| Grigory Yavlinsky's
party appears to be defying the 'ultimatum' issued to YABLOKO by the Union
of Right-Wing Forces (SPS) earlier this month. On the eve of the National
Day of Accord and Reconciliation in Russia [November 7], Co-Chairman of
the Union of Right-Wing Forces Anatoly Chubais, urged YABLOKO to merge
with the SPS. The SPS leadership called on Yavlinsky to respond to their
proposal by Wednesday this week.
As early as November 5 Anatoly Chubais, the co-chairman of the Union
of Right-WingForces, addressed Grigory Yavlinsky in an open letter, urging
the YABLOKO leader to bring about a rapprochement between the parties
with a view towards future unification.
"I urge you to take immediate action to draw up a common position.
I urge you immediately to start the process of convergence with the aim
of subsequent unification of our parties," Chubais's letter reads.
The SPS co-chairman said his appeal was triggered by recent developments
in Russia, in particular the arrest of YUKOS CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky
and the subsequent resignation of Alexander Voloshin from the post of
chief of the Kremlin staff.
The message reads: “The events of the last few weeks in our country
have revealed dangerous signs of attempts at the revision of the country's
political course. I believe that in this situation, all democratic political
forces should unite for joint action.”
In the week since then none of the YABLOKO activists leading the party's
electoral ticket have expressed their views on Chubais' letter. Deputy
chairman of YABLOKO Sergei
Mitrokhin was the only one to comment on the SPS proposals.
Known for his irreconcilable anti-Chubais stance, Mitrokhin ruled out
an alliance with SPS, saying: "There is one main obstacle to uniting
- the activities of Anatoly Chubais, which are splitting the democratic
forces." The Unified Energy Systems (RAO UES) of Russia, the national
power grid monopoly Chubais is heading, is using its budget to finance
a smear campaign against YABLOKO, Mitrokhin alleged.
SPS leaders perceived Mitrokhin's statements as Yavlinsky's attempt
to avoid the question and once again addressed him, this time with a personal
letter. On Monday this week the Novaya Gazeta daily published a statement
by Yevgenia Dillendorf,
a spokeswoman for YABLOKO, which said that should YABLOKO and SPS unite
"95 per cent of our voters would never in their lives vote for Chubais
and Kokh, but would instead give up and vote against everybody”.
In response to that statement, the press secretary for the SPS, Yelena
Dikun, demanded that Yavlinsky issue an official response to the SPS proposal
to join forces. In her letter she asked Yavlinsky to voice his standpoint
on the matter before Wednesday evening, November 12.
Gazeta.Ru correspondent has learnt that before the party's press secretary
made her statement public, it was reviewed and approved by the SPS leaders.
According to the deputy speaker of the State Duma, Irina Khakamda, "This
statement is, in effect, the decision of the co-chairmen of the party.
Thereby we want to say that immediate unification with YABLOKO is not
what we have in mind, but what we seek are answers to a number of questions".
"Firstly, whether the parties are ready to begin the negotiation
process, paying attention to what other parties are doing now, and not
spend the remaining days before the polls criticizing each other. Secondly,
whether our parties are ready to address voters with a joint request to
come to the polling stations and cast ballots for YABLOKO or the SPS;
in single-mandate constituencies to back candidates nominated by our parties.
And finally, whether we are ready, after the elections, to sit down at
the negotiating table to discuss the nomination of a single presidential
candidate by our parties. We need an answer that we still have not received."
At the same time, Khakamada added that she did not consider that statement
to be an ultimatum. "If YABLOKO says no, all our proposals will still
be effective. But we need to understand whether there is any sense in
hoping for a clear answer or not."
Nonetheless, it appears highly unlikely that the SPS will receive the
requested response from YABLOKO in the near future. In particular, as
YABLOKO member Alexei Melnikov
told Gazeta.Ru "the party will not allow anyone to issue it with
ultimatums".
See also:
YABLOKO and
the SPS
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