I congratulate all of us. At last, ordinary decent citizens have a chance not only to say what they think about the opposition movement, but also to take direct part in forming its governing body through the most proper and honest mechanism there is: elections. http://www.cvk2012.org/ Registration has begun for candidates to the Opposition Coordination Council. The elections themselves will take place on October 20–21. They will be held online, but with strict verification on the principle of "one person, one vote." Voter registration begins on September 10. We must tear down that ivory tower where the self-appointed "leaders" of the "Russian" "political" "opposition" sit—people with no connection to voters, elected by no one, accountable to no one. Or rather, even calling it an ivory tower is too generous. From the inside, some may see it that way, but in reality it is more like a rotten old stump, decayed long ago. That is exactly why there is such an enormous gap, and such deep mistrust, between the "leaders standing on the stage" and the millions of citizens who are fed up with this thieving occupation regime and are ready to fight it by political means. That mistrust can be overcome in only one way: people must choose for themselves whom they trust to lead the movement. And I apply all this criticism to myself as well. It just so happens that for the past six months I’ve often been sitting on various "protest organizing committees" and giving interviews as "one of the protest leaders." It is extremely unpleasant to hear: "Navalny, and who exactly elected you a leader?" Unpleasant, but true. No one did. A simple exercise: make a list of the people holding "leadership positions in the opposition" and try to remember when any of them ever went through a genuinely competitive election. You’ll be horrified. For the past 10 years, these have been nothing but uncontested elections at tiny Moscow "congresses" and "conferences" of 50 to 100 people, most of whom are always paid apparatchiks. It’s astonishing, but even United Russia, with its semi-fake internal party primaries, now has more internal democracy and more competitive procedures than the opposition does. People have forgotten how to fight. Forgotten how to take responsibility. Forgotten how to tell themselves, "Get to work, or you won’t be re-elected." Citizen Fedoseyev is absolutely right when he says: People tend to treat these elections of opposition representatives skeptically, but it seems to me that this is an absolutely correct and desperately necessary idea. The point is that for the last 10 years we’ve had a completely ersatz, Putin-style opposition—some kind of intra-party intrigues, backroom deals, accusations that one side or another is going to bow and scrape before the Presidential Administration (the Russian president’s executive office). Only by putting people through an internal democratic mechanism can we hope to end up with leaders who are genuinely responsible and genuinely democratic in their thinking. So that later it will be clear on what grounds someone led people from one square to another, and on what basis they can then be held accountable for it. There is an enormous demand for unity. People are practically crying out: when are you finally going to unite?! I do not see any other way to unite. Only through elections to a single common body. People put themselves forward, compete with one another, and then those who win support go on to work together in one unified body. No other methods work. Experience has proven that. Need a reminder? Committee 2008. All-Russian Civic Congress National Assembly The Other Russia Protest Rally Organizing Committee and so on and so forth These were all wonderful, admirable people who, by some unclear and arbitrary principle, sat down around a round table and discussed things. From the very first minutes, everyone hated them (especially those who wanted to sit with them but weren’t allowed in) and shouted, "Who do you people think you are?" The lineup was constantly changing. A year later, it was all over. Because no one had elected these wonderful, admirable people. They were accountable to no one. They took on no obligations. They had no legitimacy, and they knew it perfectly well. We are constantly arguing: what is the ideological orientation of the mass popular opposition movement? Liberal hipsters? Left-wing youth? Conservative urbanites? How many nationalists should be simmering in this pot, and how many "non-ideological civic activists"?
Well, that is exactly what we ourselves must decide. If we have the technological ability to elect "protest leaders" through a direct competitive vote by tens and hundreds of thousands of people, then why keep appointing ourselves? One of the most fundamental points is this: it is time to let the regions influence the makeup of the "leaders," and to give regional activists the chance to compete with Muscovites on equal terms. Right now, not only a Tomsk activist, but even one from St. Petersburg, no matter what he has achieved, has virtually no chance of beating a Moscow political insider. Because his supporters in Tomsk (or St. Petersburg) cannot vote for him. The votes are cast by Moscow apparatchiks at a party conference. So if you want to be elected to a governing body, you should not be building a grassroots base—you should be making deals with Muscovites. That is how we have all ended up locked inside the Moscow Ring Road. Look, maybe this is not the most precise example, but still. Google Analytics shows that this blog is regularly read by 21,000 residents of Irkutsk.
I would guess that at least 5,000 of them would be willing to express their opinion about what they want in "opposition leaders," and maybe even nominate one of their own. Why not? Without them, the people are incomplete. Online elections reduce the cost of campaigning, and an active person from the regions can run just as effective an election campaign as any Muscovite. Show yourself to be an effective politician, persuade a few thousand people in your region to register and vote for you, and you’ll make it through. And those are exactly the kind of people we need right now: people who enjoy real support from large groups of citizens, not just a handful of party members. Candidate registration has only been open for a couple of days. So far, five people have registered. I’m sure there will be 500. Of those five, I know only two: Krasheninnikov and Nemtsov. And that’s great. The other three are some new people from the regions. They stepped forward and said: yes, we’re not going to sit around whining that everything is bad. We want to come to the forefront ourselves and change it. That is exactly how it should be. Do you think the opposition is pathetic and weak? Well, you are the opposition. Become a candidate. Can’t be a candidate? Then choose the people you like and support them. Set up a campaign headquarters for them. Campaign, participate, vote. I will definitely take part in these elections and fight for your support. And so will my comrades. I urge everyone to do the same. We are going to see a lot of criticism of these elections, and a lot of attempts to sabotage them. From Kremlin crooks dreaming that the opposition will remain in this pitiful state. From the pseudo-opposition structures they control, which are funded to play spoiler forever. From people who are independent, but too cowardly to run in an election and risk not finishing among the winners. From those who are too vain, and think themselves too grand to compete for leadership with "just anyone." But the elections will happen, because we need them. This is our chance to gain real popular support, relying on the views of tens and hundreds of thousands of people. To the polls, citizens. No one but ourselves is going to "build the right opposition" for us. PS Election committee website http://cvk2012.org/ Committee members http://cvk2012.org/cvk/sostav/ Frequently asked questions http://cvk2012.org/cvk/chasto_zadavaemye_voprosy/ All documents and regulations http://cvk2012.org/dokumenty/ Registered candidates http://cvk2012.org/candidates/ My informal lecture on the elections http://navalny.livejournal.com/727494.html