Why can't Navalny run for president? Alexei Navalny announced his participation in the presidential elections
A few weeks ago, Ella Pamfilova, chairman of the Central Election Commission Russian Federation(CEC) warned that only a "miracle" could allow Alexei Navalny to run in the March 18, 2018 presidential election.
Journalists did not have time to decipher the mysterious meaning of this wording - what kind of "miracle" could Pamfilova speak about, whose department is theoretically authorized to strictly observe the law? The miracle didn't happen. On Monday, September 25, the CEC issued its verdict: unanimously, except for one abstention, it banned the oppositionist from participating in the elections because of his past convictions.
The study of the Navalny case was carried out exceptionally quickly. On Sunday, the oppositionist mobilized thousands of his supporters in several Russian cities and immediately applied. The next day he was summoned to the CEC.
This show of force was not enough, despite the fact that thousands of volunteers worked for months to collect the 300,000 signatures needed for Navalny's candidacy. Alexei Navalny, whose popularity has been boosted by devastating investigations into elite corruption, has been prevented from challenging fourth-term Vladimir Putin.
Fake intrigue
CEC Chairman Ella Pamfilova has repeatedly warned that he will not be able to run for president until 2028 due to the fact that in February 2017 he was given a suspended five-year prison sentence for embezzlement. He was also arrested three times this year for organizing unsanctioned meetings.
Context
Is Navalny a real alternative to Putin?
Financial Times 09.08.2017Do Russians have a choice?
The Economist 20.10.2017Russia's only politician left behind
Dagens Nyheter 12/26/2017Putin and the 2018 elections in Russia
Stratfor 12.12.2017 But this decision was expected and put an end to several months of false tense waiting, during which the oppositionist pretended to believe in his chances to participate in the 2018 elections. During this time, his campaign headquarters continued to operate at full capacity, and the former blogger, who became known to the general public during protests against alleged fraud in the 2011 parliamentary elections, traveled around Russia to speak.Navalny is denied access to the federal media, but he has a knack for turning any place he appears — right down to courtrooms — into a tribune. On Monday, he took advantage of the video broadcast of the CEC meeting to again engage in the battle with the cynicism of the authorities. “I am not asking you to do some heroic deed. No one is standing with a gun at your temple. I'm asking you to simply do your job and obey the law. For this you are paid by your fellow citizens. It is clear that these court cases are fabricated,” Navalny said, recalling the decision of the European Court of Human Rights
"There will be only Putin"
Immediately after the CEC meeting, Navalny circulated a video pre-recorded to call for a "voter strike." “We have a simple and clear plan. We will boycott the elections. The process in which we are offered to participate is not an election. Only Putin and those candidates whom he personally selected take part in it, ”Navalny said, adding that he intends to appeal the CEC decision.
Even if Alexei Navalny's electorate may seem limited, from now on, Vladimir Putin's victory in the March 18 elections appears even more settled due to the absence of his most determined opponent. Putin, as in every election, will face candidates from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation and from the ultra-nationalist LDPR, as well as the young Ksenia Sobchak, who positions herself as an alternative to the retired Navalny.
“Putin can play macho on TV as much as he wants. But if you are afraid to compete with your real opponent, your machismo is worthless, ”commented one of Navalny’s associates, Ilya Yashin, who said on Twitter that evening that the police came to his parents.
The materials of InoSMI contain only assessments of foreign media and do not reflect the position of the editors of InoSMI.
Alexei Navalny in registration as a presidential candidate due to an outstanding criminal record. Thus, the politician and blogger will not be able to take part in the presidential race in 2018. The journalist Oleg Lurie, who submitted documents to the CEC, also received a refusal. All for the same reason - outstanding conviction. Some other presidential candidates were not registered either. In fact, non-admission to the elections is completely natural phenomenon, after all Russian laws clearly describe the requirements for possible candidates. recalls why Navalny received a term and recalls what requirements exist for the future president of the Russian Federation.
What happened?
Of the 13 members of the CEC, 12 voted to prevent Navalny from participating in the elections. A CEC spokesman said Navalny was convicted in early 2017. In turn, the chairman of the commission, Ella Pamfilova, added that the CEC had no complaints about the Navalny documents submitted: they were all drawn up competently and correctly.
