“The purges were carried out with a large margin.” Members of “Yabloko” deprived of their membership cards on a large-scale revocation of registration in the party

Maxim Gongalsky, head of the Ramenki municipal district

Among those who were deprived of their party membership cards, there are those who did not apply, and there are those who were simply denied re-registration. The first is about 500 people, the second is about 200. Why the former applied, we do not know. This is information from the official management, there were indeed quite a large number of dead souls. And for those 200 that did not pass re-registration, there is no explanation at all, no one was given a word.

I think it happened for political reasons. At the meeting, some controversial cases were sorted out and the discussion was purely political – whether he signed such and such a letter or not, whom he supported at the elections. As far as I understand, for those who submitted the application, the decision was political.

It is difficult to say whether the support of “Smart Voting” influenced the deprivation of tickets, because no one saw the decision. It seems that the reason was the lack of support in the elections for the candidate from Yabloko. But obviously not the only one, because a lot of people were excluded. It is clear that most of them did not do anything like that, take, for example, Elena Rusakova, who definitely did not sign anything. It is obvious that she has not lost her connection with the party. To strip her of her right to vote was a political decision.

It seems that these purges were carried out with a large margin. The same Rusakova has been a member of the party for many years and is trying to negotiate with everyone. Now, apparently, any hint of independence is seen as a danger and as political unacceptability.

At the same time, I have a feeling that a significant number of disenfranchised people were recruited for one purpose – to make the party appear large and important. Indeed, many of them did not take part in the life of the party. But there are also a large number of people who were quite active (just these 200 people), who were expelled because they were perceived as a danger.

The party is not at all inclined to accept new people, but is working to reduce. Now the procedure for joining is so complicated that the party is actually closed for a new admission. A person receives the right to vote no earlier than after a year of candidate experience. He submits an application, becomes a candidate and the party looks at him for a whole year and only then can he give him the right to vote.

In fact, people who could theoretically vote against Yavlinsky’s candidacy for the post of party leader were purged. Inside there is a complex system of delegates, each regional office already cleans out “unreliable” representatives on its own. It is also happening now in Moscow – who is to be given the right to vote is decided directly in the federal center. There are about thirty regional offices, and now a global adjustment is underway to ensure that the necessary decisions are accurately made. Apparently, there is no confidence that people who have been in the Yabloko party for many years will support what is happening now.

Most likely, we will lodge an appeal against this, since deregistration is completely illegal. The law on parties explicitly states that all party members have the right to elect and be elected. There are also internal mechanisms, but we are not sure whether we will use them, because for obvious reasons they do not work.

Elena Rusakova, head of the Moscow district Gagarinsky

I do not yet have complete party lists, so I can get confused about the numbers in the statistics. It was announced that in the Moscow branch alone, 488 people were removed from the register as having not sent an application for registration, and about 200 more were removed by decision of the party commission. How much remains in the department is not clear at all. Sergei Ivanenko, who now runs the Moscow organization, said that 60 people remain

Half of those 200 people who were removed by the decision of the party commission had formal conversations that did not affect anything. People complained that incorrect arguments or arguments, unsubstantiated accusations were used against them. Interviews were held individually, party members, for example, were asked about their attitude to “Smart Voting”, whether they supported any non-party members in the elections. At the same time, there were situations when someone was accused of supporting a non-partisan candidate, but this was not the case. In particular, this was the case with me. I was credited with events that had nothing to do with reality. As the head of a municipal district, I am not legally entitled to campaign. I was reminded of this during the campaign, so I did not take part in any campaigning at all. Other people were accused of signing protest letters to the party leadership. Apparently, this should not be considered destructive actions, because people turned to management and asked to do something. However, the signing of such letters was assessed negatively.

In general, some signs of high activity and independence, apparently, became negative for the party leadership. I am not yet ready to answer what I will do with this, since it must be somehow digested. I would also like to see what will happen in other departments, because there is a feeling that the same will happen. Then this will mean a radical reduction in the number of the party.

There is a very serious point here – according to the law on political parties, party members must be equal in rights, that is, a situation is not allowed when some of the members have the right to vote and elect governing bodies, and the other part does not have such a right. Among those deregistered are people who are seriously considering the possibility of filing a complaint with the Ministry of Justice and the court. The consequences can be very serious.