Mitrokhin leaves, Schlosberg lost

Yabloko was headed by Emilia Slabunova, a deputy of the Karelian parliament. Reporting Andrei Kozenko

The new leader of the Yabloko party at the Congress on Saturday, December 19, was elected Emilia Slabunova, deputy of the Legislative Assembly of the Republic of Karelia. With the support of the leadership of Yabloko, she went around the second round of the Pskov human rights activist and publicist Lev Schlosberg. Throughout the history of Yabloko, they were led by only two people - Grigory Yavlinsky and Sergey Mitrokhin. But this time, at the insistence of Yavlinsky, an amendment was made in the party’s charter, which prohibits the run to the post of chairman of the party for more than two terms. At the same time, Yabloko's many years did not rule out that he would lead the party list in the State Duma elections, and also put forward his candidacy in the presidential election. A special correspondent of Medusa Andrei Kozenko watched the congress that ended in late night.

It was already the 18th party congress of Yabloko, while the party, for the entire time of its existence, was ruled, in fact, only two people-Grigory Yavlinsky and Sergey Mitrokhin replaced it in 2008. Under Mitrokhin, “Yabloko” experienced one of the most difficult periods in its history. It is enough to say that the deputies from Yabloko now have only six subjects of the Federation in legislative assemblies. Plus, the party’s activities began to raise questions among the participants themselves. “He never even met with Putin for this whole year. He runs around Moscow construction sites with a cry: stop immediately - this is illegal. But what about this? " - one of the regional participants in the congress was indignant (he asked not to indicate his name) in an interview with the Medusa correspondent. The main complaint against Mitrokhin is the “lack of systematic work” and the excessive passion for all kinds of rallies and pickets, which are often not interesting not only to the media, but also to many ordinary party members.

“Yavlinsky wants updates, but if he is not given to him, he may return himself,” the Medusa source in the party apparatus shared before the congress.

By ten in the morning, the congress delegates gathered in the city of Moskovsky (part of the New Moscow), in the scientific and methodological center of the agricultural union of the agricultural sector-the party holds its congresses somewhere outside the Moscow Ring Road. The Presidium sat down under the slogan on the stage “Russia requires change!”. “I demand to include on the agenda the question of the criminal unicorn system of overhaul in St. Petersburg!” - There was a cry from the place. Then even Sergey Mitrokhin grimaced. “Well, there is a point on political speeches on the agenda, and declare there,” he reacted. The next hour, the leader reporting his authority reported on work for the year.

Mitrokhin said that he did the main thing: he promised in 2008 to “save the party” - and he succeeded. “Look at the parties in the State Duma, they seem to be considered opposition,” said Mitrokhin. - What did we see in the process of their evolution? Became branches of the party in power. There is no trace of their fundamental and trace. ”

It was impossible to boast of the election results over the years, it was impossible to boast of Mitrokhin, but he still said that, for example, in the elections to the Moscow City Duma in 2014, the candidates from Yabloko scored, on average, 12.5% ​​of the vote (there were no party lists in these elections; not a single candidate from the party in the City Duma).

But the party all these years was a "consistent alternative to Putin's regime." She protested against the “discriminatory” laws adopted by the State Duma - from the law on the prohibition of the adoption of orphans by the Americans to the law on “foreign agents”. Actively rally on political and environmental topics. “A lot of shifts, public resonance! Became the reason for the resignation of a senior official. The wrath of the authorities caused their actions, sometimes the highest authorities, ”Mitrokhin in his report seemed to deliberately avoid talking more specifically. Mitrokhin classified the liberation of the Krasnodar scientist Mikhail Savva from the Party’s merits (he was sitting in the investigative insulator for seven months on charges of fraud, and then left Russia) and the resident of the Smolensk region Svetlana Davydova accused of Stateizer. She said, Mitrokhin, was released from arrest when party activists and personally he went out with pickets to the FSB building.

The possible coalition with the same Parnassus or Alexei Navalny in the “apple” is still skeptical. Mitrokhin called Navalny a “separate blogger”, which is engaged in custom investigations. Many elderly members of the party, by the way, continue to believe that “Navalny flirts with the nationalists” (the opposition was expelled from this formulation from “Yabloko” back in 2007 - the era back).

Finally, Mitrokhin called the congress mobilization. He said that the goal of Yabloko for the next year is to create a faction in the State Duma. And he proposed to elect the “mobilization” chairman for a year for a year, and after the elections to the State Duma, ask him.

