Dmitry Gudkov: How do we spend the primaries

Democratic opposition needs to put a single candidate in the elections of the mayor of Moscow

The democratic opposition must be set by a single candidate in the elections of the mayor of Moscow , since the capital Moscow is one of the few places where we can fight for the victory. And after what result was counted in Moscow to Putin, showing the support of democratic values ​​is especially important.

The only possible mechanism for choosing a united democratic candidate is the conduct of general democratic primaries, in which various political forces participate. In addition to the actual choice of a single candidate, the primaries:

1. They will help to make a single democratic candidate more legitimate in the eyes of our voters. Their mobilization, thanks to the united opposition candidate with a general democratic agenda, will be more effective than due to representatives of individual parties;

2. They neutralize possible spoiler projects on a democratic flank. If some structure ignores universal democratic primaries, supported by a majority of democratic forces, then the candidate, nominated from such a structure, will obviously acquire the reputation of the spoiler and will not be able to take away many votes from a single democratic candidate;

3. The most important thing: the emergence of a single democratic candidate, supported by various forces, sharply increases the likelihood of a municipal filter as a candidate.

The fact is that the current legislation is built in such a way that not a single opposition candidate for mayor can be registered without the signatures of municipal deputies from United Russia. The only way to force someone to register is public pressure. If there are several insignificant candidates on the democratic flank, the authorities will be much easier to refuse registration than a candidate supported by all democratic forces.

When conducting any primaries, two questions always arise: who votes and how these voices are taken into account.

In my opinion, from the point of view of the task of achieving the democratic candidate the greatest result, the primaries that will take into account the opinion of all the forces on which the possibility of a democratic candidate to be registered and his further success in the elections will be most effective.

The most obvious group whose opinion must be taken into account are independent municipal deputies. Behind each of them is more than 1000 votes of Muscovites, sharing democratic values. In most areas, all protest activity is based on the teams formed by independent deputies. The election campaign cannot be successful without their participation. These are public people whose voice cannot be faked, who are able to professionally judge politics. In total, the independent municipal deputies who were elected in 2017 in Moscow, including the United Democrats supported by the project, is a little less than three hundred, and one stage of the primaries is most logical among them. Among other things, voting among municipal deputies is the most technically simple and reliable. It is easy to spend in one and two rounds.

In addition, the consolidated position of independent municipal deputies will also be a serious argument when the mayor's decision on the admission of a democratic candidate for the election.

The second stage of the primaries I propose to make a vote of a wide range of supporters from among the inhabitants of Moscow. His organization will be much more complex and related to risks.

The detailed regulations of such voting will have to develop the election organizers independent of the participants, but agreed with each of them.

It is important to understand that the previous elections of the Moscow mayor, and especially the latest municipal elections took place with a low turnout. The problem of democratic candidates was always that their supporters on the Internet did not come to the polls.

I believe that in the primaries, first of all, the candidate's ability to mobilize his supporters to come to the real polling station should be evaluated. Those who come to vote on the primaries to the site are guaranteed to come to the elections themselves. We cannot confidently assert this about the voted on the Internet.

Therefore, I consider it correct that the accounting of supporters of the candidate take place exclusively on real areas, and not on the Internet.

Of course, it is necessary to understand the vulnerability of such a procedure of primaries before external risks. Attempts to vote on issues significant for opposition among a wide circle of people have always encountered the actions of pro -government structures. It is enough to recall Mavrodi in the elections in the Constitutional Court of the opposition and the failure of the primaries in Parnassus. The latest presidential elections also showed that the authorities are able to mobilize hundreds of thousands of Muscovites for voting in polling stations.

Conducting the primaries in several rounds just makes any attempts at proceedings to distort the results of such a vote.

If, according to the results of the vote in two rounds, one of the candidates wins, then it is declared the winners of the primaries. If the vote among municipal deputies was won by one person, and among the supporters of another, then the third stage of the primaries is held.

On it, out of two people, chooses a round table of the main political forces of a democratic sense.

These are three registered political parties: Yabloko, Parnassus and Civil Initiative. Their support of the primaries is especially important, since the candidate for mayors nominating in the order of self -nomination (not from the party) in addition to passing the municipal filter will be obliged to collect the signatures of more than 70 thousand voters. Such a collection of signatures, firstly, roads, secondly, gives the authorities additional opportunities to prevent the candidate.

In addition to parties, unregistered democratic forces with federal organizational and media resources should be invited to vote on a round table, which can have a significant impact on the final result of a democratic candidate. This is the unregistered party of Alexei Navalny and Open Russia Mikhail Khodorkovsky.

In my opinion, the listed five forces are the main players on the democratic flank, and their joint support for a single candidate will provide him with a good result.

It is these forces that will be able to professionally evaluate the results of the primaries, weigh the chances of candidates and make a decision regarding which candidate should support.

Conducting such primaries will suggest a presentation of programs and teams, as well as the debate of the candidates that we invite you to illuminate key liberal media. I am sure that the more political forces will participate in the primaries, the more interest they will cause.

To admit as candidates for primaries I offer people who can enlist the support of 10 independent municipal deputies or one of these political forces. But these are details that can still be discussed.

I turn to such a proposal:

1. To potential participants in the elections of the Moscow Mayor with a request to identify their willingness to participate in the primaries organized by this principle.

2. To the Moscow’s independent municipal deputies, including supported by the United Democrats project, with a request to indicate their willingness to vote on primaries organized according to a similar principle.

3. To the “Yabloko”, “Parnas”, “Civil Initiative”, “Open Russia” and the party of Alexei Navalny with a request to assume the obligations to support the candidate who won such primaries as a single democratic candidate of Moscow.

On April 14, in Moscow I invite everyone to the Moscow municipal congress. On it I propose to discuss the primaries procedure in more detail along with municipal deputies and the main participants.

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