration and the existence of a special tax status do not confirm that the candidate is carrying out activities that generate income for him.

Leonid Uvarchev