Mitrokhin planned to become one of the candidates himself. In general, a considerable intrigue formed around the election of the new chairman. In addition to him, Grigory Yavlinsky introduced his candidacy, now working as a deputy of the St. Petersburg Legislative Assembly. One of the most striking party members, Lev Schlosberg from Pskov, also declared his nomination. Until recently, he was a deputy of the Pskov Regional Duma. And throughout Russia he became famous when his newspaper Pskov Province published evidence that the Pskov paratroopers were in the Donbass.

Finally, the political committee (something like a meeting of party elders, led by Yavlinsky), “Yabloko” nominated several more candidates-the former State Duma deputy from Yabloko (from 1993 to 2003) Sergei Ivanenko, deputy of the Karelia Legislative Assembly Emilia Slabunov, Ecologist Nikolai Rybakov, Commissioner for Human Rights in St. Petersburg, Alexander Shioshev, Alexander Shioshev. As well as director and publicist Alexander Gnezdilov.

The chairman of the Yabloko is elected by secret vote - with the help of ballots. If no candidate is gaining 50% of the vote, the second round passes.

Yavlinsky, who remains the informal leader of the party, also spoke for about an hour. He spoke out on economic topics (everything is bad, but it will be even worse), and about the international situation (confused Iraq with Iran, but then corrected the error). He reminded that the party was still fighting against Bolshevism, and in order to recognize Ukraine within the borders as of 2013. Finally, he said that the party should be effective and modern, and most importantly, updated. This was not very knitting with the nomination of Yavlinsky to the post of chairman, but he had an explanation.

The main intrigue of the congress was not even who exactly would be elected chairman, but who would be admitted to the election. Yavlinsky proposed amendments to the charter: the same person cannot be the chairman of the party more than two times. “As in the constitution about the president, only without the word“ in a row ”,” he explained. And Yavlinsky also proposed to vote separately for the fact that the amendment has retroactive force. Thus, Mitrokhin and Yavlinsky himself had lost the possibilities of running for a time, the two terms of which have been considered from the moment of re-registration of Yabloko in 2001 (in general, he led the party since 1993).

“In the country, power has not changed for decades. The leaders of the Communist Party and LDPR are 25 years old in power. We don’t want that, ”Yavlinsky motivated his proposal. “We will show everyone that no one in the country knows how to leave, and we can.” He said that many years of permanent rule reduces the effectiveness of the party, harms work and relations. Yavlinsky put his candidacy, as it were, just in case - if the amendment does not approve two -thirds of the congress delegates and he will be asked to put up a candidacy, he will not refuse.

This did not mean at all that Yavlinsky was going to voluntarily and finally leave a big policy. On the contrary, he did not rule out that in 2016 he would lead the apple list in the elections to the State Duma. And in 2018, if the party approves, wants to run for president. Otherwise, Yavlinsky was completely for rejuvenation. He said, for example, that the party finally lost the generation of 30-45-year-olds, who "the last time voted for [Mikhail] Prokhorov, and since then they do not want to vote for anyone."

The amendment was discussed for a good four hours. Gally against was Sergey Mitrokhin. “[German Chancellor Angel] Merkel, how much is already elected,” he said. According to him, there is no such restriction in the most democratic parties in Europe, only in international - so that the chairmen are people from different countries. “This is a restriction of the rights of the candidate, this is an artificial decrease in competition. The party is not power, but a way of coming to power, ”he chopped and was much more concern than when he reported over the past year.

The party, in which everyone has long had its own opinion, of course, was divided. It seemed that democrats - by definition, supporters of the replacement of power, but among them there were many who said that “we would not have time to grow new leaders”, “why remove the chairman, if it is very effective”, the amendment of Yavlinsky is “populism that would cause only a short surge in interest”. In a word, many of those arguments that were used back in 2007, when it was decided: what to do to Vladimir Putin, because the second term of his presidency expired.

It was immediately clear why the “Yabloko” so sympathizes with the intelligentsia. They argued in a civilized manner, did not go to personalities. They tried not to call names. If the delegate said that the parties “need experience, and experiments will not give anything”, it meant that he supported Yavlinsky’s candidacy. If they talked about rejuvenation, attracting a “creative class” and coalitions with other opposition parties - other candidates were meant. Judging by the conversations in breaks, the delegates clearly liked the candidacy of Schlosberg from new people.

