Do we draw signatures?

Until October 6, three non-parliamentary parties - Yabloko, Right Cause and Patriots of Russia - must each submit 35 thousand signatures in support of their nomination to the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg.

While Yabloko members have been collecting them for almost two weeks, the right-wingers and patriots formed lists only last week. But there is no rush in their camps. It is possible that both adhere to Scarlett O'Hara's principle: “I'll think about it tomorrow.”
It was only by September 23 that local right-thinkers settled the internal party squabbles and formed a list of candidates of 53 people. The “liberals” will be led by businessman Arthur Pakhomov. The second number is the reinstated head of the regional branch, Evgeniy Mauter, and the third is the ex-chairman of the executive committee of the St. Petersburg Union of Right Forces, Andrei Pavlov.
Mauter hopes the right will submit documents to the election commission and begin collecting signatures this week.
“There is little time, this is an acute situation for us,” he admitted. According to him, the right has everything in order with human and financial resources. True, he did not expand on what resources he was talking about, saying only: “We have developed a number of tools, but I cannot voice them.”
He also had difficulty answering the question about the program with which his comrades are going to the elections: “In strategic lines we will focus on the federal document, but at the same time we have a number of provisions relating to the city.”
The willingness of Patriots of Russia to collect signatures in five days made Mauter laugh. Although the “patriots” themselves are confident that they will collect 35 thousand signatures with ease - thanks to the work they allegedly carried out among several tens of thousands of supporters.
For comparison: in a week, Yabloko managed to get 10 thousand signatures. They post leaflets around the city offering to earn extra money in the elections. The Novaya correspondent called the phone number indicated in the advertisement. They answered that one signature costs 40 rubles - if a person managed to collect more than 100 autographs, then for subsequent “squiggles” he receives 50 rubles.
At Yabloko headquarters they react with irony to news from rival camps. In their opinion, “in five days you can only draw signatures.”

Alexandra GARMAZHAPOVA
cartoonbank.ru