 Some suggestions have been made after Navalny's candidacy was rejected by the Central Election Commission in late December 2017 that he should endorse Yavlinsky, who was accepted.However Navalny instead declared his intent to boycott the elections, which was seen by analysts as a weakness to Yavlinsky's chances.On December 22, 2017, the Yabloko party congress officially nominated Grigory Yavlinsky as its candidate after a 98-4 vote in favor, with a member of the Central Election Commission present to monitor the procedures.