The Ministry of Justice requires the elimination of the “civil initiative” for non -participation in the elections

The Ministry of Justice sent a claim to the Supreme Court to liquidate the Civil Initiative party, since it did not participate in the elections for seven years in a row. The last major campaign was held in 2018: then journalist Ksenia Sobchak ran from the “civil initiative” to the presidency. The leadership believes that the authorities want to get rid of the « last party of the liberal-democratic sense. » Experts say that she has practically no chances in court.

The lawmaker’s lawsuit about the liquidation says that since March 25, 2018, the Civil Initiative did not comply with the requirements of Article 37 of the Federal Law “On Political Parties”, that is, its candidates were not registered in the presidential, Duma and governor elections. And the candidates for the Legislative Assembly and the bodies of municipal self -government were not enough: according to the law, in the first case, at least 20% of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation should be “covered”, at least half. The Civil Initiative closed 1 and 17, respectively. If the party does not participate in the elections for seven years in a row, then it is subject to liquidation.

In the party itself, a lawsuit lawsuit considered « purely political »Having associated him with the « consistent upholding of liberal and democratic values. »

“We perceive this decision as an attempt to strip the political field,” Andrei Nechaev said “Kommersant”. “Although we attribute ourselves to a constructive opposition, we do not call for revolutions and riots, but nevertheless we are a real opposition party. Apparently, the authorities do not like such authorities. ” Mr. Nechaev added that in the elections in 2024 the Civil Initiative put forward almost 120 candidates, but most of them were denied registration: “A legally very controversial issue why they believe (participants. – « Kommersant ») for registered candidates, and not on the nominated. ”

Mr. Nechaev promised to defend this position in court and did not rule out that in the proceedings he would have to reach the Constitutional Court. However, there are no great hopes that the chairman of the “civil initiative” will not feed on the claims: “If we proceed from the fact that the decision is the political and the last party of the liberal-democratic sense-there are no other such ones, then taking into account the forensic practice, of course, the chances of victory are small.”

There is practically no chance of the Civil Initiative in court, the electoral lawyer Oleg Zakharov agrees.

Uncertainty in the elections is a “medical fact”, which, unlike other grounds, is quite difficult to challenge, he adds: “It is difficult to imagine what arguments the party can provide as objections.”

Mr. Zakharov recalls that this mechanism appeared in the law “in response to sporadic party construction in the 2010s”, when new parties “did not show electoral activity”. “Now all these parties are subject to liquidation after a certain period,” he summed up.

Recall that a wave of liquidation of parties in terms of non-participation in the election last time was held in 2019. Then the Ministry of Justice, among others, liquidated the People’s Party of Russia, the “Union of Citizens”, the Social Democratic Party of Russia and others. The “Yabloko” risks being eliminated on the same basis, which received refusals in almost all regional capitals, as well as in the elections of the heads of subjects and deputies of legislative assemblies in the past elections (see “Kommersant” of August 8, 2024).

Gregory Leib