Grigory Yavlinsky Facebook post, 05.03.2017

On the 4th of March, it was exactly five years since the last presidential election. Vladimir Putin has been holding the presidential post for the third term and is going to run for the fourth.

Then, in early 2012, there was a powerful wave of protest “for all good against all bad”. The so-called “leaders of public opinion” were urging outraged people: to simply join hands and do politics without politicians should be enough to bring about changes.

It was just then when Vladimir Putin presented billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov as presidential candidate to the disturbed voters. Despite the fact that the deadline for filing documents [to get registered in the presidential race] had already expired by that time, he was immediately registered.

Obviously, Vladimir Putin’s appointee did not have any problems either with collecting voters’ signatures [so that o get registered in the campaign], or with registration, or with campaigning… Thus, this strange man, who made a fortune be means of fraudulent loans-for-shares auctions of the 1990s, gained eight per cent of the votes, i.e., 5,722 votes according to official data, which means 20 per cent of Moscow voters. And that’s a lot. Such a number of voters, if a politician can rely on them, becomes a considerable force and can exert influence. However, the following five years showed that the choice of these people was a mistake. Being an odd hand in politics, Prokhorov disappeared from the political scene as quickly as he appeared. The votes given for him melted away. The stance of five million voters became very difficult to defend.

Thus, having nominated his protégé, Putin easily and skilfully fooled everyone.

Being absolutely unrelated to the protest movement, the billionaire gave the protest vote at the mercy of those who brought peaceful manifestations of people to clashes with the police and real broad-scale scale reprisals. The loudly announced creation of the party of “liberal hope” (The Civil Platform) resulted in the emergence of the reactionary structure serving Putin and his war in Ukraine.

Today, a year before the next presidential election, the problem of lies and imitations in politics has become global. In such a situation, it is easier to artificially create a fake alternative. The authorities have already begun strenuous work on a new project of total manipulation in the [presidential] elections [due] on March 2018 elections. Soon we will see what the Kremlin will come up with this time for unconditional preservation of its power. Do not be surprised if a new Mr. Prokhorov emerge soon.

Do not let them fool you. Watch their hands, as they say. The time is ripe.

And it is high time for you to make your choice. Your candidate needs support already now.

Source: https://www.facebook.com/yavlinsky.yabloko/posts/1341989209227566