Yabloko does not want to cede Moscow – Newspaper Kommersant No. 220 (7421) of 11/28/2022

The Yabloko party has launched a project of public receptions Our Moscow to collect applications from residents of the capital. At the start of the project, 36 current and former district deputies, as well as activists who ran for municipal elections in Moscow districts, but for various reasons did not receive mandates, will work with the townspeople at the start of the project. The project will cover 24 districts, but the party plans to expand it to all 146. Thus, the party can prepare for the upcoming mayoral elections next year, but the nomination of a candidate for them will be problematic for Yabloko, including because of the municipal filter, he believes expert.

The project of public receptions “Our Moscow” was launched last weekend by deputies of the Moscow City Duma and municipalities of various convocations nominated by the Yabloko party. One of its initiators, deputy chairman of the Moscow branch of the party and former head of the Yakimanka district, Andrey Morev, said that the idea for the project arose a week after the publication of the results of the municipal elections in Moscow (September 9-11): Yabloko won only four seats compared to 176 in 2017. About 50 candidates from the party were removed from the elections mainly in connection with the placement of symbols of Alexei Navalny’s organizations on social networks (recognized as extremist and banned), involvement in the work of these structures and marriage in signature lists. Several candidates won in polling stations but lost their chance for seats after the online vote was counted.

Mr. Morev says that in areas where Yabloko was allowed to participate in the elections, the party won 16% of the vote, and now they are “obliged to carry out orders” collected from residents during the election campaign – public receptions will also come in handy for this. In addition, Yabloko “does not want to leave Muscovites without representation,” stating that “most of the winning candidates from the systemic parties will defend the interests of the mayor’s office.”

Over the weekend, party members launched a website for the reception. Residents of 24 districts can leave a complaint there, 36 activists and supporters of the party will process them. Yabloko plans to expand this practice to all districts; a separate form is provided on the project website for recruiting assets. To expand the audience, “Yabloko” will also launch a telephone line, a Telegram bot and pages on social networks. Topics of questions that Muscovites will be able to address are limited: before writing a complaint, you need to select a category of appeal. All of them are related exclusively to regional problems, with the exception of the “partial mobilization” option: the party explained to the Kommersant correspondent that in this section Muscovites will be able to talk about any problems related to this topic.

Moscow City Duma deputy Sergei Mitrokhin said that face-to-face meetings with Muscovites will be held in his waiting room. He advised activists to try to independently solve simple problems that voters will address, and if necessary, expressed his readiness to send deputy requests with colleagues in the faction.

Yabloko agreed that their public receptions are similar in format to the Our City project, which was launched on the initiative of the Mayor’s Office and the Moscow government back in 2011 and has received many positive reviews for its quick response to complaints. However, complaints there, as a rule, are connected with something that does not give the authorities any special problems, Mr. Morev believes, for example, with garbage collection. If it comes, for example, to change the management campaign, pressure may be put on the complainants, as their data becomes available to the authorities, added the former head of the Yakimanka district.

The Our City project is a really effective way to solve any city problems, notes political scientist Konstantin Kalachev, however, “additional independent tools will not be superfluous”: “Any mechanisms of interaction with Muscovites should be welcomed. Whether they will be effective depends on their promotion and the activity of Yabloko in the Moscow City Duma, as well as the nature of their relationship with the executive branch.” Mr. Kalachev believes that public receptions could be part of Yabloko’s preparations for the upcoming 2023 mayoral election in Moscow, but the party is unlikely to benefit from the project electorally. Oppositionists are unlikely to be able to overcome the municipal filter, the expert says, and therefore “the question of raising Yabloko’s rating for the election of the mayor of Moscow does not seem very relevant.”

Kira Heifetz