"Stavropol Truth" refused to print the election program of "Yabloko".
"Stavropol Truth" on August 25 refused to include in the issue the party program titled "For Peace and Freedom!" two hours before going to print. The free space in the newspaper for campaigning was awarded to the candidate from the party as a result of a draw, and the reasons for the refusal were not explained by the editorial office.
As a result of the draw, the candidate for the 69th district, Vitaly Zubenko, received a free print space in "Stavropol Truth" - a block of 300 square centimeters with a release date of August 26.
On August 22, party representatives sent the finished original - the layout - to the editorial office, on the 24th they duplicated it and sent a signed approval sheet from the candidate personally. There were no complaints about the layout at any time - neither about the size, nor about the format, nor about the quality of the file, reports the official Telegram channel of the Stavropol regional branch of "Yabloko".
On August 17, the Supreme Court dismissed the appeal of "Yabloko", after which the decision to cancel the registration of the federal list of the party came into force. According to official information from the party's website, "Yabloko" nominated 269 candidates (seven people in the federal part and 262 candidates in 70 regional groups) for the elections to the State Duma of the IX convocation, and 135 candidates for single-mandate districts.
According to party representatives, the issue arose regarding the content, as the election program of the party was printed in the block. In the morning, two hours before going to print, the regional branch was informed by phone that the program would not be printed without stating the reason and the legal norm.
Members of the regional branch of "Yabloko" consider this illegal, as the candidate has the right to independently determine the content of their election campaigning. The newspaper does not decide what the candidate should print in their own block. A refusal can only be made if the material violates the law, but the editorial office does not refer to this.
Moreover, the Supreme Court canceled the registration of the federal list of "Yabloko", and the appeal upheld the decision. This means that the party is going to the elections only with candidates from single-mandate districts. It is specifically for such cases that the party publishes the program in the regional state publication, and "for such publication, free print space provided to the registered candidate is used," the party branch's statement says.
The voting is from September 18 to 20, and the program must be published no later than 20 days before - that is, by August 31. According to party members, the refusal deprives "Yabloko" of the opportunity to fulfill the obligation imposed on it by federal law. Given that the issue with the block is released on August 26 - within the deadline.
"Today we sent a written request to the editorial office to publish the material and provide a reasoned response, and to the Electoral Commission of the Stavropol Territory - a complaint requesting an investigation and to demand a written position from the newspaper. We do not want to think that the issue lies in the program itself - in the words about a ceasefire, about preventing nuclear war, about Russia without fear and political repression," the statement said.
"Caucasian Knot" also reported that the candidate from "Yabloko", Vladimir Atamanchuk, a registered candidate for the State Duma, spoke about the impossibility of meeting with voters in Sochi.