| On July 5, a meeting of the united political
council of the Union of Right-Wing Forces (SPS) and Yabloko was
held in the Duma. After a debate that lasted two hours, the two
democratic parties decided to run in the 2003 parliamentary election
separately but coordinate their lists of candidates in single-mandate
districts. The main issue forthe parties - the nomination of a
single candidate in the 2004 presidential election - was not decided.
According to a participant at this event, initially Yabloko
member Sergei Ivanenko announced that he had not seen any documents
concerning the nomination of a joint presidential candidate, and
refused to discuss this issue. His colleague Vladimir Lukin was
surprised by Ivanenko's ignorance, and showed him a document containing
Yabloko's amendments. However, after the document had been studied,
Lukin unexpectedly agreed with Ivanenko and announced that it
was still too early to discuss this issue. This position did not
appeal to Boris Nadezhdin (SPS), who proposed "at least talking
about this topic." Yabloko members did not agree to any concessions.
They said that as this idea originated with SPS leader Boris Nemtsov,
he should personally discuss it with Yabloko leader Grigory Yavlinsky.
Neither leader attended the meeting, as they are not members
of the joint political council. Then SPS member Irina Khakamada
suggested that at least a platform for the negotiations should
be prepared. However, Ivanenko continued saying that it was too
early even to prepare a platform. After an hour's break, things
went more smoothly. About 20 minutes later, members of the political
council managed to agree on support for the joint candidates in
the future parliamentary election in 45 electoral districts (they
have decided not to release the names of the candidates yet).
There were some problems with only three regions: Karelia, Murmansk
Region, and Kalmikya. Both parties consider their own candidates
in these regions to be strong enough.
Joint candidates in Moscow and St. Petersburg will be discussed
at a special meeting, as a particularly important issue. Then
the two parties returned to the discussion of a joint candidate
for president. After realising that this issue would not be decided
at this meeting, SPS members suggested that a special meeting
of all democratic forces be arranged to discuss the electoral
programme of a joint candidate. Yabloko activists agreed to hold
such a meeting but suggested that it simply discuss the nomination
procedure.
As a result, it was decided to continue the negotiations in
autumn, around September. A meeting of the united political council
of the SPS and Yabloko was scheduled for November 14. On December
14, a year before the parliamentary election is scheduled, SPS
and Yabloko intend to finally approve the lists of joint candidates
for the parliamentary election and decide whether to field a single
presidential candidate.
See also:
Duma Elections
2003
Presidential Elections
2004
| 