Liberal International, 05.05.2016

In an interview with The Essence of the Events, Grigory Yavlinsky, the co-founder of the Russian liberal party YABLOKO (LI full member) has set out his plans to run for the presidential race in 2018.

Announcing his objectives as a Presidential candidate Yavlinksy said: “My task is to create an alternative to the current political course, change the policy in the country, and then start creating a different system. We can say that the train in which we were all going has gone, since 2012, in the opposite direction than we planned to go. We are all sitting in the compartment, discussing how best to get to Paris, and suddenly we find that our train has been moving toward Pyongyang for a long time already. We have had twenty years of arguing how to get there faster, bearing in mind the direction to Europe. Now all this talk does not make sense, because we have turned off the chosen path. But neither I nor any of my voters were going to Pyongyang. To amend this situation, we need to change the locomotive driver, divert the railroad switch and get back on the track towards Europe.”

He also spoke of the importance of running in the presidential elections despite the corruption of the electoral system as it is part of the personl committment undertaken towards voters and millions of Russian citizens. “The situation can change very quickly, and we should be ready to take the initiative in our hands and guide it in the right direction. None of us can form a [new] reality yet, but we must be ready to hoist the sail, when a lull in the sea ends” the Yabloko founder said.

The interview also discussed the appointment of Ella Pamfilova as head of the Central Election Commission, the inefficacy of Alexei Navalny’s work, the annexation of Crimea and the need for Russia to build a strong democracy.

Yavlinsky was nominated as the party’s official Presidential candidate two monhts ago with Yabloko Party’s leader Emilia Slabunova characterising him as “an alternative image of the future, values, and priorities which fundamentally differ from Russia’s politics today.”

The full interview can be read by clicking here.

Source: http://www.liberal-international.org/site/Yavlinsky_Russia_needs_an_alternative_political_course.html