Give us a Civil Conscription and Civil Elections!

At the forum of the “December 10 Committee”, a discussion has begun on the draft regulations for the elections of a single representative body of the civil opposition. Denis Bilunov came up with an initiative developing my long-standing ideas for the systematic implementation of a strategy of alternative civil legitimacy as the main way to dismantle the authoritarian regime in Russia. He developed his own draft Regulations on the elections of the “Grand Coordination Council of the Russian Opposition” and submitted it to the Organizing Committee for consideration. A little later, Mikhail Shneider significantly revised and supplemented it, presenting his own version of the document.

Today I spent the whole day, fulfilled my promise and prepared my version . It differs significantly from the versions of Bilunov and Schneider in a number of conceptual forks. Including the following points:

• Optimal combination of majoritarian and proportional election schemes, as well as a regional component (key position of the concept)
• Clearer institutionalization and division of competence of the main bodies: the formation of the Civil Court and the Civil Election Commission
• Increasing the importance of the voter registration stage (carrying out the “Civil Appeal” campaign with the aim of compiling a Register of Citizens of the New Russia - the basis for the formation of a powerful civil movement)
• Optimal combination of online and offline technologies, increasing flexibility and reliability
• Longer term of office of the Council (optional)

Author's versions of the draft Regulations on the elections of the Coordination Council

From the preamble of the Regulations on the elections of the Coordination Council:

The All-Russian Civil Council (hereinafter referred to as the Council or the All-Russian Civil Council) is a single body of the transition period, legitimately representing the interests of Russian citizens who are supporters of systemic changes in the socio-political structure in the Russian Federation: from an authoritarian regime to a representative democracy with a real division of branches of power, the responsibility of the authorities to society and its regular renewal as a result of fair competition under transparent rules.

The mission (exclusive competence) of the Council is to develop common demands of supporters of democratic change, develop and coordinate the strategy and tactics of the civil opposition, coordinate the activities of all independent participants in a single civil movement, organized peaceful opposition to the administration of an authoritarian regime and, if successful, negotiate with it on implementation transition period. The Council promotes the development of civil self-organization and the dissemination of ideas of peaceful civil protest throughout the country, and provides external representation.

The promotion of this initiative and the most constructive comments and specific proposals in the format of amendments are welcomed. It is better, of course, to enter them directly on the forum using the link above. As a last resort - in the comments.