Sergei Mitrokhin in the State
Duma: a new law on political parties can not be considered as “a
victory of common sense” until formation of electoral blocs is permitted
Press Release
March 23, 2012
The new law on political parties can not be considered “a
victory of common sense” as long as the electoral law bans
creation of electoral blocs. This statement was made by YABLOKO
leader Sergei Mitrokhin at the hearings of the State Duma.
It was the third and final reading of the draft law on liberalization
of establishment of political parties.
"What victory of a common sense can we speak about if
voters get their ballots with dozens or maybe hundreds of
pages innumerating the names of political parties, or when
the voter sees unstructured political area and a register
of absolutely unknown names of political parties?” Mitrokhin
asked deputies of the Duma.
According to Mitrokhin, if the parties are not allowed to
make electoral blocs, they will simply disperse the votes,
and "a huge number of voters will remain turn out below
a 5 per cent threashold” to the Duma, and thus will get no
representation in the parliament.
"This will lead to such a situation when mutual alienation
of the government and the society, the signs of which has
been already seen in our country, will get an additional boost.
All this can have dramatic consequences for our state,"
Mitrokhin warned the deputies.
Sergei Mitrokhin also noted that YABLOKO’s proposals on elimination
of the ban of creation of blocs had been supported by the
Communists, the Just Russia party and all of the so-called
non-systemic opposition. The Working Group under the President
of Russia, which had been founded on YABLOKO’s initiative
managed to reach a consensus.
Mitrokhin also added that other achievements of the working
group were the requirement that the names of new political
parties should not incorporate the names of existing parties,
as well as their abbreviations, simplification of financial
reporting, accelerated adoption of a law allowing to new parties
to participate in the autumn regional elections, comfortable
conditions for those parties that could not at once properly
execute their documents for registration.
