Work on preparing the opposition-wide elections is in full swing. They are definitely going to happen. A Central Election Committee has been created to organize the elections so that they are 1) universal 2) large-scale 3) absolutely fair. The committee is headed by Leonid Volkov leonwolf, and includes representatives of political movements (nationalists, liberals, and the left), representatives of election-monitoring organizations — Golos, Citizen Observer, SONAR — and various excellent experts. Among those who have agreed to work on the CEC are internet heavyweight Anton Nosik and internet mega-heavyweight, one of Yandex’s founders, Ilya Segalovich. The fact that they agreed is a major success: their competence is beyond question, and their reputations make it clear that under no circumstances would they take part in a project where fraud was possible. That said, the voting system will undergo a public technical audit in any case. A full list of the CEC, along with answers to a whole bunch of other questions, can be found here. A dedicated website with all the information on this topic will be launched any day now. So far, my personal conversations with potential participants (candidates) suggest that everyone, or almost everyone, who could realistically aim for the top positions will take part in the elections. And those who could contend but do not want to will support the elections (and specific candidates). Everyone agrees: honest, competitive procedures are what matter most. The weakest point so far is public awareness. It seems like everyone has heard about the elections, but hardly anyone really understands what they are. There will, of course, be a major outreach campaign on this, and we’ll explain everything to everyone. But for now, I simply tried to explain it all to a couple of people in our office, and the guys from the "SROK" project filmed it all. 30 minutes here:
http://youtu.be/rGaSA1U3d7Q The condensed 5-minute version is here. To be frank, I didn’t manage to express these thoughts with perfect clarity, but it’s still quite possible to figure out what’s what. Take a look. Also, Volkov ran an interesting poll in his journal (LiveJournal blog), and the results matter, so I’m reposting them: Poll #1859468 Elections to the Coordination Council of the Russian opposition Open: To everyone, detailed results visible: To everyone. Participants: 5779 What do you think of the very idea of these elections? Show answers Very cool 3556 ( 62.5 % ) /results-result ** /results-item Generally a good idea, but poorly timed 383 ( 6.7 % ) /results-result /results-item ** Generally a good idea, but the implementation is very concerning 1095 ( 19.2 % ) /results-result /results-item A stupid idea 350 ( 6.1 % ) /results-result /results-item What is this even about? 309 ( 5.4 % ) /results-result /results-item /ljpoll-results /ljpoll-items /questionbox Based on what you already know about the procedure, how would you assess it? Show answers Everything is clear, it’s the right procedure 1089 ( 19.8 % ) /results-result /results-item There are many details, but they can probably be fine-tuned 2403 ( 43.7 % ) /results-result /results-item So far there are far more questions than answers 1569 ( 28.6 % ) /results-result /results-item The procedure is fundamentally wrong; everything should be done completely differently 139 ( 2.5 % ) /results-result /results-item No matter how you look at it, nothing will come of it anyway 293 ( 5.3 % ) /results-result ** /results-item /ljpoll-results /ljpoll-items /questionbox And will you take part in these elections? Show answers Yes, I will definitely vote 3761 ( 66.3 % ) /results-result /results-item Haven’t decided yet; it depends a lot on the procedure 914 ( 16.1 % ) /results-result /results-item Haven’t decided yet; it depends a lot on which candidates run 467 ( 8.2 % ) /results-result /results-item ** I’ll be not only a voter, but also a volunteer, a member of a regional commission, or even a candidate 110 ( 1.9 % ) /results-result** ** /results-item No, I don’t play these games 424 ( 7.5 % ) /results-result /results-item /ljpoll-results /ljpoll-items /questionbox Please vote.