A true people's representative. Yesterday, we successfully held the initiative group meeting for "People's Deputy". 570 people formed the group and launched the legislative initiative procedure to submit to the Moscow City Duma a bill on auditing housing and utility tariffs and making their calculation transparent.
It was a fairly tedious procedure, with lines at the registration desks, but we patiently saw it through to the end.
The formalities are very much like holding a party congress. "Who is in favor of approving the composition of the vote-counting commission"? "And now the vote-counting commission, by its own vote, approves the minutes of the vote-counting commission" and other such nonsense.
Given that it now takes 500 people to register a political party, yesterday's creation of "People's Deputy" required us to mobilize the organizational and human resources needed to launch a new party.
In a sense, this is a new party: a political network created to draft and introduce bills that all Muscovites need. 570 people spread across the city, each of them in contact with a hundred people living in neighboring buildings and ready to support the initiative. This is an important point, and I said it again yesterday: this is a party that represents the interests of the majority. Any of the six bills we plan to submit to the Moscow City Duma is, in this way, backed by the majority of city residents. You can measure it however you like, with any audience you like: pensioners, police officers, officials, students. Who in their right mind would oppose a proper and transparent justification for housing and utility tariffs? Who would oppose making transactions involving city property (for example, leases and subleases) open to everyone and subject to public oversight? Who would oppose requiring construction documentation for any project (from laying pipes to building a skyscraper) to be published for everyone the moment it is registered, so that we can all see what is being built on paper and what is being built "in reality"? Everyone is in favor.
The meeting was unprecedentedly open. Everyone was allowed in, and all media outlets were accredited. There was continuous video recording, by anyone who wanted to film, with no restrictions. We complied with every last idiotic requirement written into the law. All so that United Russia, which controls the Moscow City Duma, would have no excuse not to register our initiative group, as it did with every group created before this one. No one has ever put together a group of this size that was also so "law-abiding" in its observance of formal procedure. We now need a couple of days for a final verification of each group member's details (permanent Moscow registration is required), and then we will submit the documents to the Moscow City Duma. A lot was said at the meeting about the upcoming elections to that same Moscow City Duma. "People's Deputy" is an excellent tool that potential candidates can use to a) prove themselves and b) build a core team of volunteers who can later help them during the election campaign. This is an important indicator for all of us ahead of any procedure to choose a "single opposition candidate" in each district. Was the candidate able to work with activists? Gather signatures? Organize teamwork? Inspire people and persuade them to work under their leadership? Activists and campaign volunteers do not just appear out of nowhere. "Navalny's штаб (campaign headquarters)" does not hand them out on request against a signature. We do not have serfs. What we can offer, however, is direct cooperation with people who are already registered and have already proven themselves through a useful political project. The rest is up to the candidate. Some of the quickest off the mark had already gathered groups of 15 to 20 people around themselves yesterday. And then this:
Wherever you look, there are people ready to help anyone who honestly works for the common good and does the right thing. They will not refuse to help a good candidate. It was wonderful that so many of those who want to run for the Moscow City Duma came to the meeting yesterday. By law, it is no longer possible to add new people to this initiative group, but we are still registering those who are ready to sign in support of the first bill. Register here (permanent Moscow registration is required). Once again, thank you to everyone who came yesterday and created "People's Deputy"—it is tremendously gratifying to work together again on something so concrete and useful for everyone. Special thanks to the staff of ACF (Anti-Corruption Foundation) and the volunteers who provided invaluable help in preparing the meeting.