“A Step To Reloading. The SPS and Yabloko Are Ready To Unite Not Only in Moscow”

Yesterday (1 November) in Moscow, leaders of the united Yabloko-United Democrats bloc presented not only their campaign program but also a political declaration to create a Coalition of Democratic Organizations. The declaration’s protocol is open for signature and it has been signed thus far by the bloc’s members: the Yabloko party, the Union of Right-Wing Forces (SPS), the Union of Russian Greens, and the United People’s Party of Soldiers’ Mothers.

“The way the voting takes place in Moscow will be crucial for a course of this country as a whole,” Yabloko leader Grigoriy Yavlinskiy declared, opening a news conference. SPS leader Nikita Belykh hurried to support him, deftly launching a new term, which not only the press but also his bloc partners liked very much: “Democracy got hung up and reloading is urgently needed — we are going to start the reloading from Moscow.” Aleksey Yablokov, the “Greens” leader, and Svetlana Kuznetsova, head of the leadership board of the Party of Soldiers’ Mothers, fully endorsed this position. As the main breakthrough, one can consider the appearance of the declaration, which is to be discussed with other democratically oriented politicians. In the declaration, the democrats have proposed “forming a united democratic opposition, constitutional dismissal of the ruling group, and prevention of another Operation Heir.” As Yablokov ardently put it, “an example will be set for the whole country: Let us unite!”

Nevertheless, the leaders of democratic associations look beyond the Moscow City Duma elections on 4 December with great caution. The only prediction that Grigoriy Yavlinskiy ventured to make is the possibility of the democratic forces fielding a common candidate for presidential elections in 2008. In other words, even the prospect of possible unification for the 2007 Duma elections is still open to question. “It is a first step toward creating a united democratic opposition, more steps will follow,” Grigoriy Yavlinskiy declared, commenting on the creation of a common democratic program for the race to the Moscow City Duma. “We will continue conducting negotiations to expand the coalition even further, and at the same time all the members will keep their independence, their own face,” the Yabloko leader explained the cooperation mechanism. For his part, Nikita Belykh stated that the Republican Party fully supported creation of a joint ticket.

The program’s text took quite a long time to prepare. Every new piece of it was additionally discussed and approved at a meeting by all the four bloc members. The democratic leaders consider it very important that tasks at two levels, Moscow and federal, were included in the text.

But propaganda could not be avoided on the threshold of elections. Notably, it seems that rather than the fight for a professional army or environmental cleanness of the city or the fight against corruption, the program’s central point will be restoration of direct and universal elections of the Moscow mayor. At least, this point is placed at the top of a list of the party’s tasks for the campaign period. At the same time, the democrats do not conceal that election of just two people from the general city part of the list (there are also 15 regional lists) would be a major success for the bloc although it is not clear what influence can be exerted by only two of 35 Moscow City Duma deputies. This emphasizes once again that the elections, as one of the participants in the news conference honestly admitted, look increasingly like a referendum. This referendum should, in fact, confirm or deep-six for good the idea of not only unification between the two largest political parties from the democratic spectrum but also creation of a general coalition around them.

By the way, a candidate appeared yesterday for the common representative of democratic forces in the 2008 presidential election. “I am able and ready to be this candidate,” former Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov declared. He also outlined his convictions, declaring that he is against introducing changes in the Constitution and for supporting small and medium-sized business. He expressed his support for measures taken by the current government in the struggle. (preceding sentence as published) Meanwhile, the SPS leader reacted to this statement with cautious skepticism: “I would like to call on Mikhail Mikhaylovich (Kasyanov) to participate more actively in all these election campaigns, as well as in the unification process of democratic forces.” In addition, Belykh noted that a decision to nominate a candidate for president would not be made before 2007 and that “we will undoubtedly choose from among several candidates.”