"You will not achieve much in rallies": Women who go to local deputies
September 10 in Moscow will be held elections of municipal deputies - people who are able to solve local problems of citizens like paid parking, major repairs, poor housekeeping, uncontrolled renovation, and most importantly, whether to allow a particular candidate to elect the governor (in the case of Moscow - mayor). So, the election results at the local level will not only respond to the state of the playgrounds, but may affect the outcome of more serious events.
Elections of deputies will be held in 124 municipal districts of Moscow, more than seven thousand candidates will fight for one and a half thousand mandates. This year, a third of the candidates turned out to be under the age of thirty-five, and they are going to the polls from 32 parties and political organizations (there were only seven in the 2012 elections). In general, despite the problems with the turnover of power, more and more people are ready to solve their problems at the local level and are discovering new forms of political participation that previously seemed boring and small.
On the eve of the elections, we talked to women who are running for municipal deputies in different districts of Moscow, and we learned why we should go into politics with the current government, what problems they are going to solve, and why our neighbors cannot be promised even the installation of public toilets.
In order to go to the deputies, I thought back in nineteen years. I have lived all my life in Troitsk, and from the upper classes I began to organize social projects and gradually understand how my city works, - it made me terribly depressed. It seemed that it was possible to stir this swamp somehow. This year I decided that if I did not try, I would regret it.
I do not know why I love Troitsk. There are no decent places where you can go to sit with friends. For example, recently Dmitry Gudkov came to us, and we almost led a federal-level policy to McDonalds. Well, that found an apartment from one of the activists. Despite this, I'm not going to leave here.
I was the first person who registered for the project of Dmitry Gudkov and Maxim Katz - now 900 potential deputies have joined them. However, the project headquarters only supports teams, that is, people who are willing to position themselves together. It didn’t suit me, because when the teams started to form, my election campaign was in full swing: all materials were ordered, I began to get acquainted with the residents. So I go to the polls as an independent candidate.
I started working with a crawl of houses and considered that for a real chance of winning I need to go around all the houses in my neighborhood twice - these are 4,500 apartments. For this, I agreed with the editors to let me go early and I could leave for Troitsk, knock on doors, hand out leaflets, tell about myself and answer questions. Against the background of the lack of popular local media, direct rounds become the most effective way to campaign. I also have a stand next to which you can catch people on the street and try to tell them something. Soon there will be a newspaper for mailboxes, and posters that can be pasted on the streets. I roughly calculated and found out that the entire election campaign would cost me 150 thousand rubles. One third of them are donations of my friends, acquaintances, relatives. By law, a person cannot donate more than two thousand rubles, so one can say that thirty people supported me with money. Everything else is my accumulation. I decided it was pointless to save if I was determined to win.
On all leaflets, I write my phone and social networks to show that my main principle is openness in communicating with voters and a quick response to their problems. Because of this, a couple of days ago I woke up at six in the morning from a voter call, and then it turned out that it was a sudden rush of a lonely man. And recently, I was sitting on a gymnasium, they called me from an undetectable number and said: "This is a maniac." Even every third voter sends me to give birth. And get married. But when they find out that I'm already married, they are not embarrassed. Anyway, you must first give birth to become a municipal deputy: see life, gain experience.
Formerly, municipal elections were a rather boring history, and people from the administration went there. Now the youngest municipal deputy is 45 years old, and one of them is elected, it seems, for the seventh time. There are a lot of people there that I know, for example, the director of my school. But in the municipal assembly the same persons flash, maybe, who are professionals in their work, but hardly good deputies who hear the residents. But this year there are guys from Yabloko, from Gudkov’s headquarters in my district and in the neighboring part of the city. There are students who go to the polls. I have already managed to make cool acquaintances with like-minded people of my age, I think we will be able to cooperate after the elections.
Many people, having learned that I am going to the polls, ask to give them apartments, raise pensions, and when you say that it is not in your authority, they are sent to hell. But there are those who pay attention to non-obvious urban problems, and this is very nice. For example, in Troitsk there is no public toilet. This has been discussed for ten years. Why don't the municipal deputy do this?
