Yabloko’s presidential candidate thanked his voters and the team

Press Release, 19.03.2018

Russian presidential candidate Grigory Yavlinsky said that the main purpose of the election campaign he and the Yabloko party held was the opportunity to offer Russian citizens a meaningful alternative to the political course of Vladimir Putin. Yavlinsky said this at a briefing in his central headquarters.

“We knew very well what this campaign would be like, because we realise what kind of authoritarian system functions in Russia today. We understand what elections in an authoritarian system are like, we understand perfectly how they are arranged and once again we are convinced that our ideas are true […] There is nothing unexpected for us,” Yavlinsky said.

Grigory Yavlinsky also said that his nomination for the presidential elections by Yabloko was a principled step, and the main motive behind this decision was the understanding that “the policies implemented by Vladimir Putin in Russia represented a great threat for the country’s future”. Yavlinsky once again stressed that the policies of the incumbent president were destructive for the country’s economy and led to the growth of poverty. “At the same time, we were convinced during the campaign that neither Putin nor his government had any programme or any idea how to get out of this deadlock.”

“We proposed an alternative and showed that it existed,” Yavlinsky said. “We talked to people about the problems they were really concerned about, because we were all worried by to their perspective. Because we consider ourselves to be a part of our people,” the Yabloko leader said.

Yabloko’s presidential candidate recalled that during the campaign, he and his team presented a detailed professional programme for changing the economic model, as well as changing Russia’s destructive foreign policy line towards isolation.

“We are certain that millions of people have heard us. [We are] absolutely sure [of it]! “, Grigory Yavlinsky said.

“Thank you for the fact that we all remain standing shoulder to shoulder, for the fact that I have so many like-minded people,” Yavlinsky appealed to the members of the Yabloko party and the team that worked in the election campaign.

He addressed those who gave their votes for him with words of special gratitude: “You are not mistaken, and we will not let you down. We will not stop, we will work further! And we can say to those who doubt, that this is our country, and we will not give it to anyone.”