Mitrokhin was criticized, but in the face - very softly. Like, there are too many rallies, too little of another work. He, in response, said noble that the amendment proposed by Yavlinsky would not enter into force immediately, but only after approval in the Ministry of Justice. But he will not use this loophole and will withdraw his candidacy.

At the beginning of the ninth evening, the amendment was adopted by the voices of 113 delegates (more than two -thirds of the vote was required) with 20 votes against. Participants in the congress left to have dinner. After dinner, Mitrokhin could only say that he would not run. Yavlinsky called him the “strongest politician of Russia” and promised that his activity would still go down in history. After that, he added that he would also not put forward his candidacy.

The formal nomination of candidates began. The surnames of those who have already been proposed by the political committee were repeated immediately. The Yaroslavl branch of the party proposed the candidacy of Sergei Grigorov, an assistant to Yavlinsky. “We corresponded with him on Facebook, he agrees,” the delegate explained. Grigorov had to go on stage and take off his candidacy. Sergey Ivanenko did the same - he recalled that the party headed for rejuvenation.

Each of the four remaining candidates made a 15-minute speech. The director and publicist of the nests, basically, spoke about the increase in circulations of campaign products and did not look like a serious candidate - especially in the pre -election year. He recalled that the “Yabloko” by good tradition should be “separate from all political force in the country”. Other parties, he is sure, will repeat the same as “United Russia” - after all, they voted for the same laws.

Ecologist Nikolai Rybakov came to Yabloko 20 years ago, at the age of 16, called the party his family, but it was also clear that it was too early for him to seriously claim the post of chairman.

Emilia Slabunova is known that she nominated her candidacy for the mayors of Petrozavodsk in 2013, had every chance to get out, but was shot by the election commission, and her party associate Galina Shirshina won the victory of the party. According to the former Yablochikov, Alexei Navalny and Ilya Yashin, it was the candidacy of Slabunova who supported the party leadership - she is more prone to compromises. Whereas Schlosberg was put forward independently.

And the truth: Sergey Mitrokhin spoke for her at the congress. He said that the only woman - the party leader - is better from an electoral point of view than just a young candidate. In her speech, Slabunova spoke about the marketing ways to promote the party (it coincided that the well -known local businessman Vasily Popov, who had now gone to Finland, was financed by the Petrozavodsk “Yabloko” that the party and candidates must be promoted with network marketing).

Schlosberg, who neatly avoided communicating with reporters all day, made a strong software speech. He said that the “apple” is the party of the world in the conditions of war, and that its main goal is to save people. That in 30 years no head of state was able to justify hopes and build democracy. That people who have long ceased to vote are waiting for politicians with whom they could connect their expectations. And that the task of the “apple” is to collect and inspire them without waiting for them to go into emigration. He talked a lot about the fact that Yabloko should become a party of regions - after all, along with the elections to the State Duma on September 18, 2016, elections in 38 regional legislatures will also be held. Finally, he proposed to secure the status of the party leader for Yavlinsky and put him back to the president and defended Mitrokhin from intra -party attacks. “Only these two people know how to manage the Democratic Party in a undemocratic country,” he said. And he promised to lead the “apple” to victory, although this will not be easy.

The first hour of the night was going on, 18 delegates of the congress signed up with the discussion of candidates for the post of chairman. Mitrokhin remained at his own and supported Slabunov. Yavlinsky did the same - she understands modern politics well, far from intrigue, “a high professional with twenty years of experience”, a member of Yabloko since 1993. "Man with a capital letter", finally. A secret vote began.

“Well, what did I say? This is “Apple”, guys. Nothing will change there, ”Ilya Yashin ironized . But he was not entirely right: Slabunova did not have enough several votes to win in the first round: 74 for her - against 38 for Schlosberg. Without five minutes, the second round was announced for two minutes.

“If you didn’t say anything, the weight of this decision would be different,” Schlosberg said only, turning to Yavlinsky. “It was not necessary at such a historical congress, on which fate depends - not the party - society, to you, a great person, to talk about your sympathy.”

“I never had ambitions, the desire to get status,” Slabunova answered conciliatoryly. “You, Lev Markovich, are needed, we need such mountains, so much good ahead, we must be together.”

At three in the morning, the results were announced: 91 out of 154 delegates voted for Emilia Slabunov, 56 Schlosberg will be the chairman of Yabloko in the next four years.

Andrey Kozenko

Moscow