Putin gnawed and gnawed at the wire, but couldn’t chew through it. We fought off the attacks, everything is working perfectly, so go here http://election.cvk2012.org/ or directly here, to one of the voting platforms http://election.democratia2.ru/ and cast your vote. Because of yesterday’s technical problems, the Election Committee has extended voting until 8:00 p.m. Moscow time on Monday, October 22. So there will be enough time for everyone. It was very curious to watch yesterday how, in a single ecstatic effort to sabotage our election, all the regime’s frontline detachments merged together: MMM scammers (from the notorious pyramid scheme), FSB officers (Russia’s security service), cops, Nashi activists (pro-Kremlin youth movement), cartoonish fascists, botnet owners, and so on. It gives a very good sense of exactly what the regime relies on. Overall, this election is a good stress test for all of us — both voters and candidates. A lot becomes clear right away. And that makes the result, achieved through such effort and despite such obstacles, all the more valuable. Let’s get used again to the idea that a vote is tremendously important, even if this is an election organized not by the state, but by us, for ourselves. Vote carefully and thoughtfully, citizens. After all, those who win this election will speak in your name.
The main potential problems and challenges facing the Coordination Council are obvious: 1) everyone could fall out and split apart, 2) everything could turn into meaningless chatter and a clash of egos, 3) the Council could get bogged down in endless discussion of procedural issues, and so on. There’s nothing new here — every collective governing body faces this. After 8:00 p.m. Moscow time on October 22, the Coordination Council will have to deal with these problems. Until 8:00 p.m. on October 22, we ourselves are the ones dealing with them — or making them worse. So please give some real thought to the checkmarks you put in those boxes. There is information on every candidate. There is a “political compass” for each one. Almost all of them took part in debates. For me personally, it matters a great deal whether a candidate actually ran a campaign: did they fight for my vote? Did they put out videos? Did they campaign? Do they even have the will to win? You really need to think about each person: what exactly will they do on the Coordination Council? What use are they? What resources will they bring with them — organizational, intellectual, media, financial, team-based? These are not simple questions. Some kind of “charisma” displayed in debates can’t really be measured (unless you’re playing Fallout), but that too is a resource. It would also be good to sort out the candidate blocs. For example, the bloc "Seven Candidates of Seven Projects" (here they are on the Central Election Committee website) is obvious, understandable, and close to me — it is completely clear what these people have done before, how they are useful, and why they matter for something more real than empty talk. But it would be useful to look through the other blocs as well. A separate word about the quotas — leftists, liberals, and nationalists — or, as they are also called, “curiae.” The introduction of quotas was a not-at-all-obvious compromise in favor of coalition-building, and it irritates a great many people. Nevertheless, they already exist, and candidates will be elected through them. In that sense, the position of “not a single vote for the curiae” is foolish and only plays into the hands of the “ideological sectarians” who want to push through only their own people. Five people will be elected from each quota group anyway. If you fundamentally dislike everyone running under a quota, then just knock out the ones you dislike most. Vote for those “quota candidates” who have made the greatest political progress lately, who actually ran campaigns, and who are capable of working with others without ideological dogmatism and hellish infighting. In short, there are people worth voting for. It’s an incredibly good feeling — to know that every candidate is eager to get your vote, to know that nothing but votes brings victory, and to choose your candidate. A long-forgotten feeling. Vote: http://election.cvk2012.org/ http://election.democratia2.ru/
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