Hooray. We are launching Russia’s first campaign to create genuinely people-powered election lists. Residents of the Kaluga, Kostroma, and Novosibirsk regions, the whole country is looking to you with hope—and a little envy.
Let’s be honest: the opposition, in all its forms, gets so few votes in regional elections not primarily because of fraud, but because the election lists are headed by strange figures whose only qualification is that they “made a deal in Moscow.”
And your average Petya Vasechkin from Novosibirsk couldn’t care less that a candidate “made a deal in Moscow.” It does not impress him for a second, and it is no reason for him to go to the polling station. Petya Vasechkin from Novosibirsk wants the candidate on the list to make a deal with him and answer only to him—not just at election time, but all the time.
So the candidate’s interests—party games in Moscow—and Vasechkin’s interests—the desire to choose the candidate himself—are fundamentally at odds. There is not the slightest connection between them. As a result, Vasechkin does not go to vote, turnout is extremely low—around 20–25%—half the voters are public-sector employees herded to the polls, and some are bored pensioners. Our candidate gets 3.4%. Most of the votes go to United Russia.
Vasechkin is angry—because there are masses of people like him around: ordinary people who are against theft, war, and cuts to healthcare and education spending. If not a majority, then at least half. Yet the interests of people like Vasechkin are once again represented neither in city hall nor in the regional parliament.
How do we break this vicious circle? Very simply: let Vasechkin decide first who gets onto the opposition’s election list. If it is his list—a people’s list, Vasechkin’s own list—then he will show up to vote and bring his neighbors with him.
This is the most important agreement reached by the Democratic Coalition, which has brought together all the independent democratic parties: no one is demanding that their own candidate be placed at the top of the list. The list must be determined through open, fair primaries. Vasechkin decides. Party member or independent, radical or moderate, focused on war or on overdevelopment in residential courtyards. It is not Moscow that decides, but the residents of the region. The Democratic Coalition commits itself to nominating whoever is chosen in the primaries.
Suppose there are three winnable spots. The top three people on the election list will become deputies if the list clears the 5% threshold. There are about ten solid candidates competing for those places. Let them present themselves, publish their platforms, and debate—and then Vasechkin will vote and decide who comes first and who ends up fourth.
This way, we will get candidates who owe nothing to anyone except the residents. That may be a problem for parties and party leaders in Moscow, but at last we will create a real connection and accountability between candidates and voters. And we will do it in the primaries, before the official election.
If the elections are fair—and they will be fair—then all the Vasechkins will be sure of two things: 1) they themselves formed the list; 2) the list is made up of the strongest candidates available.
Then they will go out and vote, and they will campaign too. After all, it is their own list.
We are introducing the Democratic Coalition website, which serves as the main platform for the primaries project to determine “people’s election lists.” We have tried to make it as simple as possible, while still convenient and informative.
On the homepage, you can choose a region—Kaluga, Kostroma, or Novosibirsk—and subscribe to primary election updates.
On the regional page, you can register and become a Democratic Coalition voter. Voting will take place both online and offline (at polling stations). To vote online, you will need to complete verification (identity confirmation). To vote offline, you will simply need to come to a polling station on voting day and show your passport with proof of residence registration in the region.
Right now, on the website (on each regional page), you can already: — read the biographies of candidates in that region and ask them questions; — read the news; — review coalition documents (the rules for holding the primaries, campaign theses, etc.); — sign up as a coalition volunteer in these regions.
The candidate registration process began only recently. There are many applications, but as of now only seven have been fully completed—and only fully completed applications are published publicly: 2 from the Novosibirsk region, 2 from the Kostroma region, and 3 from the Kaluga region.
What will come later:
According to the primary schedule, the website will in due course feature the voting system, debate videos, and the voting results.
In each region, teams for the primaries and signature collection are now being actively assembled. Staff are being dispatched, volunteers recruited, and premises rented.
What should you do now—and what matters most? Register as a voter. Do not put it off: register right now and, by doing so, tell the candidates, “I will decide which of you gets which place on the list. Who becomes a deputy, and who ends up in a non-winnable spot. So come on, candidates—campaign to me and explain why you are better than the rest.” The second most important thing: tell people about the website, and do not forget to like and share. The more people hear about it, the more voters there will be; the better the list will be; the more votes there will be in the election; and the greater the political representation ordinary people will have in regional and city parliaments.
All power to the Vasechkins. https://dem-coalition.org/