Statement by the Regional Council of the Moscow branch of YABLOKO, 18/09/2013

At present most of Muscovites do not have their representative in the Moscow City Duma. The Moscow City Duma elected in 2009 consists of 35 members representing two political parties only (the ruling United Russia has 32 deputies and the Communist Party has 3 deputies). Such a number of MPs and the structure of the Moscow City Duma do not reflect the present political spectrum in Moscow. Also the norm of representation, i.e. the correlation between the number of MPs and the number of voters is lower than in most of Russia’s regions.

The Moscow City Duma has lost controls over the city and turned into a nominal authority for legitimisation of the Moscow government’s decisions and transfer of them into regional laws. The planned increase in the number of MPs to 45 from [the new convocation of] 2014 represents virtually a cosmetic measure and will not change the overall situation.

The plans of the federal government to reduce mandatory party-lists in the elections of regional parliaments to 25 per cent can only further aggravate the situation. Such a bill has already been adopted by the State Duma in the first reading.

We know what reason lies behind these hasty reforms. The present rating of the [ruling] United Russia does not allow them to keep the majority in the regional parliaments, if there are only 50 per cent of single-mandate deputies. Nevertheless, we are certain that neither 75 per cent nor 100 per cent of single-mandate deputies will rescue United Russia in Moscow. The new parliament will be in opposition to [the newly elected Mayor] Sergei Sobyanin and the ruling party.

The federal law envisages that regional parliaments should have from 45 to 110 deputies for the federation subjects with the number of voters from 2 million people. Setting the number of deputies in the Moscow City Duma – the legislative body of the largest federal subject in Russia and the largest city in Europe – on the lowest level represents a political absurdity.

In view of this YABLOKO urges the Mayor of Moscow and the Moscow City Duma deputies to immediately introduce amendments into the Charter of the City of Moscow and increase the number of deputies of the Moscow City Duma deputies to 110 MPs, and regardless of changes in the federal legislation to maintain the number of deputies elected by party lists at the level of 50 per cent.

Muscovites will only gain from the increase of the number of deputies, as non-partisan civil society activists representing the interests of different population groups may be represented in the [enlarged] Moscow City Duma. Voters will get more opportunities for direct communication with their deputies rather than communication through their multiple assistants. The Moscow branch of YABLOKO understands that in the situation of a looming economic crisis and growth of the Moscow budget deficit, such a large number of MPs will be a burden for the city residents.

In view of this, we propose to amend the law of the city of Moscow “On the Status of Deputy of the Moscow City Duma” reducing the so-called benefits of MPs, namely: personal cars should be provided for the Chairman and Vice-Chairmen of the Moscow City Duma only, opportunities for rent of housing on preferential terms should be curbed, joint public reception offices for two or three deputies should be established in Moscow districts and the number of technical staff of the Moscow City Duma should be reduced.

The regional office of the Moscow YABLOKO urges all the political forces in Moscow to support our demand.

Sergei Mitrokhin

Chair of the Moscow branch of YABLOKO