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There is a city in our country that
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everyone loves. Moscow, for example, some people
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don’t like.
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But St. Petersburg—everyone adores it.
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And in this beautiful city, there is practically a war
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coming in a few months. Well, that is,
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I hope everyone stays alive, of course,
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but the confrontation will be fairly
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serious, because elections will be held there
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for both governor and, even more
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importantly, local deputies at the same time.
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Naturally, United Russia (the ruling political party) wants
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to control St. Petersburg. Right now, United Russia members
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hold 90 percent of the deputy
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seats, and of course they like
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that situation, because you can loot the budget
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as much as you want if you control 90
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percent of the seats—which they do quite
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successfully. But United Russia’s problem is that
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St. Petersburg is now the most
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protest-minded city in the country. You can see it even
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from the rallies that take place there: the fiercest
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confrontations are always
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in St. Petersburg. And even those residents who
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don’t go to rallies are very, very
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tired of the Kremlin appointing its
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most foolish
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most thick-headed, most incompetent
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bosses specifically to St. Petersburg.
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[music]
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That is happening right now. Putin wants,
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for example, for the governor of
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St. Petersburg to be Alexander Beglov,
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an obscure official whose most memorable
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statement in his entire political
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career was naming three
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“mega-tasks”—that was his exact phrase, “mega-tasks”
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facing Russia:
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creating new nuclear weapons,
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modernizing the army, and protecting the minds
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of the population from Western influence.
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So, St. Petersburg’s oppositional mood
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—
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is a problem for United Russia, but for
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us it is an opportunity. We want
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one simple thing: for the local
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deputies in St. Petersburg
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—and 1,575 of them will be elected—
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to be normal,
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honest people.
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Ideally, there should not be a single
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United Russia member there—or at least they should be
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in the minority, in full accordance with
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the mood of the voters. This can
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be achieved, and it is entirely realistic. We need
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to do two things. First:
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find 1,575 people and help them
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run and become candidates. And second:
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convince a sufficient number of St. Petersburg residents
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not to vote randomly, all
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over the place, but in a coordinated way to support
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this exact list. That is what we
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are proposing as part of our Smart
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Voting strategy. If at least 10 percent of
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voters cast their ballots
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only for this list, then almost
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certainly all the candidates on it will become
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deputies.
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We have launched special projects for
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the city of St. Petersburg: {URL_1}. And now
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we are implementing the first part of
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this plan. People of St. Petersburg, we are calling on you
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to become candidates. The qualification
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requirement is just one: you must be an honest
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person who wants to become
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a deputy in order to serve people, and who
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is ready to throw a real challenge to the party
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of crooks and thieves—
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United Russia. You do not need to make any political
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commitments or oaths to me
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or to anyone else.
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Your only obligations will be
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to your voters. Ready to run an honest
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campaign with our help?
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Go here and
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sign up. Of course, none of this will be easy.
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St. Petersburg is notorious for constant
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election fraud and for the fact that
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candidates there are mass-disqualified and
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kept off the ballot. We understand all that, but we
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cannot, we simply have no right, to surrender
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this city to United Russia without a fight and once again
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allow them to control 90 percent of
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the seats. I believe this effort will succeed, and you should too.
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Please, if you want to be
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a candidate, go and register.
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If you want to be a smart voter, then
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go there and register too. That is how
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we will win.