Nearly 40 opposition candidates were removed from elections over “extremism,” document problems, and foreign stocks

Nearly 40 opposition candidates were removed from elections over “extremism,” document problems, and foreign stocks

In Russia, at least 36 candidates running in single-mandate districts who were opposed to United Russia were removed or barred from participating in the September elections to the State Duma and regional legislative assemblies, Verstka calculated.

The count included cases in which the formal grounds for banning participation in the elections were social media posts, foreign assets, or objections to documents, where political pressure may have been involved.

The main reason for removal from the elections was punishment under protocols for “displaying extremist symbols” (Article 20.3 of the Administrative Code). Those convicted under this article lose the right to run for elected office for one year. Law enforcement took advantage of this by finding “prohibited” materials on the social media pages of 27 politicians.

Most often (17 cases), candidates were removed from the elections over posts mentioning Alexei Navalny, his photo, or projects connected to him. In seven cases, the grounds for drawing up a protocol were links to Facebook and Instagram, which are banned in Russia, as well as displaying the logos of those social networks.

Another five candidates were removed from the elections for owning foreign securities. At the same time, Z-war correspondent Yevgeny Poddubny, who was included in the top five leaders of United Russia in the State Duma elections, was also found to own shares in foreign companies found, but he was not removed from the elections.

In more than half of all cases, the candidates removed from the elections or barred from them were Yabloko candidates — 19 people (mostly over “extremist symbols”). Eight Communist Party candidates, six candidates from other parties, and three self-nominated candidates were also forced to end their election campaigns.

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