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The idea of establishing a permanent democratic coordinating body
has existed for a long time already. This
idea has been expressed by social-democrat Alexander Yakovlev,
republican Vladimir Lysenko and Yabloko leader
Grigory Yavlinsky. The goal of this coordinating body is to found a
large-scale democratic coalition and formulate
the principal positions on key issues of politics and economy. However,
all the attempts of the democrats to unite
have failed.
Yavlinsky has even had to specify the aims and tasks of the
coordinating body. In his opinion, the consolidated
democratic forces should oppose the construction of a corporate state.
Therefore, the democratic coordinating
body should be the consultative authority of the systematic opposition
or at least the precursor of such an
opposition.
Asked why Yabloko has started to implement the idea of the
democratic coordinating body, Alexei Zakharov, a
member of the Yabloko central board, replied that Yabloko has simply
decided to act. In his opinion, about ten
democratic movements have agreed to participate in this body. They
include Democratic Choice of Russia,
Forward Russia, the Republican Party, Democratic Russia, the Party of
Economic Freedom, the Peasants' Party,
Free Democrats, Mikhail Gorbachev's Social-Democrats, Alexander
Yakovlev's Party of Social Democracy, and
Yabloko.
Zakharov explained that the Union of Right-Wing Forces is not
included in this list, as it is undergoing a very
difficult period of restructuring. "I know that the general point of
view of the Union of Right-Wing Forces (URF) on
the democratic coalition is positive, although its members express a
certain degree of scepticism. We planned to
convene a corresponding meeting in the second half of May, but the URF
asked us to wait for their congress. We
don't want to split the URF and are waiting for its decision. We don't
want Yabloko to be blamed for some
undercover political game. In all likelihood, the first meeting will
take place at the beginning of June.
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