Voters signatures to register Grigory Yavlinsky were
rejected, because the authorities dont need an excessive
amount of competition in the first ballot.
Grigory Yavlinskys being disqualified from the race for
the presidency could be seen a mile away; however, as often
happens in Russian politics, many observers were expecting
different developments to take place, such as back on 23 September
when they expected that on 24 September Medvedev would be
declared a presidential candidate, and not Vladimir Putin.
Russia, as unpredictable as it is, is painfully predictable
politically. Here the miracles and anomalies have not taken
place in the past 12 years.
True, the second round for verifying the signatures for the
Yabloko leader is underway, but there arent any doubts even
in the party that this is just an awkward gesture to a seasoned
politician.
The disappearance of an alternative, at that a real alternative
in Yavlinsky, is a sign that the authorities are not going
to make any concessions. No one is going to conduct a re-count
of the State Duma election outcome, there isnt going to be
any round-table talks with the opposition or fair, honest
presidential elections; there wont be an interim parliament
or technical president, that together approve political reforms
and announce new Duma and presidential elections. None of
this is going to happen. What we will have is a re-run with
Putin as the head of state and Medvedev as the head of the
government. We are going to have a country that clearly didnt
wake up enough in December 2011 for the supreme leader to
pay attention to it, a leader that, harking back to the terminology
of the Perestroika era, the aggressive and obedient majority
is willing to support.
Yavlinsky suffered more than others in this race, if only
because hes no fake politician. If only because his supporters
votes had already once been stolen during the State Duma elections.
If only because the liberal electorate saw him as a real alternative
to all the politicians who depicted themselves as the opposition
to His Majesty, including Yavlinsky-like substitutes such
as Mikhail Prokhorov.
We wont even address the fairness of those suspicions of
Prokhorov being a spoiler candidate, only a much more significant
one than Dmitry Mezentsev. The fact, nonetheless, remains
that not the whole electorate of Yavlinsky is ready to vote
for Prokhorov, Sergei Mironov or Gennady Zyuganov. Many of
them just wont go vote at all, which is exactly what the
government needs during the vote on 4 March: a low voter turn-out
that increases Putins chances of winning without having a
run-off election.
As it turns out, Mezentsev was needed not to legitimise Putins
candidacy should Putin end up alone, but to create the mirage
that the Central Election Commission is fair, as if saying:
Look, Yavlinsky is not the only one denied registration because
of the signatures gathered in his favour, Mezentsev shared
his fate.
Rejected signatures are nothing more than an arranged marriage
that yet again is decreasing the level of political competition
in the country and effacing the legitimacy of the forecasted
victory for Putin and his wonderful majority, whom he prohibits
from calling sheep.
The protest slogan, You dont even represent us, is taking
a new, even more resonant sound. Putin heard the peoples
cries, and removing Yavlinsky from the race is his answer
to the enraged people. Of all the current official offline
politicians today, Yavlinsky is the most popular among the
protesters. The Levada Centre held a poll of people at the
protest rally at Prospekt Sakharova that showed that 29% of
the people in attendance were willing to vote for Yavlinsky
in the presidential election.
Yavlinskys mishap is sobering. The idealism of December 2011
has been exhausted. The protesters are no longer dealing with
an impervious government their demands were heard loud and
clear , but with a government that is unequivocally opposing
the best people in our country.
Whats your take on Grigory Yavlinsky being stricken from
taking part in the presidential elections?
Gennady ZYUGANOV, presidential candidate:
The way I see it, Yavlinsky is going to be removed from the
ballot unlawfully, because he obviously is going to criticise
the governments financial and economic policies. So now they
are trying to eliminate yet another competitor. We, in turn,
expressed our bewilderment and believe that Mr Churov is in
no way entitled to remove anyone from the elections, since
otherwise you get the impression that he heads not the Central
ElectionCommission, but the Fraud Committee.
Mikhail PROKHOROV, presidential candidate:
Grigory Yavlinskys possible disqualification deprives him
of the opportunity to propose what he stands for to voters,
while a large number of people are stripped of the opportunity
to have someone represent their views in the government.
I myself have had to experience the whole process of collecting
signatures, and honestly, I have to say that it in essence
is detrimental and prohibitive for a candidate. The electoral
laws rules regarding this are extremely hard to satisfy,
and that goes for anyone who is nominating themselves to take
part in an election. What you get from this is an unlevel
playing field. Moreover, the means for gathering signatures
are such that any and all candidates are exposed to possible
harassment
Sergei MIRONOV, presidential candidate:
As a Russian citizen and presidential candidate, I am going
to take it very personally if they disqualify Grigory Yavlinsky,
although he was an opponent of mine. We know perfectly well
what it is like to collect two million signatures, and its
unlikely that Mr Prokhorov did everything by the rule book
while Yavlinsky didnt. This could be an attempt to do away
with an undesirable candidate. As for the Central Elections
Committee, this is just a continuation of their games that
we witnessed during the State Duma elections, which I believe
were unfair
See also:
The
original publication
Presidential
Elections 2012
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