In the course of communication with the commission, Navalny said that not allowing him to vote "will exclude millions of people from these elections, exclude millions of people from the political system in general." He also announced an appeal to constitutional Court. The politician and blogger intends to appeal the decision of the CEC of the Russian Federation "everywhere, wherever possible in the world." Navalny called for a boycott elections-2018, calling them a parody of democracy.
Photo: Oleg Yakovlev / RBC And why was Navalny tried?
On February 8, 2017, the Leninsky Court of Kirov found the blogger Navalny guilty under part 4 of article 160 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (“Embezzlement and embezzlement”) in the case of embezzlement of money from the Kirovles company. This crime belongs to the category of serious. The Leninsky Court of Kirov issued a guilty verdict in the Kirovles case against Navalny back in July 2013. Then the court found that Navalny and another person involved in the case, Pyotr Ofitserov, had stolen 10,000 cubic meters of timber products from the enterprise for a total of 16 million rubles. The defendants were taken into custody, but released the next day on bail not to leave until the verdict comes into force. Later, the sentence was changed to a suspended sentence and a fine of 500 thousand rubles.
In February 2016, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) upheld the complaint of lawyers Navalny and Ofitserov who objected to the violation of the right to a fair trial. Then the ECHR ruled that the Russian court found the defendants guilty of a crime, the composition of which was indistinguishable from the lawful entrepreneurial activity, which was regarded by the Strasbourg Court as an arbitrary interpretation of the law. The Strasbourg court did not consider the appeal of the Russian side against this decision.
In November 2016, the presidium Supreme Court The Russian Federation canceled the verdict in the Kirovles case on the proposal of the chairman of the court on the resumption of proceedings in this case due to the decision of the ECtHR. The proceedings were resumed at the Leninsky Court of Kirov in December 2016. Alexei Navalny was forcibly taken to court by bailiffs on February 1 due to his failure to appear at previous hearings. At the same time, the judge chose Navalny and Ofitserov a measure of restraint in the form of a written undertaking not to leave until February 10, later allowing them to leave the city of Kirov until the verdict was announced.
Photo: RIA Novosti
Who has the right to become president?
There are not so many requirements for a candidate as it might seem. Thus, according to the law "On Basic Guarantees of Electoral Rights", a citizen can participate in elections if he has not been sentenced to imprisonment for committing grave and (or) especially serious crimes and does not have an unexpunged and outstanding conviction for these crimes on the voting day. We add that a person has the right to be elected President of the Russian Federation:
- over 35 years old;
- not recognized by the court as incompetent;
- not holding the position of the President of the Russian Federation on the day of the appointment of the presidential elections for the second consecutive term;
– without dual citizenship, having a residence permit or other document confirming the right to reside in a foreign country;
- in respect of whom the term of the sentence established by the court on depriving him of the right to hold public office has expired;
- not convicted for committing an extremist crime, provided for by the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, and having an unexpunged or outstanding conviction for the specified crime as of the voting day;
- not subjected to administrative punishment for propaganda and public demonstration of Nazi paraphernalia or symbols or paraphernalia or symbols confusingly similar to Nazi, if voting in the elections takes place before the end of the term of administrative punishment.
Recall that yesterday the site was compiled for its readers, who submitted documents to the CEC for consideration for nominating their candidacies for the presidency of the Russian Federation. The head of the Liberal Democratic Party Vladimir Zhirinovsky, the chairman of the "Party of Growth" Boris Titov and the leader of the political party "Yabloko" Grigory Yavlinsky have already received approval.
Russian corruption has become an export that threatens banks and justice in Denmark and elsewhere Scandinavian countries. With this warning in an interview with Berlingske, the leader of the Russian opposition, Alexei Navalny, spoke. He has something to say to European politicians flirting with Putin.
The doors leading into a long corridor are so similar to each other that one can be confused. Pale fluorescent lamps and brown panels - that's what prevails in the faceless office building in the southeast of Moscow. However, you don't doubt for a second that you've come to the right place. Already from afar you can hear how endlessly clapping Entrance door in the party office on the fifth floor.
