It’s the May holidays in Russia, and only the democratic opposition remains tirelessly on duty, signing important political statements.
No, seriously: in light of the renewed talk along the lines of “maybe we don’t need primaries and can just appoint everyone ourselves,” “maybe we should put big-name figureheads at the top of the list,” and “maybe we should go into the election in ten separate columns,” the recently created Democratic Coalition considers it extremely important to reaffirm its principles. Here is a statement signed by all the parties in the coalition:
Here is also a separate statement on this issue from the Libertarian Party.
So, once again: a) the candidate lists must be formed not in Moscow and not by party bosses, but through open primaries; b) the lists must be based on RPR-PARNAS — these are the two fundamental conditions for which the coalition was created.
Parties that do not share these principles may be our allies, but they cannot be members of the coalition.
Also, do read this good interview with Vladimir Ashurkov, where he discusses this issue as well.
In addition, here is a short list of frequently asked questions about the primaries, which we are happy to answer:
From May 12 to June 28, 2015, the Democratic Coalition is holding primaries to form a People’s List of candidates, which will be nominated by the RPR-PARNAS party for the legislative assemblies of the Novosibirsk, Kaluga, and Kostroma regions.
The Democratic Coalition invites all politicians, public figures, activists, and concerned citizens who share the coalition’s core values to take part in the primaries as candidates, voters, volunteers, and observers. We want these primaries to be genuinely people-powered, so that they produce a candidate list that best represents our views and the interests of our part of the political spectrum.
What are primaries? Primaries are a procedure for identifying the preferences of supporters of democratic values, aimed at forming a list that is best able to secure political representation for people who share our views.
What is the People’s List? The People’s List gives politically active citizens the opportunity to help form a list that they themselves will want to support as volunteers, activists, and voters. By organizing the primaries, nominating the list formed through those primaries, and running its election campaign, the Democratic Coalition is thus providing its supporters with political infrastructure (legal support, campaign experience, and financial backing) to advance their political interests.
Who can become a candidate? Anyone may become a candidate in the primaries, provided they are legally eligible to stand for office in the relevant regional elections, have signed a declaration of the coalition’s core political values, and have submitted to the primary organizers a set of documents corresponding to the package a candidate must file with the election commission once the election is officially called.
Candidates are registered through self-nomination.
Who will vote? The organizers of the primaries want to ensure that as many voters as possible take part, and are creating the most accessible voting infrastructure they can. Particular attention is being paid to offline voting.
To take part in the vote, voters must register in advance on the primaries website. Any registered voter officially registered as residing in the relevant region will be able to vote on one of the offline polling sites that the primary organizers will open on voting days.
Voters will also have the option of voting online; to do so, they will need to verify their identity using one of several methods offered by the organizers.
One distinctive feature of these primaries is that voters are also invited to take an active role in shaping the candidate list by recommending well-known public and political figures, civic activists, and other respected people who share the values of the Democratic Coalition.
How will the voting procedure work? On voting days, the primary organizers, together with volunteers, will set up several offline polling sites in Novosibirsk, Kostroma, and Kaluga (and, where possible, in other cities in those regions as well), where voters registered for the primaries will be able to cast their ballots. One offline polling site will also be set up in Moscow for voters registered in the Novosibirsk, Kostroma, and Kaluga regions who are temporarily in Moscow.
Online voting will also take place on voting days via an electronic platform specially created by the coalition; only voters who register in advance and complete the identity verification procedure will be able to participate.
Each voter will receive three votes to distribute among the candidates (in other words, each voter proposes their own version of the list’s “top three”). The voting is preferential, and candidates are ranked according to the number of votes they receive.
The organizers guarantee strict adherence to the principle of “one voter, one ballot.”
Why hold primaries if there are far more places on the list than there are candidates? Primaries would still be necessary even if there were only two candidates in each region — you would still need some way to decide who heads the list, who comes second, and so on. This is a matter of principle: first, the name of the list leader (and of the top three) is a very important factor influencing voters’ choices; second, the number of genuinely winnable spots is very small.
Moreover, public and open primaries are a crucial way to attract attention to the People’s List and increase voter interest in it. We will be verifying voters’ identities so they can vote in the primaries, and we will then be able to use that data to prepare the signature sheets the list will have to submit in support of its nomination. Our goal is to attract enough voters during the primaries that a significant share of the enormous signature-gathering effort will be completed even before the official election campaign begins.
Allocating places based on primary results is not an ideal approach; it does not take into account all the nuances of forming a list. Yes, that is true, which is why we do not intend to act purely mechanically. Primaries make it possible to identify candidates’ standing among supporters of the Democratic Coalition, and that ranking matters greatly for list formation because it shows which candidates coalition activists are prepared to campaign for. At the same time, there are other important factors that primaries among supporters cannot reveal: name recognition, approval and disapproval ratings among the broader electorate, leadership qualities, a candidate’s ability to run an active campaign in the region, and much more. All of these factors must be taken into account when forming a list capable of winning. Therefore, the next phase of political work after the primary results are finalized will be consultations involving coalition leaders and the winning candidates, in order to make the final decisions on the electoral list for the Legislative Assembly elections, assign candidates to single-member districts, and form both the party list and the slate of single-member candidates for municipal elections.
Could it happen that everyone votes online and the views of voters at offline polling sites are ignored? To make sure all views are taken into account, we will build a balanced infrastructure: in each of the major cities where the primaries are being held, we will open several polling sites for offline voting, and we will open one more such site in Moscow (where coalition supporters who live in the capital but have official residence registration in the Novosibirsk, Kaluga, or Kostroma regions will be able to vote). In addition, the experience of previous electronic voting shows that in reality there is no such “imbalance”: online and offline turnout is roughly the same.
It is impossible to guarantee 100% reliable remote identity verification for online voting. How will you deal with bots? Verifying a voter’s identity is a fairly difficult task, especially because we want to ensure that only residents of the three relevant regions — those who would also be eligible to vote in the actual elections — can vote in the primaries. In addition, we must keep in mind the task of collecting signatures: primary voters will later need to sign in support of the People’s List formed as a result of the primaries. That is why the identity verification procedures will be made more stringent.
Besides, let us not forget: primaries are not elections in which everyone has the right to vote; primaries are a procedure for identifying the views of supporters. Therefore, all bots will be excluded.
Primary volunteers in Moscow will call registered voters to confirm their identity and verify the accuracy of the registration information they provided.
How will decisions be made in disputed situations? Is there a detailed set of rules? Primaries are a new undertaking, and there will always be situations that cannot be anticipated in advance. In difficult cases, as practice shows, what prevails is not a detailed rulebook but common sense. The coalition will establish a primary commission, a collegial body that will review and resolve disputed issues on the basis of common sense, while keeping in mind the goals and purpose of the primaries: forming the most electable possible People’s List.
A great deal of work is now under way behind the scenes, though it may not be very visible from the outside: finding premises, forming observer commissions, developing the website, and so on.
Soon all of this will move fully into the practical stage, and we will need your help. A reminder that volunteer sign-up for organizing the primaries and the Democratic Coalition’s first election campaign is open here.