— How wonderful this is, what sheer delight!
That was what I wanted to exclaim when I read this post by the head of the Krasnoselsky District council of deputies.
For those who may have forgotten, this municipal official’s name is Ilya Yashin, and he is now speaking not just for himself, but on behalf of all the residents of the district where he and his team won a majority of the vote.
Municipal deputies do not have many powers, but they do have one very important one: they have the right to organize local celebrations and invite any number of people to them. Which, in practice, is not much different from any other mass public event such as a rally.
And they do not need any approval from the crooks at Moscow City Hall. They themselves are the authorities, in the literal sense of the word.
So they decided to hold a “Day of Free Elections” on December 24. It is a beautiful date—we remember December 24, 2011.
Especially since the site of the December 24, 2011 rally is located precisely within Krasnoselsky District. And now the venue may be even better: Lermontov Square, next to the Garden Ring near the Krasnye Vorota metro station.
This is simply brilliant, both in substance and in form. The best kind of rally:
The real Moscow authorities, elected in genuinely competitive elections, are calling on us to come to an event in defense of our rights guaranteed by the Constitution.
They are doing this through the mechanism of representative democracy (there was a vote in the council of deputies), on behalf of the district’s residents—50,000 people, by the way—on the basis of the law and the district charter, and fully within their unquestionable powers. In other words, they cannot be banned or denied permission.
Let us come and demand the obvious:
Access to the presidential election for all candidates.
Equal campaigning opportunities and equal access to the media—especially television—for all candidates.
An honest vote count.
How can anyone argue with demands like these?
Demands like these are beyond argument.
The event group on Facebook, and the group on VK.
Plan to take part in this wonderful celebration on December 24.