Three more people have joined the hunger strike in Novosibirsk. There are now six of them.
The three who joined were coordinators of the signature-gathering effort.
You can support them by spreading the word, or simply by stopping by the campaign headquarters at 62 Krasny Prospekt if you live in Novosibirsk or nearby.
And instead of writing yet another text explaining why these people decided to defend their rights in this way, I’ll simply quote the report that was aired yesterday on federal television:
PARNAS is once again at the center of a scandal, this time in two regions at once. In the Novosibirsk Region election commission, party members were suspected of forging signatures, while online a video surfaced allegedly showing these signatures being bought in Kaluga.
"One signature — 100 rubles," said the caption on a video handed over to law enforcement. This is the dirty work of a signature collector for the PARNAS party, which is running in the regional elections. Other footage shows a tense night at the Novosibirsk election commission, where representatives of the same PARNAS party demanded that nearly 1,500 voter signatures be признаны valid. They were declared fraudulent after failing verification against the Federal Migration Service database. On some forms, for example, the dates were written in the same handwriting. That is what happens when votes are bought. "The Investigative Committee of Russia for the Novosibirsk Region has opened an inquiry following a complaint by citizen Nikiforov regarding non-payment for collecting voter signatures by the regional branch of the PARNAS party," said Vladimir Markin, official spokesperson for the Investigative Committee. "The inquiry is being conducted on suspicion of fraud. As part of this inquiry, investigators will also examine allegations that the PARNAS party deliberately submitted falsified signature sheets to the regional election commission in order to participate in the Novosibirsk Region legislative assembly elections." Raised voices, the announcement of a hunger strike in the chair’s office — according to witnesses, PARNAS members were provoking conflict. For example, the Green Party, which was also denied registration, behaved much more calmly. PARNAS, meanwhile, simply refused to leave the Nizhny Novgorod election commission. "This is the first time I have encountered such provocative actions," admitted Yury Petukhov, chair of the Novosibirsk Region election commission. "At the very least, actions that do nothing to uphold the dignity of a party. As for today’s decision, everyone witnessed what was happening throughout this entire period." In the end, the protesters had to be escorted out of the election commission by police through a back entrance. There is currently a great deal being written and said about PARNAS, which together with Navalny’s Party of Progress forms the Democratic Coalition. And that is exactly what they want, political analysts note. The methods are crude but, unfortunately, effective — for example, for undermining the legitimacy of elections. "If a party understands that it has no chance whatsoever of winning voter support — and that is the case with this Maidan coalition (a reference to Ukraine’s 2013–2014 Euromaidan protests) — then it does not need to appeal to voters; what matters is provoking a situation, so it can say: ‘We did not fail to win support because voters hate us, but because the authorities hate us,’" explained political analyst and Civic Chamber member Sergei Markov. The case against PARNAS has not yet been proven, the opposition counters. There is no need to rush to conclusions. "If such facts exist, they must be investigated," stressed Sergei Mitrokhin, chairman of the Yabloko party. "I hope that the court, if it investigates these facts, will be objective. Those who broke the law and bribed people for signatures should, of course, be punished — but first it has to be proven." When there is no sufficiently convincing political platform to rally voters behind you, you can either buy them, interest them, or shock them, political strategists say. The Democratic Coalition uses this entire arsenal. One need only recall how Navalny was greeted with rotten eggs in Novosibirsk a month ago. "They have one technique, called ‘wrapping yourself around the tank tread,’ meaning creating a scandalous situation and drawing attention to themselves," said political strategist Dmitry Gusev. "That means they have no real objective of winning the election." Central Election Commission head Vladimir Churov promised to look into PARNAS’s nighttime stunt at the Novosibirsk election commission. He noted that he was surprised by such aggression. "When we receive a complaint, we will examine all the circumstances," Churov promised. "At present, all documents and all decisions fall exclusively within the competence of the Novosibirsk Region election commission." Other opposition figures do not stage scenes when they face similar problems, do they? For example, Rodina party chairman Alexei Zhuravlev has already sent letters to the Central Election Commission. "We appealed to the Federal Migration Service and to the election commission demanding that they review why the Rodina party was barred from the elections," he said. "Based on those replies — and I roughly know what form the reply will take — if they are as we expect, that will give us grounds to appeal to the Prosecutor General’s Office." There is also a major scandal in Kostroma. Andrei Pivovarov, head of the regional RPR-PARNAS campaign office, was detained while allegedly attempting to buy the personal data of Kostroma residents from a police officer. According to preliminary investigative information, the police officer was also detained. Criminal cases have been opened under two articles: "Unlawful Access to Computer Information" and "Abuse of Official Powers." Meanwhile, the Magadan election commission is due to decide on Friday whether to register PARNAS for the regional Duma. Party members are already complaining that nothing will come of it, and Navalny has said there is an order to keep the opposition out of the elections. "That is absolutely not the case," Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov emphasized in response. "The issue is simply that the procedures required by law must be followed. It is all clearly spelled out there — what must be done for registration and for participation in elections — so this is merely a matter of complying with the norms and rules set out in the law." This is what specialists call taking part in elections at any cost. Self-promotion that resembles hooliganism or veers toward criminality. Even though the lawful path is obvious.http://www.vesti.ru/doc.html?id=2646876