The candidate for mayor of Moscow from the A Just Russia party, Ilya Sviridov, on Friday held a meeting of the initiative subgroup to hold a nationwide referendum on raising the retirement age. “We must force the government to withdraw the anti-people bill and propose another reform,” he said.

The meeting participants unanimously voted to put to a referendum the question “Are you in favor of the age established by the legislation of the Russian Federation on pensions as of July 1, 2018, upon reaching which the right to receive an old-age pension arises, not changing?” . There were no people willing to speak. “I expressed the voice of the people,” Sviridov summed up with satisfaction.

This is not the first attempt to initiate a referendum on raising the retirement age. Earlier, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation held a meeting of the initiative subgroup in Moscow to hold a referendum, but its question was rejected by the Central Election Commission. After consultations, the communists were able to agree with the Central Election Commission on the “optimal”, according to the chairman of the commission Ella Pamfilova, formulation of the question, but they will hold the next meeting of the initiative subgroup only on August 7, but applications were submitted in seven regions at once. Only one subgroup can be registered in one region if the questions are similar in content. Thus, as CEC member Evgeniy Kolyushin noted earlier, competition between two initiatives to hold a referendum may well begin: in order to register an initiative group to hold a referendum, the organizers must register at least 43 regional subgroups. In addition, the Central Election Commission must recognize the issue as not contradicting the requirements of federal legislation.

Sviridov told reporters on Friday that the referendum initiative is not a party project, he is taking it on an initiative basis, because he believes that a referendum against the pension reform can attract a wider range of citizens. He believes that the communists are inconsistent in their fight against pension reform, and besides, they do not have a monopoly on the referendum, Sviridov emphasizes.

Vladimir Badmaev and Svetlana Anisimova, who submitted a notification to the Moscow City Election Commission about holding an initiative subgroup, told Vedomosti that they are not members of the A Just Russia party, but have experience in participating in the preparation of a city referendum against paid parking. They have also known Sviridov since that time, and now they have decided to involve him as a “media person.”

The initiative group “A Just Russia” tried to hold a referendum on paid parking in Moscow in 2013-2014. and even achieved registration of the initiative group. But in the end, it was not possible to collect the required number of signatures, and they were not even submitted to the Moscow City Election Commission.

Then the work of collecting signatures was greatly complicated due to the New Year holidays, Sviridov recalls; this time everything will be different, he is sure.

The candidate for mayor of Moscow launched another referendum on pension reform