by VK
Yavlinsky demands changes without shocks. The CEC concluded reception of signature sheets of candidates for the Russian president yesterday. A candidate needs 2 million signatures of support to participate in the polling process. Yavlinsky, a founder and former leader of the Yabloko Party, handed documents to the CEC on December 19, 2011. He brought them together with Yabloko leader Sergey Mitrokhin. They held a press conference and talked about their program.
Mitrikhin said that one of the most complicated problems in Russia today is the scheme of carrying out presidential polls. Mass protests after the parliamentary polls in December demonstrate that the society has awoken, provoked by the manner of holding the polls, which has, unfortunately, become a tradition in the country.
The Yabloko leader commented on Vladimir Putin's recent article in Izvestia, where the prime minister expressed concerns over discussions of elections and neglect of all other topical issues of public talks. Mitrokhin agreed with the point, emphasizing that pre-electoral debates and all following discussions touched upon a wide range of topics. The candidate believes that in his article Putin tried to draw public attention away (contradicting his own words of striving for dialogue) from the primary problem, in other words, the problem of fair elections. According to Mitrokhin, discussions of "fair social establishment" is impossible if they are started from any other topic.
The Yabloko Party, an activist at recent mass protests, proposed the protesters own answer to the number one question: "What should we do next?". According to Mitrokhin, opposition should, first of all, take active part in presidential polls, send observers to polling stations (Yabloko organizes special seminars giving knowledge and skills). The Yabloko chairman reckons that if all people taking part in mass protests become observers, the problem of falsification of polling results would be solved.
Secondly, Yabloko offers control and monitoring of elections by making it an institutionalized system: Yabloko itself and some other parties were filing lawsuits over falsifications of elections, but their efforts and resources were insufficient to organize a systemic process. Yabloko spoke for formation of a Foundation for Assistance of Public Control Over Elections, the so-called Clear Elections Foundation. Donations collected from Russian citizens would be spent on lawyers and training of monitors.
Grigory Yavlinsky himself said that the establishment of such foundation would be "an enforcement of reality which has already emerged", because Yabloko managed to recruit thousands of voluntary observers and give citizens an opportunity to actually take part in formation of power. Falsifications of polls are an old trick, Yavlinsky says. They started in 1996, but were not followed by mass protests until ordinary citizens got a chance to be involved in the work of polling commissions and see falsifications with own eyes. Fast spreading of information about falsifications was achieved by "informative-civil society".
The main slogan of Yavlinsky will be "Russia demands changes without shocks". The previous slogan of Yabloko was "Russia demands changes! We will return you hope". The promise it carries was kept: people got a new hope. Now it is a matter of changes that must not be followed by any shocks.
Yavlinsky promised that he will present his potential Cabinet to the press no later than February 15. He said yesterday that It would be an open non-party structure, including representatives of regions and publicity.
