Yekaterina Duntsova urges Yabloko party to support her nomination after Russia’s election commission rejects her application to run for president

Russia’s Central Election Commission has refused to register journalist Yekaterina Duntsova’s voters’ committee. The commission said that 20 percent of the statements made by members of Duntsova’s voters’ committee contained errors and that the signature of one of the committee’s members resembled a cat. This decision prevents Duntsova from collecting signatures, which is required to move forward in the nomination process. During a commission session, Ella Pamfilova, head of the Central Election Commission, told Duntsova: “Yekaterina Duntsova, you are a young woman, you have everything ahead of you. Any minus can always be turned into a plus, any experience is still an experience.” Pamfilova rejected opposition politician Alexey Navalny’s application to run for president in a similar manner back in December 2017. Duntsova said she would appeal the decision at Russia’s Supreme Court.

Yekaterina Duntsova called on the Yabloko party to nominate her as a presidential candidate instead, since the voters’ committee that supported her nomination cannot conduct a second nomination meeting. Duntsova appealed to Yabloko chairman Nikolai Rybakov, party founder Grigory Yavlinsky, and other party members.

“Allies! Russia’s presidential ‘elections’ are scheduled for March 17. I’m sure none of us have any illusions about them. But we can’t do nothing either! This is the last legal opportunity for citizens to demonstrate their disagreement with the policies of the current authorities,” said Duntsova in her statement to the Yabloko party. She called on the party to hold a congress, where they would nominate her as a presidential candidate.

According to the law, a party congress must make the decision about the participation of a party candidate. Party representatives can submit documents to the Central Election Commission “no later than 25 days from the date of the official publication of the decision to call elections,” which means until January 1, 2024. The congress would have to be attended by representatives from all the party’s regional branches. In early December, the Yabloko party held a congress, where they did not announce the nomination of any presidential candidates.

Grigory Yavlinsky said that the party wouldn’t nominate Duntsova as a presidential candidate, responding to questions from Alexei Venediktov and Sergey Buntman during a stream on the Zhivoy Gvozd YouTube channel. “Don’t say nonsense… Yabloko can’t nominate Duntsova. Out of the question. Because we don’t know her,” said Yavlinsky at the start of the stream. He noted that the party could convene a congress, since “it’s not closed,” but would likely not nominate anyone, including himself. “We don’t need to. We don’t see the purpose. We’re not playing this game,” explained Yavlinsky. Later, when Duntsova made an official appeal, Yavlinsky said that he “doesn’t know” whether the party will consider her application: “Maybe.” Yavlinsky added that he also “doesn’t know” whether the party will continue its congress. “Because of this, (the congress) definitely can’t continue,” said Yavlinsky. He told the stream’s hosts that they are “interested in such funny things.”

Yekaterina Duntsova is a 40-year-old journalist from Rzhev, a town in Russia’s Tver region, where she previously served as a deputy in the local duma. Duntsova’s website says she supports an end to combat operations in Ukraine, democratic reforms, and the release of political prisoners. After Duntsova announced her intention to run for president in mid-November, she was summoned to the prosecutor’s office, where they inquired about her attitude toward the conflict in Ukraine, while Russian bank VTB blocked transfers in her name. In December, Russia’s Justice Ministry came to inspect the notary where Duntsova’s voters’ committee’s registration document was certified.