What should a proper candidate do in an election? Any election.
Meet with voters and take part in debates. These are the basic minimum requirements; if a candidate does not do that, then they are not really a candidate at all, but a fake.
And they cannot be trusted. And such elections are just as fake.
In Russia, debates are almost nonexistent, but even meetings with voters are not a particularly favored format. With the pro-government candidate, it is obvious how it works: state employees are herded into a meeting at a House of Culture (a Soviet-style community center), or a school parents’ meeting is arranged especially for him. They hardly ever hold normal meetings.
Unfortunately, opposition candidates also often have little desire to hold meetings:
- a high likelihood of provocations;
- a high likelihood that only a few people will show up. Here, speaking in front of 5 or 6 people is considered terribly embarrassing.
As for me, provocations are unpleasant but familiar, and small audiences do not bother me. Look at photos from meetings held by U.S. presidential candidates during the primaries. They sit there nicely in small cafés and speak their hearts out to ten listeners. That is exactly how it should be.
The weather is, of course, a serious and objective problem. But that is all right—I have spoken even in a downpour. I remember that once lightning even struck nearby during a meeting in Orekhovo, a district in Moscow.
So during this campaign, I want to hold meetings with voters, and I will. I really need these meetings as a way of getting feedback from voters.
The authorities, naturally, dislike these meetings intensely. And after submitting our first applications, we discovered a tendency to feed us nonsense and try to declare our meetings—of all things—unconstitutional.
For example, before the meeting in Yekaterinburg, we received a six-page screed about it. At the same time, the meeting itself was approved. Apparently, they are counting on us being intimidated by their legal opinions.
So let me state this publicly. I am even making a video about it:
Under no circumstances will I give up my right to meet with voters and communicate with people.
For that, I do not need any permits or documents except one: a passport of a citizen of the Russian Federation. I have one, and it is perfectly valid.
We will submit applications and act as non-confrontationally as possible. But we refuse to take all this nonsense about “unconstitutionality” seriously.
So come to our meetings in the regions. This week:
Friday — Murmansk. 6:00 p.m., the square on Leningradskaya Street (event on Facebook, on VKontakte)
Saturday — Yekaterinburg. 6:00 p.m., Oborony Square (event on Facebook, on VKontakte)
Sunday — Omsk. 6:00 p.m., the square in front of the Blinov Sports and Concert Complex, 91 Dekabristov Street (event on Facebook, on VKontakte)
See you there.