The door frame is split and bent - this is a consequence of attempts to enter the room by force. It can be seen that they tried to saw out the lock, the gaping hole in the door is covered metal plate. These injuries are three weeks old. Traces of the last visit made by the Russian police.
The police cut the door open with a circular saw on the same day that opposition politician Alexei Navalny called for a demonstration against Vladimir Putin, Russian leader for over 18 years now.
If you ask Navalny himself, it becomes clear that the next police visit is only a matter of time.
“They may come for me today, they may come tomorrow. We play this “guessing game” every day,” says Alexei Navalny.
He's trying to be funny, but the threat is serious enough. The authorities have made it clear that the sharp-tongued politician who defied Putin still faces a 30-day sentence imprisonment for a demonstration that police said was illegal.
But according to Navalny, you can’t say this now. He chats as he leads us through bright rooms overlooking Moscow's rooftops. The few employees are hunched over their computers.
"Down with the Tsars" is written in bold letters on one of the posters on the walls.
This is how most Russians know Alexei Navalny. The 41-year-old leader of the protest movement is Vladimir Putin's toughest and most organized political opponent. Navalny and his team of lawyers have been behind the sensational revelations of corruption cases, the threads from which, apparently, stretch to those in power in the Kremlin.
His bold slogan about "Putin the Thief" was heard at demonstrations in Russian cities across the country. And his ability to tap into social media has earned him the status of a political rock star, even though he's been barred from government-controlled TV networks.
A few weeks ago, he decided to take the next, optimistic step: to participate in a nationwide election campaign that would give him the opportunity to clash with Vladimir Putin in the elections in March.
But hope was dashed when the authorities announced shortly before the new year that his name had not been put on the ballot.
"Everything is very simple. Putin has only one plan. Namely, to remain in power for life,” says Alexei Navalny.
And he adds: “But do I look like someone who is going to give up?”
He is clearly not going to do this, he is sitting in his T-shirt with the inscription Fury Road and a list of cities of the "tour" - large Russian cities where he held demonstrations - despite the prohibitions and warnings of the authorities.
But nonetheless, Navalny's excommunication has removed him from the political poker game he is trying to play with those in power in Russia. He responded with a call to boycott the elections, where Vladimir Putin is heading for his big victory. Navalny urges Western countries take a closer look at the cash flows, which, according to him, the same representatives Russian elite are taken out of the country.
“I want to live in a normal country. There is no reason why Russia should be poor or backward. Why should we tolerate the fact that Russia is being robbed by Putin's friends?” he asks.
Navalny is the initiator of the creation Russian Foundation fight against corruption, it is he who is placed in an office with a broken door frame.
Shadow cash flows from Russia is a problem not only for the economy of Russia itself. They have implications for Europe as well, he warns. Countries like Denmark and the rest of the countries around the Baltic Sea become corrupt when they are abused to launder money that is fraudulently withdrawn from the Russian state budget.
“This is the export of corruption. This is a problem for you too. This violates the law and order in your countries. It undermines your institutions,” says Alexei Navalny.
He believes that an example of this is the investigation into the laundering of billions through the Estonian branch of Danske Bank, exposed by Berlingske last fall. Another example is the so-called “mirror trading” scandal, when Russian money was laundered through Deutsche Bank. “This suggests that these areas - the banking sector and the legal profession - are very vulnerable to corruption. After all, these clients appear quietly and imperceptibly, with suitcases full of banknotes,” he says.
The Nordic countries and their banks are among the most coveted stopovers for those who want their stolen fortunes to be safe, he said.
“Those shadow figures behind this can use this as an argument for skeptical trading partners: ‘Look, they are in a Danish bank, so they are clean,’ that’s what they can say,” Navalny said.
He and his activists turned it into a kind of sport to expose what Russian officials and politicians, despite their modest official incomes, are able to acquire luxury real estate Abroad. According to their investigations, we are talking about real estate worth hundreds of millions of crowns in London, Miami and the French Riviera.
At the same time, some of the richest people Russia's so-called oligarchs - businessmen with close ties to the Russian powers that be - have citizenship in countries like Finland and the UK. This proves that banks and authorities often turn a blind eye to the origin of money, although the law provides an opportunity to verify this, the Russian lawyer believes.
