The Coalition’s First Steps
Text version
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Hello, thank you very much for coming.
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Our Democratic Coalition, created
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only recently, already now includes in
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its ranks six parties, several
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public associations, and today we
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have gathered to say a few words about
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some very specific
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steps our coalition will take to achieve
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our first and entirely clear goal,
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namely, to provide political
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representation to the enormous
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number of citizens who share
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our ideals and convictions, who believe
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that Russia can be a normal
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European state, and who are not
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satisfied with the fact that Russia is now
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effectively in the position of a servant to
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a corrupt regime.
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And these people are not represented anywhere
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at all right now. Unfortunately, we see that
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decent deputies are literally
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few and far between, persecuted few, both at the federal level
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in the federal bodies of power, in
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the State Duma, and only a handful in
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regional legislative assemblies.
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We declare that we are going into
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the State Duma with a single list on the
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basis of PARNAS, and our first practical
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steps are entirely
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tangible: millions of our supporters will join
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us across the country. We call on people
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to join us. We are going into the elections, and we
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announce that we will organize six
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election campaigns in three regions:
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the Novosibirsk Region,
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the Kostroma Region, and the Kaluga Region,
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as well as elections in the cities that
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are the administrative centers of these regions, where
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the legislatures are also formed, among other ways,
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through party lists. These regions
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were selected so that they would simply
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reflect the diversity of our country.
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Novosibirsk is, above all,
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the scientific potential of our country. Kostroma
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is a region traditionally
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considered economically depressed, although
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the only reason for that condition
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is simply incompetent leadership. And
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the Kaluga Region is the place where
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until recently there was a strong focus on large-scale
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industry, and which is now
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experiencing all the problems associated with
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the crisis in the automotive industry,
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in particular. And why are we confident that our
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Democratic Coalition, this time in the
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elections, will not repeat all the mistakes that
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were made before, and will truly receive
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support and gain political
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representation? Because this time
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we are firmly determined
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to eliminate that de facto
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gap that has always existed between
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political parties, the political elite,
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and activists on the ground, between them and the real
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voter. All of our electoral lists will be
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built on a competitive basis
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through procedures similar to primaries. These will be
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primaries—not like United Russia's (the ruling party), but
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real primaries. And we want to make sure
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that every person
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who walks into a voting booth
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and marks their ballot knows with complete certainty
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that they are voting not for people
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chosen by some Moscow politicians,
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but for those who were selected in their
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region by their own people. In this way, we truly
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want to assure everyone
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that the best people will be included in
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the election
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lists. In closing my brief
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remarks, I simply want to draw
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attention to this—to say that we
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know this with absolute certainty. We simply
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know it: opinion polls
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show clearly that there is a huge
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number of people who simply
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need there finally to be
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a Democratic Coalition, a democratic
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party that overcomes the barriers and
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for the first time in the past 13 years is
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represented in the State Duma. In
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particular, we also understand very well that
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many of these people are disappointed because
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over recent years they have been fed
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only one message: that all of this is pointless,
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that it is impossible to get anywhere, impossible
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to win. And even if you do vote for those
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people who today call themselves
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the opposition, tomorrow they will change colors and
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support the authorities. Well, we will prove to everyone that
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this is not so. We will do everything possible
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to win the support of these people and,
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relying on them, together with them, build
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a new Russia. Thank you very much. I
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now give the floor to the Secretary
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of the Federal Political Council of the RPR
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PARNAS party, which will be the party on the basis
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of which we will run—Konstantin Merzlikin.
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Thank you.