There is a theory that municipal deputies are not about shops, but about new Russia and politics. But politics at the local level is not about Putin and not about who owns the Crimea. These are separate games with their lobbies and features. I would definitely like to become a modern deputy with effective communication channels. So that no one has to write requests and wait for a month. I do not make statements that when I come to power, I will definitely do some things. The deputy has quite a few powers, and in general decisions are made by a majority. Unfortunately, I can not even promise public toilets. So my basic principles are openness and independence, since the current council of deputies consists practically of some subordinate mayors. Such as, for example, the director of the music school, who has a contract with the administration. If he does not vote in favor of the administration, he may lose his job.
Back in school, I was involved in politics - I was a member of the school parliament, the chairman of the district council of high school students. I also did social work — I visited orphanages and nursing homes. Recently I met with the guys from the "Party of Growth", who did a lot of good for the area. I decided that I also wanted to influence the situation: I constantly heard complaints from local residents, and I had accumulated ideas for which I needed a certain power.
Coming from the party is convenient, because the headquarters can seriously help with legal intricacies. For example, during registration in the TEC and collecting signatures, many formalities must be observed, which is much easier when there is a team of professionals nearby.
Before starting the campaign, I decided to find problem areas in our area and to offer voters to help with them. For example, in one of the courtyards a hole was dug up and a bad playground was set up, so I initiated the preparation of a petition and the collection of signatures to the administration. That is, first I propose an idea, a decision or help, and only then I say that I am going to be a deputy. So people become much more responsive. And before going through the apartments, I try to contact my elder about the house and find out who exactly is at home and who has gone on vacation in order to save time. Before the start of the campaign, I quit my job and decided not to go to a new one until the elections are over.
Sokolniki district is moderately active, and the past municipal assembly had something to do. But there were those deputies who did not keep their promises or stopped communicating with the residents. There are odious people who have done a lot for the area, their reputation is contradictory. This year there are candidates in our district for whom I would vote for myself. In these elections, there are a lot of self-promoted candidates and those who have already solved some problems and are known in the district. I was very pleased that I was not the only young girl who wanted to go to municipal deputies.
For a democratic society to exist, there must be people who believe in it and go to the polls. I have energy and enthusiasm for social projects, so why shouldn't I become a deputy? This is precisely the treatment and acquisition of the democratic form of our state. And regardless of whether I win or lose, it will be much easier for me to implement my future projects thanks to the acquaintances I got.
This year my good brick house, far from a Khrushchev, was included in the renovation program. I began to figure out with whom you can unite and talk in order to understand the situation. Over time, endless meetings, meetings with heads of councils and deputies, took place in the region. It became clear that everyone just quotes the site mos.ru and no one can properly answer the questions - they just say how lucky we are.
This confusion led me to a team of district activists, and it turned out that these people were preparing for the elections. In general, at first I tried to solve my problem, but it turned out that there are many others in the area. I was interested in it, and I decided to try to become a municipal deputy. True, the time for the election is unfortunate: many have gone on vacation.
Now I go to the apartments and yards where moms and grandmothers with children gather. When you knock on apartments, they often don't respond - it's easier to catch someone on the street. I was born and raised in this area, so many people know me, and I can help my colleagues by telling my friends about them. Usually people feel rejected, then they say that I can not change anything. Others may speculate about the vicious desire of the authorities, not realizing that municipal deputies do not even get paid. Although when you start talking about the problems associated with a particular bench in the yard, it becomes easier to convince or at least persuade to come to the polls.
It is felt that this year there are many initiative people among the candidates. During this time I met interesting self-promoted candidates who started from my own yard and now want to go to the deputies. It used to pass by me, but recently I learned that even the father of my daughter's classmate is running.