“This is a dangerous trend. One should never think that Scandinavian institutions are so strong that they cannot be influenced,” he says.
Ultimately, Russian taxpayers are the victims of the theft of large sums of money, he emphasizes.
“This is money that Russian pensioners did not receive. This is money that is not enough for healthcare. This is money that Putin’s people have already stolen from us,” he says.
And we are thus returning to Navalny's political rocket, which now has problems with the engine.
What started as a task to investigate corruption turned into a campaign in 2011 to expose electoral fraud. In 2013, Navalny put forward his candidacy for the post of mayor of Moscow. Quite unexpectedly, he was able to get almost 30% of the vote in a fight with Putin's ruling party.
Almost simultaneously, he and his brother were put on trial. Both were sentenced to prison terms in highly controversial cases that were heavily criticized by the European Court of Human Rights. But the verdict passed then later became a formal pretext for removal from participation in the presidential elections.
Navalny himself considers this case a baptism of fire in political system, in which his opponent controls both the courts and law enforcement agencies and 2/3 of the parliamentary majority.
One of Navalny's strongest trump cards is his 84 regional branches- in his own words, about 200,000 volunteers. According to the plan, they must prevent cases of fraud and expose them in the elections in March.
He rummages through the papers on his desk and finds a list of 20 regions with the most sensational official results. In the last elections, Putin received more than 90% of the vote in many regions, and in the Chechen Republic - as much as 99.76%.
Elections in Russia
On March 18, presidential elections will be held in Russia. In total, there are eight applicants on the list of candidates.
Vladimir Putin, who has been leading the country for 18 years, is in for a crushing victory. The rest of the candidates will get less than 10%.
Russia's most prominent opposition politician, Alexei Navalny, has been suspended from running.
Vladimir Putin was president from 2000-2008. Then he continued to work as prime minister, and since 2012 he again became president.
If Putin wins the election, he will hold the presidency until 2024.
Impressive figures do not mean that Putin's popularity is fictitious. All polls public opinion- including Navalny's own polls - show that the president is several tens of kilometers ahead of other candidates.
This is the result of the regime's 18 years of purposefully destroying political rivals, Navalny says. Putin does not participate in the debate. Rival candidates are imprisoned or barred from participating in elections as soon as they become real threat he adds.
“The most important factor keeping Putin in power is the destruction of real competitors,” says Navalny.
So what is it own name not on the ballot, he is not surprised. But Navalny's call for a boycott of the elections has sparked both dissent and despair in the opposition, which is being pressured.
“It’s not ideal, but in this situation it’s the only moral the right decision”, he says about the boycott.
This led him to disagree, in particular, with the liberal TV presenter Ksenia Sobchak. Unlike Navalny, she became a presidential candidate.
“What did these so-called opposition candidates do? They do not dare to criticize Putin. And above all, they don't lead any real election campaign”, Navalny throws at Sobchak, who, in principle, agrees with him on many political issues.
The way Navalny lashes out at friends and enemies alike has given rise to opposition criticism of him as well. Some accuse him of becoming practically like Putin, as he is guided by an all-or-nothing approach to politics.
In addition, Navalny does not belong to the good old liberal school in the opposition. One of his campaign promises was to limit migration to Russia from Central Asia. A few years ago he flirted with ultra-nationalist groups. And he doesn't regret it, he says.
“I spent a lot of time on this, I was criticized for it. But I consider my strength as a politician to be that I can unite various flanks,” says Navalny. “I don't want to unite the opposition, I want to transform the democratic opposition. I am quite sure that we have this majority,” he says.
He dreams of a democratic Russia along European lines, he says. At the same time, he wants to finally break with military interventions in neighboring countries - a sign of the Putin era.
In Navalny's eyes, Putin is neither a patriot nor a nationalist, but an empire builder. And so the leader of the Russian opposition shakes his head to say that right-wing parties in Europe, from Le Pen in France, to the Freedom Party in Austria, to parts of Denmark people's party view Putin as a kind of political ally.
“It's really a mystery. In all areas: Islam, immigration, women's rights, Putin's policies are the exact opposite of what these parties stand for, ”says Navalny.
