Grigory Yavlinsky: the authorities
decided that the stability of the ruling group is more important
than the stability of the country
Press Release
January 23, 2012
Presidential candidate from the YABLOKO party Grigory
Yavlinsky said that the intention [of the Central Electoral
Commission] to refuse to register him in the presidential
elections campaign was "purely political" and "did
not have anything to do with signatures and their quality."
"Their refusal means that all the people who do not
agree with what has been happening in Russia, the people who
want a different perspective - an open, democratic, European
and modern perspective will not be allowed to participate
in the elections by means of this political decision,"
Grigory Yavlinsky said at a press conference at Interfax.
This is done for two reasons, Yavlinsky noted, "Vladimir
Putin and the present government fear the choice that will
be made by the part of citizens tired of stealing, lies and
corruption." In addition, they are afraid that tens
of thousands of observers whom YABLOKO planned to send to
the polling stations.
Speaking of the remaining presidential candidates Grigory
Yavlinsky said that they were the same Vladimir Putin, but
in different variants."
Grigory Yavlinsky also told the press that he believed that
the reason for such non-registration of his candidacy was
that the authorities did not want to have a political, economic,
and moral alternative at the elections. "The politics
starts only when an alternative is presented: it should not
be only criticism, or evidence on the failure of governmental
policies, but a real alternative, Grigory Yavlinsky said.
According to Yavlinsky, "December showed very clearly
a great demand for not only personal, but also programme and
moral alternative."
"The government felt that the sustainability of the
current nomenclature, the ruling group is much more important
than the stability and the prospects of the country,"
he concluded.
According to him, the authorities would do everything, so
that the elections were "uncontested and in one round,
so that that most of the conscientious part of society is
out of the election."
Sergei Ivanenko, member of YABLOKOs Political Committee,
said in his speech that all the two million signatures collected
for the registration of YABLOKOs candidate were the signatures
of real people and exactly these signatures were submitted
to the Central Electoral Commission. He completely denied
the [Commission] reports of "falsification" of YABLOKOs
signature sheets. According to Ivanenko, the law is written
in such a way that it is impossible to comply with all of
its multiple requirements.
Sergei Ivanenko also noted that the decision of Central Electoral
Commission was "deliberately open-ended." "The
authorities in their usual manner attempt to screen public
opinion and see whether we can swallow this or not. But we
will show them that we can not be treated as [Rudyard Kipling's]
banderlogs [from The Jungle Book]," he said.
The leaders of the YABLOKO party also informed the press
that in mid-February the party plans to hold a congress to
discuss a "new political reality" and make decisions
about further actions.
