The rallies of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation and Yabloko did not have enough scope

Last weekend, opposition parties held rallies in major cities across the country for fair elections. Politicians promised voters to sue for every stolen vote and talked about plans for the presidential election. However, they failed to gather an audience comparable in size to similar rallies held in Moscow and the regions on December 10.

Supporters of the Yabloko party were the first to hold a rally demanding repeat elections to the State Duma on Saturday. About a thousand people came to Bolotnaya Square, where they received green balloons with the inscription “I was cheated” and white ribbons. “We come, we swoop in, we take apart the condoms!” - the activists rejoiced, recalling the words of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who during a recent direct line called this symbol of the opposition contraceptives.

“Today we are not having a rally of just one party, we are having an open civil event,” Yabloko leader Sergei Mitrokhin said from the stage. Judging by the flags, in addition to Yabloko members, the rally was attended by members of the Democratic Choice Party, libertarians, socialists, anarchists and gay activists. Next to the latter, women stood peacefully with posters “Orthodox Christians where there is trouble!”

One of the founders of Yabloko, Grigory Yavlinsky, promised from the stage to return the stolen votes: “Our party received every fifth vote in Moscow and St. Petersburg, and we will get them back! We are preparing hundreds of claims to the Central Election Commission.” At the same time, Mr. Yavlinsky called on those present to sign up as observers for the upcoming presidential elections. “And then next year we will get new, fair elections and a new political system,” Mr. Yavlinsky promised. Sergei Mitrokhin said that all political forces could fight the “party of swindlers and thieves,” after which he called the nationalist leader Vladimir Thor to the stage. Mr. Thor began to say that fair elections are in the interests of the Russians, but his speech was drowned out by chants of “Fascism will not pass.”

A rally organized by the Communist Party of Russia (CPRF) against the falsification of the results of the elections to the State Duma of Russia and numerous arrests of civil activists took place on Manezhnaya Square.
Photo: Gleb Shchelkunov, Kommersant

On Sunday, about 2.5 thousand supporters of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation came to Manezhnaya Square. As always, the vast majority of the protesters were pensioners. Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov promised to create a special commission in the State Duma to investigate violations during parliamentary elections. During his speech, Left Front activists chanted “Give up your mandate!”, but those around them did not support them.

The speakers stated that supporters of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation should participate in an opposition rally against election fraud on Sakharov Avenue on December 24, but they called on the Communists to be vigilant. “We see how the oligarchs want to stage a coup under the guise of a general civil protest,” Chairman of the Islamic Committee of Russia Heydar Dzhemal told the pensioners. “This cannot be allowed!” The rally ended with the election of a candidate for the presidency of Russia from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation: “Raise your hands, who is for Gennady Zyuganov! Naturally, there is no one against, there are no abstentions either.”

In St. Petersburg, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation rally attracted more than 5 thousand people, however, it was attended by representatives of A Just Russia and Yabloko, who entered the local legislative assembly. Representatives of political parties promised to fight falsifications, but this seemed to the listeners not a radical enough step. The leader of the city cell of the Right Russia party, State Duma deputy Oksana Dmitrieva, was booed (for this, people brought referee whistles with them). In response to cries of “Give up your mandate” (the ringleaders were nationalists), Ms. Dmitrieva said in a broken voice that those who came could whistle and make noise, but her “party will not have patience.” The same reception awaited the leader of the Communist Party faction in the St. Petersburg parliament, Vladimir Dmitriev - he explained that it was impossible to surrender mandates, since the communists “swore to fight for the interests of every voter.” A banana was actually thrown at the co-chairman of the Solidarity movement, Boris Nemtsov. The crowd greeted with an approving roar only student Maxim Tomchin, who, through the social network VKontakte, gathered several thousand protesters and organized their participation in the rally.

Large opposition events also took place in Kazan and Yekaterinburg, which attracted several thousand people each.

Alexander Chernykh; Konstantin Andrianov, St. Petersburg

Party protests gave way to non-party ones