Oh, how United Russia is twisting itself in knots over the fact that our election campaign is being funded directly by ordinary people. Just like vampires recoil from daylight. United Russia is questioning the legality of the funding model behind Alexei Navalny’s election campaign.
The funding model being used in the mayoral campaign of Moscow mayoral candidate Alexei Navalny is in direct violation of election law. That was the view expressed today to ITAR-TASS by Konstantin Mazurevsky, deputy head of the Central Executive Committee of the United Russia party. According to him, election law contains a clear definition of a voluntary donation by a citizen, understood as the gratuitous transfer by a citizen of the Russian Federation of their own funds into a candidate’s special election account /Clause 14, Article 2 of the federal law “On Basic Guarantees of Electoral Rights and the Right to Participate in a Referendum of Citizens of the Russian Federation”/. “Thus, the law prohibits so-called two-stage schemes for making donations to election accounts, in which money first comes from unknown third parties to individuals known to the candidate as donors, and those individuals then deposit that money into the candidate’s special election account in their own name as if it were their own funds, when in fact it is not,” Mazurevsky stated. The deputy head of United Russia’s Central Executive Committee also added that the illegality of this kind of donation is confirmed by court practice. “It turns out that under such a funding scheme, voters not only do not know who this candidate’s real sponsors are, but election law is also being directly violated,” he concluded. Mazurevsky is convinced that “there is a fundamental difference between Navalny’s ‘student’ account in the United States, protected by bank secrecy, and the special election account of a candidate for mayor of Moscow: all transactions involving the latter must be as transparent, understandable, and open to the public as possible.” http://www.itar-tass.com/c1/828821.html Navalny May Be Prevented from Raising Money The new fundraising model for the opposition politician’s campaign is disliked by the Kremlin, United Russia, and election commissions CEC member Yevgeny Kolyushin told Vedomosti that the fundraising method used by Navalny is a clear violation. Under the law, a citizen may contribute only their own money to a candidate’s fund; otherwise, how can anyone verify that the money is not coming from sources prohibited by law (foreigners, international organizations, minors)? “I’m surprised Navalny hasn’t already been held liable,” Kolyushin concluded. A Kremlin official offers similar reasoning. Voters should know where the money came from, and in the case of a “Yandex wallet,” that is impossible to trace, the official says. Such a scheme is indeed something for lawyers and experts to discuss, since at the very least it runs counter to the spirit of the law. Navalny’s rivals within the opposition have been the first to seize on this, the Kremlin source notes. Under election law, a candidate can be removed from the ballot for three types of violations involving the campaign fund: exceeding its maximum size by 5%, spending an equivalent amount on campaigning outside the fund, and refusing to create one. There is no goal of removing Navalny from the election, says a person close to the leadership of United Russia, b**ut it is necessary to show the candidate’s lack of integrity and his inclination to use opaque schemes. In addition, the task is to stop this activity from continuing and to reveal who is really chipping in for Navalny. http://www.vedomosti.ru/politics/news/14886791/navalnyj-ne-tak-platit That’s how the Kremlin crooks have gotten used to things: they are the ones who hand out and control all the money for election campaigns. Their own, and the “opposition’s” too. It’s so convenient when everyone comes running to you—from the Communists to Yabloko (a liberal political party)—with their budgets, and you magnanimously dole out a little money, saying: look, you see, we support a multiparty system, all constructive political movements are supported here. The only barrier is for extremists. That is why our strategy—asking citizens for money rather than the Kremlin or oligarchs—is like a knife to the heart for them. There’s no one they can call and say: hey, *you there. Cut it out and stop giving money to Navalny. *Well, I mean, they can try calling, but for that they’d have to make 30,000 calls and ring every campaign donor from Vladivostok to Kaliningrad. We’ve already raised 35 ***million rubles (about 35 million RUB) and ***we have the most financially transparent election campaign of all. The surnames of all donors, the amounts, ages, citizenship—everything is reflected in the banking records. And when United Russia accuses me of using “opaque schemes,” it can provoke nothing but loud laughter. Open United Russia’s financial report—or better yet, read this excellent post, which breaks down in detail the funding schemes of United Russia and the LDPR (Liberal Democratic Party of Russia). All you can learn about United Russia’s money is that most of it is yours (state budget money):
And you can also take a look at this VERY DIVERSE list of corporate donors:
Transparent, right? Not at all a “two-stage scheme designed to conceal the true sources of funding.” I suggest that representatives of United Russia keep quiet and blush with embarrassment every time anyone so much as utters the words “financial scheme.” As for us, we will continue raising money in full compliance with the law and with our understanding of political independence, of which financial independence is a crucial part. And I’d also like to remind the technologically backward members of United Russia that (thank Yandex) there is no longer any need to open Yandex wallets. http://navalny.ru/#yd You enter the amount and your details as shown in the example (this is mandatory, otherwise we’ll have to return the money), and your donation goes straight into our bank election account as ordinary funds. Instructions for a traditional bank transfer are here. Remember: every transfer you make not only helps fund Russia’s first independent election campaign, it also upsets them enormously: