Yet another region is poised to keep Russia's Democratic Coalition off the ballot this year

Local election officials in Kostroma have recommended against registering the democratic opposition's candidates in the upcoming parliamentary race. The candidates in question belong to “Parnas,” the People’s Freedom Party.

According to Electoral Commission deputy chair Olga Shilik, her group will meet on August 8 to make a final decision on Parnas’ participation in Kostroma's election.

Parnas’ lawyer, Andrei Davydov, says that the opposition is 77 signatures short of the required 2,738 signatures needed to register the party’s candidates.

Earlier, Parnas deputy chair Ilya Yashin reported that the party had submitted a total of 3,009 signatures to officials.

Parnas is part of the “Democratic Coalition,” a collaboration between several opposition groups, including Alexei Navalny’s Party of Progress, the Democratic Choice Party, the 5th of December Party, and the Libertarian Party.

The coalition was founded to provide a platform for like-minded candidates to participate in the upcoming parliamentary elections in several Russian regions. The Democratic Coalition has tried to field candidates in regional races in Kaluga, Kostroma, Magadan, and Novosibirsk.

In order to register these candidates in elections, Russian law requires that they submit a certain number of signatures in support of their candidacy. The required number varies by region.

Democratic Coalition candidates have been barred from elections in Magadan and Novosibirsk regions because officials say they could not verify the authenticity of some of the submitted signatures. As a result, the Elections Commission ruled that they failed to gather the required number of signatures to take part in the race.

For more about how Russia's regional elections work, see Russia’s Democratic Coalition: The opposition is being barred from elections again. Here’s what you need to know