Putinsky economic union with the Central Asian countries means visa-free entry and opens borders for migrants, he argues. At the same time, one of the most important allies of the regime is the Islamist-inspired regime of Ramzan Kadyrov in Chechnya.
“In Chechnya, Putin created a Sharia regime, an Islamist terrorist state where murders take place and women are forced to wear headscarves,” says Navalny.
He also has no doubt that Russian state behind attempts to influence elections in Europe and the United States.
“I just don’t think it was particularly effective,” he says.
Despite his harsh statements, Navalny has become less self-confident over the years. Five years ago, he predicted in an interview with Berlingske that in less than a year and a half, Putin's regime would collapse. This, as you know, did not happen, and now Navalny prefers to avoid prophecies of this kind.
Alexey Navalny
41 years old
Lawyer by education. Russian opposition politician and head of the Anti-Corruption Foundation.
Known for his revelations of corruption cases, the threads from which stretch to those in power in Russia.
He himself was convicted, then acquitted, and in 2017 convicted again in the case of embezzlement, which, according to the opposition, is politically motivated.
In December, he was denied the right to run for president of Russia because of the verdict.
Lives in Moscow, is married and has two children.
But Navalny argues that Putin's popularity has no stable basis.
However, a recent public opinion poll showed that the number of Russian voters demanding change has outnumbered those who prefer stability for the first time in 20 years.
“Putin's regime is not something unique. It is the same as in all former Soviet republics. We know it can collapse. Our task is to be ready for the moment when this happens,” says Navalny.
The only thing he can say as an election prediction is that he will likely spend election day behind bars:
“I am waiting for the police to visit,” he admits.
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Russian politicians often blame foreign media both in outright disinformation and in a lack of understanding of what is happening in our country. It is no coincidence that a fake news section has appeared on the website of the Russian Foreign Ministry. "Our Version" has studied that in recent times western means mass media wrote about the Russian elections. How are we seen in the Old World and on the other side of the ocean?
If Western media were required to comply Russian legislation, rivals of Vladimir Putin would certainly complain about them to the Central Election Commission. For uneven coverage of the election campaign. In the understanding of the West, elections are Putin. Even if publications about him are negative, much less attention is paid to other candidates than to the current head of state. The winner is already known. It's hard to argue with this obvious fact. But at the same time, our presidential campaign is criticized for lack of brightness and liveliness. They also do not approve of our legislation, which restricts the right of citizens to participate in elections as candidates.
Invisible competitors
The prestigious and influential British newspaper The Guardian published an op-ed by Simon Tisdoll. The author laments the lack of competition in the presidential elections in the Russian Federation. In his opinion, "Putin's strongest opponent" is Alexei Navalny, who, due to a criminal record, cannot take part in the elections. The Briton writes that "Putin's control over the media has made his opponents virtually invisible." He also writes that there are no pre-election debates in Russia. As we know, this is not so. They are held, Putin just does not participate in them. Of course, this deprives the Russians of an interesting show. However, many incumbent heads of executive power do the same. In fact, British Prime Minister Theresa May avoided participating in the debate in the last election.
In addition, the journalist reports that "in Russia, there are unsanctioned public opinion polls." It is not clear what is meant. After all, in order to conduct a survey, no special sanctions are needed.
Foreign media are even more active, having Russian-language websites and designed for the Russian audience. We can say that they are campaigning against Vladimir Putin and are calling for a boycott of the elections. For example, Voice of America reports that in order to obtain signatures for incumbent president authorities attracted administrative resources. As evidence, Oksana Borisova, a master's student at the St. Petersburg Polytechnic University, is cited as saying that students at her university are allegedly "forced to collect signatures for Putin's nomination." However, when an opposition deputy became interested in this information Legislative Assembly Petersburg Maxim Reznik, the girl did not provide evidence.
The idea of a boycott of the elections comes from the "fighter against corruption" Alexei Navalny. The West was betting on him. But since the oppositionist cannot take part in the elections, they had to look for another attractive candidate. american newspaper The Washington Post unexpectedly fell in love with the director of the state farm named after Lenin Pavel Grudinin. It does not even matter that he is going to the polls from the Communist Party. The publication, which is considered the mouthpiece of the American Democrats, writes that Grudinin "spreads the policies of Vladimir Putin." And in general, The Washington Post speaks of Grudinin quite complimentary. Here you involuntarily wonder whether this is sincere sympathy, or PR directed against the communist candidate. On this topic
Will his potential voter like the fact that Grudinin is praised by the Americans, and even the Democrats? “Obviously, he is an agent of the State Department,” the voter will think.
