Sobyanin and his “political strategists” are absolutely ridiculous, of course. Just a few hours ago, the head of our campaign headquarters reported that Sobyanin’s team had come up with a “brilliant two-step scheme”:
Everything happened exactly as predicted, right down to the lie that “he collected only 20 signatures”:
http://youtu.be/q1-1m5_NVoo Meanwhile, Sobyanin’s informants in the municipal councils know perfectly well that we already have 45 notarized signatures alone, plus another 50 deputies ready to sign whose paperwork is being processed. The delay in formalizing them is easy to explain: deputies from the Communist Party (KPRF) and A Just Russia (SR) were waiting for the KPRF to definitively collect its 110 signatures so they could sign for us with a guarantee that this would do no harm to the KPRF. Until the very last moment, we did not want to publish the names of the deputies, knowing they would come under monstrous pressure. But since United Russia is now generously handing out its own signatures, Volkov will publish the names and districts of these super-mega-brave 45 deputies. So lying is not a good look, Mr. Sobyanin. And the reason for this “two-step scheme” is crystal clear: Sobyanin has finally reached an agreement with Putin that judges in Kirov will remove me from the election. That is exactly what explains the insane acceleration of the trial and the general lawlessness that began at the hearings. If you know your opponent definitely will not appear on the ballot, then why not make a noble gesture and “help a weak candidate get registered at the request of Muscovites.” Okay, okay. Of course we will take Sobyanin’s signatures. We probably would have collected 95–100 even without him—at the cost of enormous effort; once again, thanks to everyone at headquarters and of course to the brave municipal deputies—but overall everyone understands that the “municipal filter” is absolutely impossible to overcome if the executive authorities do not want you to overcome it. It is a completely prohibitive system. You can be sure that everyone who got through the filter did so because Sobyanin’s subordinates collected signatures for them. Well, except perhaps the KPRF. As I have said a hundred times already: we will run an election campaign regardless. With the filter or without it. With a verdict or without one. With registration or without it. For us, an election campaign is a conversation with the voter, not with the election commission. We have something to say: we have an excellent platform, we have an excellent team, we have a dream volunteer штаб, and we know what to do. Update: Leonya Volkov’s post on this topic, with the deputies’ names.