Based on the publication in Grazhdanin, 23.10.2020

Photo: The Pskov Yabloko team at the traditional autumn meeting in Pushkinogorie, October 10, 2020.

The regional and local elections of September 2020, when deputies to councils of districts, urban and rural settlements, as well as the head of the Sebezhsky district were elected in the Pskov region have already become history. The candidates from the Pskov branch of Yabloko managed to get (more precisely, to win) 21 deputy mandates in the representative bodies of local self-government in nine districts. The elections in the new conditions with a three-day voting became a test of strength for the Pskov Yabloko, which was passed with honour both by those who won and those who failed to get enough votes to secure victory.

“We learned to do what we didn’t know yet: we learned to participate in elections and win elections in a situation when the elections are over as such. What began this year in our country should be called some other word. A lot of these words have already been invented. But it is not that. The point is that we have no other elections,” Lev Shlosberg, Chairman of the Pskov branch of Yabloko, said assessing the results of this campaign and the prospects for the next one.

This means that we must learn to win in such conditions, since now there is no reason to believe that the three-day voting “on stumps” [out of polling stations, literally in the streets and yards] emerging due to the coronavirus era will be canceled for the elections to the Pskov Regional Assembly and the State Duma in 2021.

What kind of experience did the Yabloko people in Pskov get during the general municipal elections, how can it be interpreted and applied in the further struggle? The participants of the recent campaign – both the winners and the undefeated – are discussing this today.

Photo: Activists of the Pskov branch of Yabloko sums up the results of the 2020 elections and the prospects for the next elections

Lev Shlosberg, head of the Pskov branch of Yabloko and deputy of the Pskov Regional Assembly, summing up the results of the 2020 elections, noted: “Elections are such a stage in our life when we offer ourselves to people as assistants, representatives and defenders. Sometimes people accept our help, sometimes they don’t. Sometimes during the elections – in a very short time – we change the idea of ​​ourselves, of our friends and our acquaintances: this happens very quickly, and examples may be very bright. What is important after any election campaign, no matter how it ends?

First, you shouldn’t be disappointed in yourself, you must definitely continue to believe.

Second, you cannot be disappointed in people, whatever they are, no matter how they vote, no matter how they act, you cannot be disappointed in people.

And one should not be disappointed in a future that has not come yet, because it actually depends on us. And all those of you who participated in this election campaign, both the winners and the undefeated, you are bringing this future closer with your personal efforts every day.”

Photo: Lev Shlosberg, head of the Pskov branch of Yabloko and deputy of the Pskov Regional Assembly

Based on the publication in Grazhdanin