Russian election authorities remove dozens of opposition candidates before parliamentary vote

A shrinking field before voting

Russian courts and election bodies have removed a widening group of candidates from parliamentary and regional contests shortly before voting scheduled for September 18-20. Meduza’s review found that at least 20 candidates associated with the anti-war Yabloko party had been forced out, alongside candidates from the Communist Party, the Liberal Democratic Party and other organisations usually described as the systemic opposition. The removals amount to a consequential narrowing of the choices available to voters before ballots are cast.

The disputes have often turned on campaign material rather than allegations of violence, bribery or ballot manipulation. Among the cited grounds were images or symbols that authorities classified as extremist or Nazi material, alleged copyright violations, and technical deficiencies in registration papers. Campaign items involving Alexey Navalny, the logos of blocked social networks, a Banksy work, a pacifist remark attributed to Soviet diplomat Andrei Gromyko and an image of Motörhead singer Lemmy were all drawn into challenges against candidates.

Why Yabloko is especially exposed

Yabloko entered the campaign as Russia’s only legally registered party presenting an explicit anti-war message. Although the Central Election Commission initially registered its federal list in July, the party subsequently faced litigation, candidate disqualifications and enforcement action across several regions. That distinction makes the removals politically significant even where individual rulings concern technical or symbolic details: they reduce the visible institutional space for opposition to the war within an election administered under wartime censorship.

The disqualifications should not all be treated as identical or assumed to result from one centrally coordinated order. They arose through different courts, complaints and legal provisions, and the available reporting does not independently prove a single chain of command. The cumulative pattern is nevertheless measurable. It leaves fewer opposition candidates on local and single-member ballots and increases the importance of tactical-voting appeals, spoiled ballots and turnout strategy for voters who oppose the governing party.

Established concerns about competition

The European Parliament has previously described Russia’s electoral environment as severely restricted and marked by systemic repression, intimidation of candidates and pressure on independent observers. Its assessment concerned the 2024 presidential election and therefore does not independently confirm any of the new 2026 removals. It does, however, establish the institutional context in which rules on extremist symbols, wartime speech and political association are being applied to the current campaign.

What matters next is whether further regional candidates are removed before voting begins and whether election commissions publish complete, stable ballot lists. Appeals may alter individual cases, but an appeal should not be reported as restoring a candidacy unless a court or commission actually issues that decision. The final number of registered Yabloko and other opposition candidates, access for election observers, and any restrictions on reporting results will provide the clearest evidence of how much meaningful competition remains.