Interfax, 17.14.2015

Moscow. April 17th. Interfax – On the whole the YABLOKO party positively reacted to the decision of the RPR-PARNAS party and Navalny’s Progress Party to create an alliance for participation in the electoral cycle of the 2015-2016 period.

“I have a benevolent attitude. It’s their decision. We wish them success,” said YABLOKO leader Sergei Mitrokhin to “Interfax” on Friday.

To the question whether YABLOKO could join the RPR-PARNAS and Progress Party’s alliance Mitrokhin answered: “History doesn’t know the subjunctive mood.”

YABLOKO leader noted that there wouldn’t be such a party in Russia which could unite all the democratic opposition forces. “It’s impossible. Very different people call themselves democrats. Democracy is too general a term and is quite attractive in order that someone could try to hide behind it. We support political hygiene,” said Mitrokhin.

“There are nationalists who claim they are democrats. At the same time they participate in the Russian Marches which find support among some representatives of the Progress Party. What shall we do about them? Take them at their word? But we know that they are democrats with some musty smell. If we unite with them, we’ll emit the smell too,” emphasised YABLOKO leader.

He said that YABLOKO had proposed principles which could unite democrats into a single democratic party.

“Among those principles are the total rejection of nationalism, Stalinism, the condemnation of the Russian Marches, the admission of the fallacy of the economic policies of the 90s and privatisation. Our proposals are well-known to PARNAS and the Progress Party. “Apparently, they found the principles of association suggested by YABLOKO unacceptable,” said Mitrokhin.

“At the elections to the Moscow City Duma YABLOKO had a coalition list of single-mandate candidates. People from different parties came to us: both the Democratic Choice party and the 5th December Party. We are going to repeat this experience at the elections to the State Duma,” he noted.

RPR-PARNAS and the Progress Party announced a political association for nomination of a single list of candidates for the election cycle 2015-2016.

“The political forces which we represent, the Progress Party and RPR-PARNAS, are ready to take up responsibility for the future of the country,” runs in the statement signed by co-Chair of RPR-PARNAS Mikhail Kasyanov and leader of the Progress Party Alexei Navalny.

“We claim that today our alliance is the only political force which can challenge injustice, falsity and corruption which form a basis for the current authorities. We consolidate our effort at the coming election of 2015 and 2016 in Russia,” runs in the document.
RPR-PARNAS and the Progress Party agreed on forming united candidates lists for the coming elections to the State Duma of 2016 as well as regional and municipal elections of 2015.