Translated material
For Sobchak? One hundred times "no"!
Sobchak headquarters announced: 100 thousand signatures are collected. But the collection continues in the regions - it was observed by The New Times correspondents
The error of the collector
In Yekaterinburg –24 ° C, but because of wind and high humidity it seems –34. Activists of the headquarters of Ksenia Sobchak, who have been actively collecting signatures for several weeks for nominating their candidate on the streets, relocated to the entrances. Member of the PARNAS Political Council, Coordinator of Open Russia in Yekaterinburg, Maxim Vernikov, goes to the apartment bypass in the area where he lives. For each “yes” he has to hear “no” from behind the door a hundred times. But about that after.
Open Russia Coordinator in Yekaterinburg Maxim Vernikov photo: Marty Radishcheva
In order for the candidate Sobchak can become a full -fledged participant in the elections, 100 thousand people should subscribe to it throughout the country. Yekaterinburg, as a large regional center, put a plan of 2.5 thousand signatures. The right number of votes was gained for a long time, and yet the day before the deadline, when the signature sheets should leave for Moscow, collectors continue their work. Some of the signatures can be rejected, and in general the votes of the Urals will not be superfluous.
“For whom? Lord, yes never! " - "God with you, what are you saying!" - “For Sobchak? Thank you, I’m not interested in ” - residents of the skyscraper in the sleeping area of Vtuzgorodok near the center of Yekaterinburg are not pleasing to Maxim Vernikov. It is no coincidence that the activist chose this new house: mainly the middle class lives here, that is, people are increasingly conscious, interested in politics. The calculation turned out to be incorrect: in the first 12-storey and second 24-storey entrance there is not a single person ready to support Sobchak.
“For whom? Lord, yes never! " - "God with you, what are you saying!" - “For Sobchak? Thank you, I am not interested ” - residents of the skyscraper in the sleeping area do not delight collectors
By profession, Maxim Vernikov is a journalist. He admits that he became interested in politics. “About 15 years, I began to notice that there was a lot of injustice around,” he says. “For example, people live in a dilapidated house, which is high time to resettle, and the authorities do not care about them.” So the young man came to journalism - behind human stories, and then in politics - in search of a solution to the problems of his respondents. Sympathy to Nemtsov brought Maxim to Parnassus. In 2012, he collected signatures for Grigory Yavlinsky, then actively supported Alexei Navalny, and is now coordinating the work of signatures at Sobchak headquarters.
Khrushchevskaya thaw
“Subscribe for Sobchak? Yes, she won’t win, ”a woman of about sixty good-naturedly smiles and agrees (finally!) Put her signature for the nomination of the candidate“ against all ”. The change of strategy helped Maxim Vernikov: in the five -story Khrushchev, people turned out to be more responsive, and now the fifth in a row brought the long -awaited result. In this house, only in another entrance, Maxim lives. That is why he expects to increase his success.
For one signature, collectors receive one hundred rubles. Once the collector got 66 signatures per day - the most significant result in the entire campaign in Yekaterinburg and a good income for the activist
About 30 signature collectors work in Yekaterinburg. Not all of them work from morning to evening, only a few people spend a full working day on the candidate Sobchak. Among activists, both students and working people. For one signature, they receive one hundred rubles. Once a collector in a day got 66 signatures - the most significant result in the entire campaign in Yekaterinburg and a good income for an activist. Maxim Vernikov admits that he managed to earn on MacBuk.
“Let's sign it,” the man agrees with a black mustache from the entrance in which Maxim lives. “I don’t care who to vote for, if only not ... Well, you understand.” The second signature for two hours of mining, the bypass continues. "Do you collect only for Sobchak, no more for anyone?" - the young father of the two boys is good -naturedly interested in. And still subscribes - how not to help a neighbor.
The activist continues to go to Khrushchev. The next day, the signatures he collected, like 2700 others obtained in Yekaterinburg, will go to Moscow. There they will merge with signatures from other regions of Russia and bring Ksenia Sobchak to the presidential race.
