For second day straight, Moscow protesters demand more independent candidates in City Duma race
Photo by Evgeny Feldman for Meduza On July 15, Moscow’s Trubnaya Square was filled with protesters demanding that the local election commission allow independent candidates to run for seats in the Moscow City Duma. Approximately 1500 people took part in the demonstration, including would-be City Duma candidates Lyubov Sobol and Ilya Yashin, both of whom already play prominent roles in local politics. Yashin arrived at the protest immediately after attending a Moscow City Election Commission hearing during which his application for candidacy was rejected. During the hearing, the Election Commission argued that more than 10 percent of the signatures on Yashin’s candidacy petition were fake even though a number of the supposedly made-up signatories submitted statements confirming their identities. Yashin and his peers called on their supporters to come back to Trubnaya Square every day at 7:00 PM to demand fair elections for the City Duma. The first such demonstration took place on July 14 and resulted in 39 arrests. No arrests have yet been reported in the protest’s July 15 sequel.
