On April 24, the St. Petersburg Legislative Assembly rejected two amendments to reduce the municipal filter for gubernatorial elections. The deputies did not support the initiatives of the Yabloko factions and the Communist Party of the Russian Federation.
The Yabloko faction proposed reducing the municipal filter from a maximum value of 10% to 5%. The amendment was supported by only 14 deputies.
“Today there is a chance[…]to take at least one small step towards restoring confidence in the elections, towards the return of fair elections,” said the head of the faction, Alexander Shishlov, he expressed the opinion that there is only one reason why the majority refuses to support the proposal is “fear of fair elections, of open public competition in elections.”
Deputy Denis Chetyrbok from United Russia and one of the co-authors of the bill in which the proposed amendments were considered, commented that the adoption of the law will lead to “the erosion of the support that the federal legislator laid down in the principles of nomination.”
The communists also put forward a similar proposal. “The essence of our proposal is similar. The Communist Party of the Russian Federation consistently advocates for reducing the barriers set by the so-called municipal filters, and we believe that the practice of those constituent entities of the Russian Federation in which the municipal filter is set at the level of 5% has justified itself. It demonstrates that this law functions properly,” explained deputy Roman Kononenko. He added that he does not share Chetyrbok’s opinion that a high municipal filter supposedly equalizes candidates.
The Legislative Assembly regularly refuses to lower the municipal filter for gubernatorial elections. The next elections for the head of St. Petersburg will take place in the fall of 2024.
Tags: Legislative Assembly Petersburg refused municipal filter gubernatorial elections April
