Goal setting error

On April 12, PARNAS deputy chairman Ilya Yashin suggested that party leader Mikhail Kasyanov give up the first place on the electoral list. Kasyanov did not agree, after which Yashin announced that he would not participate in the primaries of the Democratic coalition formed on the basis of PARNAS

The 2016 State Duma elections are the first federal campaign in many years, when open opponents of Vladimir Putin and the system he created may not choose between artificial technologies, such as a boycott, damage to ballots, or voting “for any other party except PZh&V”, but directly accept participation in the electoral race. As it turned out, despite the bravura reports of sociologists, TV presenters and experts reporting on the sincere attachment of Russians to their leader, the Kremlin is very frightened by such a prospect. The unprecedented propaganda attack on the leaders of the Democratic Coalition on TV has no analogues in the recent history of Russia and significantly pushes the boundaries of what is permitted: filming of bed scenes with a hidden camera was previously posted only on marginal sites, and the “spy” correspondence completely invented from the head is completely know-how of 2016 of the year. Unfortunately, despite the clumsiness of state propaganda, it is already bearing fruit: the already shaky coalition is bursting at the seams, and hidden conflicts and disagreements between its leaders are coming out.

The main reason for these disagreements is the incorrect goal-setting of the majority of the participants in the Democratic Coalition, who are ready to perceive these “elections” as elections without quotes, the main task of which is to win and receive mandates. This sets false benchmarks and greatly simplifies the work of the presidential administration, which in such a case is enough to ensure a continuous stream of counter-propaganda rubbish on television and, if necessary, massive falsifications at polling stations.

With the right goal-setting, the Democratic coalition would have to change its priorities, stop relying on mandates and actually give a damn about the fight on party lists. There are several reasons.

First, as mentioned above, almost certainly no one will allow her to overcome the five percent barrier. Television propaganda resorts to very crude and base technologies, but they work. And after the appearance of the National Guard, those who want to be indignant at the dishonest calculation of the voting results, most likely, will be much less than five years ago.

Secondly, even if officials of the Presidential Administration of the Russian Federation, based on some tactical considerations of their own, allow deputies independent of them to form a small faction in the new composition of the State Duma, the most active members of this faction at any time can be subjected to “demanding” or other removal from the game, as was already the case with Gennady Gudkov, Ilya Ponomarev, Lev Shlosberg and others.

Thirdly, even if this does not happen, still sitting in the next shameful Duma, unanimously voting for ridiculous laws and prohibitions, is far from the goal that is worth striving for.

Accordingly, the only reasonable meaning of participation in the “elections” of 2016 could be the “Olympic” one: it is not the victory that matters, but only the campaign itself, which makes it possible to campaign relatively unhindered throughout the country for more than two months.

However, with such goal-setting, the only thing that should worry the leaders of the Democratic Coalition is the ability to cover all 225 single-mandate constituencies without exception with their candidates. So that in every point of Russia there is at least one active and sane candidate who is ready to bear responsibility for the distribution of relevant campaign materials and communication with voters on their territory.

In this case, no ambition can interfere with anyone and quarrel no one. If not hypothetical seats for five years are at stake, but only the seats of active agitators for three months, the positions of the candidate himself and any of his staff members will become practically equivalent. And this means that the ambitious members of the Democratic Coalition will have nothing to share. On the contrary, the counter-propaganda tasks of the Presidential Administration of the Russian Federation will become practically impossible: it is not difficult to discredit specific leaders, but it is almost impossible to block mass agitation against the authorities with reports on achievements. Especially when there are no such achievements.