"Sign, let me earn!"
"Now we will go home in this square, yesterday we went around those!" - Tosha, a professional signature collector, shows to the far quarter. Today she and her colleague collects the signature “For” the nomination of Ksenia Sobchak in the area of the Leningrad region closest to St. Petersburg - in the village of Novodevyatkino. From the Devyatkino metro station - ten minutes on the minibus, and you are already in the region.
“For me, this, of course, is earnings, but these are also people,” Tosha explains his position. -Ksenia is cool, I follow her company and even wrote the poem "Woman President." Tosha is a free artist, producer and poet. Work from the call to the call is not her element, and the flexible schedule for collecting signatures is quite satisfied with her.
Ulyana is a former banking employee, her tasks are more pragmatic. “For me, this, of course, is primarily earnings,” she says. “For one signature in St. Petersburg, 150 rubles were paid, 100-20 signatures can be collected in the region, if you work for a day - fifty,” explains Ulyana.
Before entering the house, the girls put on top of their coats special wraps with stickers campaigning for Sobchak, attach the badges to the hat and hang on the neck of the badge.
But the first house, where the collectors went, pours out cold water on them. “For Sobchak? Laughing?! " - This is the most peaceful reaction that the inhabitants of a huge apartment building demonstrated. “For Sobchak? Yes, you go! We are only for Putin! Get out! " -Most often came due to slightly ajar doors.
“Listen, this is not an election, we only collect signatures so that a person has the right to put forward his candidacy, and you will vote as you want!” - the girls persuaded the gloomy residents. But in the best case, as soon as the inhabitants of the apartments heard the name Sobchak, they closed the doors with a noise.
"If you sign, I will receive a hundred rubles, let us earn!" - one of them could not stand it. "I vote for the president, I do not need your hundred rubles!" -It was heard due to an almost closed door. "Yes, not for you, but to us!" - the girls shouted, but the door in front of their nose slammed shut.
In total, from two huge many entrance houses for almost an hour and a half “walking through the torment”, the collectors managed to get less than a dozen signatures for two.
"Dom-2" and all that
As Nikolai Artemenko, head of the headquarters of Ksenia Sobchak in St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region, told the NT correspondent, they managed to collect the sign “for” the “pros”, they were already sent to Moscow. But in the Leningrad Region, collectors had to face a sharply negative reaction in the name of Ksenia Sobchak. The other day, a group of collectors with whom he went and he himself spent half a day in Kingiseppe. We arrived without prior preparation, without any special contacts, we decided to just work on the street, openly talk with the people. As a result, in 5 hours of such communication from the district city with a population of almost 50 thousand, only 19 signatures were brought.
Activists collect signatures in support of Ksenia Sobchak in Kingiseppe photo: In contact / St. Petersburg against all
“Those who are against Sobchak, at best, say - we are“ for ”Putin, and leave me alone! - explained Artemenko. -In the worst case, they react sharply-they laugh, they say about “Dom-2”, and all that. Especially often people react like this, it was predictable, but the youth struck me - it seems that very young guys see nothing but the TV screen! There are many supporters in St. Petersburg with Navalny, and Sobchak, and other candidates, and in regions, in the province, propaganda cleaned her brains great, especially young ones. Of course, if you change the picture on the TV, maybe something will change, but so far I have no optimism regarding the regions. ”
According to Artemenko, in Kingiseppe very young guys clearly stated - we are only for Putin, only he can save our country, otherwise America would have attacked us a long time ago!
In the St. Petersburg headquarters Sobchak, the collection of signatures continues, despite the fact that the necessary, and even moreover, the number of them has already been sent to the CEC - Sobchak supporters continue to come here.
The signatures “For” Ksenia Sobchak in St. Petersburg managed to collect quickly, they have already been sent to Moscow photo: in contact / St. Petersburg against all