Emilia Slabunova came to support the party’s candidates to the City Duma

Press Release, 4.07.2019

The Tula branch of Yabloko nominated a list of candidates to run in the City Duma elections. It includes 20 candidates sharing democratic values. Yabloko Chair Emilia Slabunova came to support the team of the regional branch.

“The brightest representatives of civil society are on our list,” said Vladimir Dorokhov, leader of the Tula branch of Yabloko.

The politician emphasised that the candidates of the party are united in their sincere commitment to the values ​​of freedom, solidarity and democracy. Receiving representation in the  bodies of power,  the party will deal with solution of the key problems of the region, Dorokhov promised.

“Today the region and Tula are among the leaders in oncology mortality rates. This is not only because of the difficult environmental situation, but also because of the inability of the authorities to establish an early diagnosis system,” Dorokhov said.

He also stressed that the party supports the return of direct elections of the mayor f Tula and other cities in the region, the return of all lost powers to the municipalities. Yabloko also initiates a discussion on the redistribution of taxes. “Most of them should remain in the regions: today the city does not have enough money to solve urgent problems,” Dorokhov noted.

According to Dorokhov, one of the main functions of the City Duma should be to control the expenditure of budgetary funds: the authorities should account of for every rouble spent, and the expenditure of funds should be transparent. The politician also advocated cuts in funding for the media coverage of government activities.

“Dozens of thousands of Tula residents share our values. In these elections, we must become the voice of all honest people who advocate democracy, common sense, and are against corruption and lawlessness. Today, the team of Tula Yabloko represents the majority of the residents, ” Vladimir Dorokhov said.

The list of Yabloko candidates in Tula includes, in particular, Vladimir Dorokhov, Chairman of the regional branch of Yabloko,  Yelena Konovalova, writer and environmentalist in the Venevsky district, Prof. Vladimir Kulikov, Chairman of the board of the Tula department of the Memorial himan rights society and full member of the Academy of Architectural Heritage, Vera Milyaeva, economist and  expert in the housing and utilities sector, Andrei Chekmazov, head of the farm, business people Yulia Morozova and Alexander Rogov.

Yabloko Chair Emilia Slabunova spoke about the importance of nominating a democratic list in the current political environment.

“Many hope for reform, a breakthrough. But the current system of power is not reformable. No one is going to carry out reforms. There are only poverty, lies and corruption – this is the only breakthrough that this power provides us. Therefore, it needs to be changed, peacefully, at the polling stations,” Slabunova said.

The politician cited the data of the socioeconomic situation in the Tula region. Special protected natural areas make up only 0.3% of the territory of the region, whereas 10-15% of green areas are needed for ecological well-being. At the same time, four enterprises in the region are in the top 100 of the most powerful and active pollutants in Russia. Environmental costs make up only 0.4% in the regional budget and 0.05% in the city budget. This leads to the fact that the region is second in the ranking of regions of the country by mortality. Over the past five years, the number of hospitals has decreased by 31% and hospital beds by 25%.

“Where did regional deputies look?  The authorities put their loyal people there [in the city parliament] who are not going to defend the right of people to life and healthcare. It is in the interests of the people that those who are ready to protect their interests come to the city Duma,” Slabunova noted.

The Chairperson of Yabloko also emphasised that if the Duma ceases to be the front of the political action, then action goes into the streets, and this is the worst option when people have to go out to protect themselves.

The Yabloko branch in Tula has to collect 2.500 voters’ signatures in order to register its candidates for the election. Earlier the party put forward a list of candidates for the Tula regional Duma. Both the elections will be held on the single voting day, 8 September.