Civic Initiative Party Faces Dissolution by Russias Supreme Court Amid Political Tensions

On Tuesday, Russia’s Supreme Court ordered the dissolution of the Civic Initiative party, which is aligned with center-right politics, more than a year after it had put forward the only anti-war candidate for the 2024 presidential election.

This ruling came in response to a request from the Justice Ministry, which claimed that the party should be disbanded due to its lack of electoral participation over the past seven years.

Founded in 2013, Civic Initiative described the decision as politically motivated, alleging that election authorities consistently obstructed its candidates from being registered for elections. The party announced its intention to challenge the ruling.

Civic Initiative stated on Telegram, «We do not intend to simply give up our political agency.»

The party’s most recent candidate for president, Boris Nadezhdin, was disqualified from the 2024 election due to alleged inconsistencies in the endorsement signatures he submitted. Despite the government’s crackdown on dissent during wartime, his brief campaign advocating for peace garnered significant support from Russians opposed to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.

Civic Initiative previously pointed out that the Justice Ministry’s cited period of inactivity would not conclude until 2027, warning that its dissolution would hinder its candidates from participating in upcoming regional elections.

Just one day prior to the Supreme Court’s decision, the party announced its intentions to field candidates in local elections across six regions, including Leningrad and Kaliningrad. It remains unclear how the court’s ruling will affect those plans.

Nadezhdin, who had been serving as a municipal deputy in the Moscow region, resigned from his local position and filed for bankruptcy after being disqualified from the presidential election last year.