All right, here we go. The first—and biggest—campaign of the 2015 election cycle is underway. It’s in Novosibirsk Oblast, where regional and city council deputies will be elected.
Our goal is to push back United Russia and secure political representation for all decent, ordinary people who currently have no one representing them.
The candidates have been selected, the lists have been certified by the election commission, the campaign account has been opened, and we are beginning to collect signatures.
What has already been done:
A reminder: we have a super-standard for collecting signatures.
1) 248 people have completed training as signature collectors. Of those, more than 35 have already brought in test signatures.
2) Today, the first 40 people went out to collect signatures. And the first signature was obtained at the cube in Akademgorodok (a research and university district of Novosibirsk).
3) We are setting up 4 cubes for signature collection—two on the right bank of the Ob River, one on the left bank, and one in Akademgorodok.
4) Handwriting experts have been hired.
5) The headquarters is buzzing with activity.
6) Tatyana, who coordinates the signature collectors, has a cat:
7) We need to collect 11,722 top-quality, triple-checked signatures by July 10.
We really need your help—without it, taking on United Russia will be difficult.
IF YOU LIVE IN NOVOSIBIRSK OBLAST: We have a lot of collectors, but we need even more. MOAR collectors. This is work for people driven by conviction, but it is paid. 150 rubles per signature. If you collect 10 signatures in a day, and they pass all checks and are accepted, you get 1,500 rubles. The most common question is: I’m doing this for the cause and don’t need the money—what should I do? The answer: donate the money right back to the campaign account and that’s that.
IF YOU LIVE IN NOVOSIBIRSK OBLAST: Bring your passport and come sign. Here are the locations of the cubes where you can leave your signature:
These are our three permanent locations. Tomorrow there will also be one additional cube:
The cubes are open from 12:00 to 20:00.
Passport required!
IF YOU ARE A RUSSIAN CITIZEN AND LIVE ANYWHERE IN THE UNIVERSE: Election campaigns do not happen without money. We need funding, and the only place we can get it is from you. We do not have state banks or modest oil companies shipping unreported cash to whoever the Kremlin has pointed to. And since we are fighting to win political representation for you (for us), we should be the ones to fund it.
You can make a small contribution, fully legally, to our campaign’s election account. All you need is to be at least 18 years old and a Russian citizen. The form is here: https://donate.dem-coalition.org/. For now, only bank transfers are available; we are adding other options.
Join in—the Novosibirsk campaign is very important. This is one of the most educated cities/regions, and if not there, where else should we challenge the ignorance, corruption, and stupidity of the current authorities?