Everyone is obsessing over this 84% support for the authorities, which supposedly guarantees them victory in any election. Some run around shouting, "we love Putin and United Russia, and we have 84%"; others run around saying, "it's pointless to do anything—just look at these people: 84% support Putin and United Russia".
All of that is nonsense, and there is no better proof of how nonsensical it is than the fact that our Progress Party was officially barred from the elections after all.
Those who have been following this know that we decided not to wait for the "big elections," but to carry out a "reconnaissance in force"—to force the authorities to make a decision on whether to allow our party onto the ballot. To do this, we nominated our candidates for local elections in the towns of Reutov and Kashira.
After prolonged legal convulsions (we even won one court case, whose ruling stated that the Progress Party has the right to participate in elections), Volodin's agency still came out with it: we won't let you into the elections—we're afraid of you.
That is why I say: this whole 84% exists only conditionally. And the condition is keeping our party, parties like ours, and strong independent candidates off the ballot.
The little freak from United Russia wins competitions where only bedridden invalids are allowed to compete. The results of these competitions have been shown on the zombie box (a derogatory term for television) for ten years now—that's where this 84% comes from.
We are furious, I won't hide it. You know how much effort and money we spent registering the party and setting up the required number of regional branches—more than all the other parties combined. And now, for example, the Party for the Revival of the Village can take part in elections, while the Progress Party cannot.
Nevertheless, politically speaking, this is a good sign. It's obvious why they won't let us in—they're afraid.
The Progress Party will continue fighting for political influence even outside the formal political process. There are many ways to work with voters: from supporting campaigns such as #Twenty to drafting legislation and conducting investigations into local officials.
Our legal status is rock-solid; no one will steal the name, and so on.
And of course, our lawyers—who have already proven themselves to be hellish piranhas in suits and ties—are now carrying out a massive plan for legal warfare over the right to participate in elections, including the Constitutional Court, the ECHR, and military-revolutionary tribunals.
Below are the details of what happened in Reutov and Kashira, and of the formal bans:
On October 31, we submitted our documents to the local Territorial Election Commission, and the very next day we were denied registration. Collecting signatures was pointless, but we appealed the refusal in court.
On November 13, the Territorial Election Commission finally came to life, reviewed our documents in full, and refused us again—this time citing the same letter from the regional office of the Justice Ministry. We, of course, appealed that decision in court as well.
As for the first refusal letter, the court replied that although it contains the notice, "The Progress Party does not have the right to participate in elections in Kashira," it "does not violate our rights."
But the second court hearing was more interesting: everyone showed up—the Moscow Region Justice Ministry office, the Territorial Election Commission, the Moscow Regional Election Commission, and the prosecutor. Despite that, we somehow won the case, and the November 24 ruling stated in black and white that the Progress Party has the right to participate in elections.
After that, everyone appealed the court's ruling—from the prosecutor to the Moscow Regional Election Commission—and on December 3 the Moscow Regional Court heard the case on appeal.
It was obvious that the case had become high-profile, and representatives of the Central Election Commission and the federal Justice Ministry came to the hearing. To bring them into the appellate proceedings, the court recognized them as impartial "specialists" and allowed them to present "expert opinions."
The outcome of the appellate court on December 3 was this: it overturned the Kashira court's ruling recognizing the Progress Party's right to participate in elections and rejected the candidate's claims.
A court hearing is still expected on the candidate in Reutov, but it is already clear that the court there will not look into the matter either and will most likely reject it by analogy with Kashira.
Immediately after the election was announced, the Progress Party sent an inquiry to the Reutov Territorial Election Commission about the party's ability to participate. The commission did not answer the inquiry, but said it had forwarded it to the Justice Ministry.
On October 27, we launched our campaign and began collecting signatures, and on November 8 we submitted all the necessary documents. Six days later, the Territorial Election Commission started moving. Our candidate was informed of numerous "problems" with the paperwork, including the claim that the notice of opening an election account had allegedly not been submitted in the prescribed "form," even though no such form is provided for by law at all. At the same time, the commission also refused to provide a sample of the very form it was demanding.
The party's lawyers gave a well-founded response to every one of the alleged "deficiencies"; each remark was addressed with room to spare, and it seemed that all objections had been resolved.
However, on November 18—the very last day for candidate registration—the Territorial Election Commission refused us. There turned out to be only one reason: the Progress Party does not have the right to participate in elections because of a letter from the Moscow Region office of the Justice Ministry that had been sent to the regional election commission. That letter, without any explanation of the reasons or any reference to the law, simply states that "the Progress Party does not have the right to participate in elections".
Naturally, we appealed the commission's decision in court. The hearing took place on November 21. The court refused to reinstate the candidate, finding that the Progress Party has still not been included by the Justice Ministry on the list of parties entitled to participate in elections.