The Irkutsk Regional Court rejected Vasily Pronichev's lawsuit to invalidate the decree calling early elections for the regional governor. The former candidate says the document contradicts the Constitution and regional laws, mainly because of the method for calculating signatures for the municipal filter, and plans to appeal to the Supreme Court and, if needed, the Constitutional Court.

On August 21, the Irkutsk Regional Court rejected the former candidate’s lawsuit seeking to have the decree calling early gubernatorial elections declared invalid, after which he announced his intention to appeal to the Supreme Court or the Constitutional Court.
On August 21, the Irkutsk Regional Court rejected former gubernatorial candidate from the Patriots of Russia party and leader of the regional branch Vasily Pronichev’s request to have the decree calling early elections for the region’s governor declared invalid.
This decree, as reported by the alternative news agency of the Irkutsk region, Altair, is, in the plaintiff’s view, contrary to the Constitution of the Russian Federation and regional laws. He intends to appeal this court decision.
“The decree does not contain a list of the current heads and deputies of the region’s municipal entities, which makes Sergei Eroshchenko’s position privileged, since unlike the other candidates he has this information,” Vasily Pronichev said at the court hearing, which was attended by the agency’s correspondent. “The number of signatures candidates had to collect also raises questions. According to Article 32 of the law on elections of the governor of the Irkutsk region, it should be determined from the number of current deputies and heads, not from statistical data. For example, in Angarsk the district duma of 25 people and four village councils were abolished. Prove to us that you did not count these ‘dead souls.’ The list would have removed these questions.”
Thus, at the court hearing, the main disagreement between the parties arose over the votes that the contenders for the governor’s seat had to collect in order to pass the municipal filter.
Pronichev, citing the experience of several regions of Russia, where they relied precisely on the scheme he described. In turn, a representative of the region’s Legislative Assembly, Andrey Konstantinov, said that the heads of municipalities must be current, while the number of deputies should be taken from the charters of the municipal entities, as was done. According to him, a nominal list of them was not only not attached to the decree, but was not compiled at all.
Among the former candidate’s other complaints about the decree were the absence of an explanatory note, expert opinions, and numerical analysis. He was puzzled that, according to the transcript of the 26th session of the Legislative Assembly, the document was adopted without discussion or remarks.
After hearing the representative of the Legislative Assembly, Pronichev explained that the importance of attaching an explanatory note and expert opinions to the document is due to its political significance for the entire region. Moreover, only 19 of the 45 members of the regional parliament work there on a permanent basis, while the others should still have been familiarized with the details of the decree being adopted.
The court hearing lasted two days. The plaintiff presented his claims to the court, the defendant presented its objections. After the arguments, Judge Marina Tkachuk announced her decision to refuse to declare the decree of the Legislative Assembly of the Irkutsk region on holding early gubernatorial elections invalid and unenforceable.
“This decision was not unexpected for us. It was a stage. Now the legal path has opened for us, and we will go to the Supreme Court with a reasoned appeal. If necessary, we will go to the Constitutional Court. We cannot remain silent about this document, which can only cause public distrust of the authorities, the state, and the system,” Vasily Pronichev emphasized.