By the way, according to some Russian experts, Grudinin's “mochilovo” in our media makes you think: maybe his real rating has already exceeded 20%?
"Peter the Great" of our time
The attention of the French media is concentrated on the personality of the main candidate. The newspaper La Croix, which is popular in Christian circles, notes that "Putin, who has been in power for 18 years," intends to win the election in the first round due to the lack of worthy competitors. At the same time, even the doping scandal and the removal of the national team from the Olympics in Pyeongchang had practically no effect on the rating of the incumbent president. Influential "Mond" in early February published big text with an overview of all eight presidential candidates, calling Vladimir Putin the favorite and Pavel Grudinin the outsider. According to journalists, the absence of the name of "the fighter against corruption and the main oppositionist" Alexei Navalny in the ballot may lead to a decrease in interest in the elections and, as a result, to a drop in turnout. However, this fact will not play a decisive role in the campaign, the authors of the article admit. The Ekho newspaper also believes that Navalny's participation in the elections could increase voters' interest in the campaign, but admits that the presence or absence of the oppositionist's name on the ballot can hardly affect the result of the vote. Against the background of competitors, Vladimir Putin seems to be "Peter the Great", so the question of who will be the next president of Russia can be considered closed.
The Belgian newspaper Le Soir calls the incumbent head of state's campaign "fake-real," referring to "the president's ritual meetings with representatives of workers, youth, business and other groups." “Already enjoying the support of the majority, Putin is trying to pretend that he is conducting an active election campaign, although with the same success he could simply do nothing,” journalists come to this conclusion after analyzing sociological data on support for Vladimir Putin.
Many foreign media note such a feature of the Russian electoral legislation as the collection of signatures by candidates from non-parliamentary parties and self-nominated candidates. Many journalists and observers call this practice an anachronism and an artificial barrier to cut off "uncomfortable" candidates from participating in elections. Nevertheless, in the current campaign, all the candidates who submitted their signatures were successfully registered. “Aleksey Navalny would also have succeeded (to collect the number of signatures required for registration. - Ed.), If his criminal record had not prevented him from running,” commentators on the Echo and Mond websites note.
The main news is the “Kremlin dossier”
The authoritative Estonian newspaper Postimees predicts that the incumbent head of state will receive about 68% of the votes, while striving to attract attention by all means socialite and TV presenter Ksenia Sobchak can count on the support of only 1% of voters. Also, the Estonian media appreciated the humor of Vladimir Putin: being on a visit to Rostselmash, where he managed to sit at the helm newest model combine, the president, in response to the question of what he would do if he suddenly lost the election, replied that he would "become a combine operator." Other candidates for the highest post in the country are of little concern to the Estonian press. The main Estonian television channel ETV in its daily TV news gave only one story each to the candidate from the Communist Party Pavel Grudinin and the permanent leader of the Liberal Democratic Party Vladimir Zhirinovsky. Coverage of the campaign and the same Ksenia Sobchak was limited to a story about her meeting with the volunteers of her headquarters. The main news from Russia for last days was the reaction of the country's top leadership to the publication in the United States of the so-called Kremlin dossier, which includes 210 officials and businessmen who, according to the US Department of Justice, are in "President Putin's inner circle."
By the way
Disinformation at the highest level
Dutch Foreign Minister Halbe Zijlstra recently resigned. The reason was his lie about a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2006. At the time, he was working for Shell. It is not clear why the minister decided to confess now. Couldn't bear it anymore? “I decided that this is an important geopolitical story that may have serious consequences. Therefore, I decided to tell it on my own behalf, so as not to reveal the identity of the person who really was there. Because it could have consequences for him or his company,” Zijlstra said.
Earlier, the head of the Dutch Foreign Ministry claimed that at this meeting, Putin allegedly stated that he considers Belarus, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and the Baltic states to be parts of "Great Russia".