In our constituency there are things that worry me and everyone else: garages, installing noise protection panels at the entrance and on the outskirts of Dmitrovskoye Highway (people with windows facing the road suffer a lot), paid parking. I would like to contribute to the installation of normal points of separate garbage collection, to stop the theft of shops from the courtyards. We also want to create a special council with colleagues from the Union of Residents of the Timiryazevsky District, which will include residents of houses who have become participants in the renovation program, so that they can control what kind of parking will be available near their new housing, planning of new apartments, and so on. I believe in the theory of small matters, and each of us must learn to take responsibility for the cleanliness and condition of the area.
I thought about the nomination to municipal deputies and politics as a whole eight years ago, but I didn’t have enough life experience, and in our country it is customary to treat young politicians with distrust. Plus, I didn’t feel competent enough, I had little management experience. In my view, taking part in elections is with a baggage of knowledge, not earlier than thirty years when you have already established both your family and your career. In the spring, a major overhaul began in my house, and active neighbors sucked me in all the proceedings, so I began to help control the process. It so happened that the construction and management companies did not respond to many of our requests and demands. And once they said that if one of you was a municipal deputy, it would be easier. For me, it became a bit of a challenge. Do you need a crust? No question, I will try to go through all the stages.
After that, my husband threw me a link to Ilya Varlamov’s blog, where a post was published calling for running for municipal meetings and that Gudkov’s headquarters is ready to support independent candidates. I became interested and studied the question, but it seemed to me that among his supporters there were too many very young guys. So I began to look for something else: I attended meetings in various parties, talked with party and ideological candidates. As a result, my choice fell on the "Party of Growth", from it I go to the polls.
The Gudkov Platform helped us to assemble an excellent team in the Airport area, we make joint campaign leaflets, we walk in apartments. We have different professions and life experience, which helps to solve the problems that have arisen more effectively. Now we are developing a program to meet with voters, we are preparing a club, we will conduct trainings for election observers.
At the very first nomination for signatures of supporters, the Gudkov platform, and the Growth Party, gave candidates lists of Democratic supporters who could be contacted to obtain signatures for registration without encountering a negative reaction — this is absolutely legal. My colleagues used this resource and painlessly collected signatures. But I decided to immediately personally meet with the voters and look for supporters - I collected signatures in a day and a half. There were a lot of funny moments and negative. I started from the house where I grew up. It was a shame to learn that people with whom I spoke well on other issues reacted so keenly to politics.
We go to the polls by the team, and each of us is responsible for the areas in which he understands. Someone is ready to do parking, for example, and I am responsible for the overhaul, as I ran into it myself. The second is medicine. I have a small daughter with whom we have already experienced the problems of local health care. The third zone is preschool institutions, because as a mother I know how preschool programs are implemented in our district, what queues and difficulties exist for parents. Sometimes it is not easy to combine the election campaign with work and motherhood, our male part of the team is easier in this regard.
The more I learn about the deputieship, the more I become convinced that for me this is only the beginning. Regardless of the results of these elections, I think about joining the Growth Party. I am not afraid to go against the system, and at the same time I do not consider myself to be an ardent oppositionist. Walking on Sakharov, I prefer to let small but specific things.
In my opinion, a deputy of any level should not be so much a representative of the people as his advocate. Thus, the post of municipal deputy would be a logical continuation of my professional activity - I work as a lawyer. The idea arose because I was working as a lawyer for Dmitry Gudkov, who had created a large project to support municipal deputies; accordingly, I go to the polls with the support of his staff.
I started the pre-election program before the team, with which I go to the polls. For this, she provided legal assistance to people faced with a renovation program. It is strange to ask people to vote for you, without offering anything in return. In parallel, I strive to tell why it is important to choose my municipal deputy, and explain, for example, that such a person can seriously help in a situation with a major overhaul.
Virtually the only reason people used to communicate with municipal deputies was the installation of a barrier, which these people sanction. Now the deputies seem to be there, but there seems to be none. And this year one of my rivals will be the actress Olga Kabo.
I have complaints about our judicial system, but this does not mean that I will give up my job as a lawyer. The political system requires change, but there is always the opportunity to help people, especially at the local level. I would like these elections to become a stage in my political history. I wonder what will come of it, because by meetings alone you will not achieve much.
I was born and raised in Sokolniki, the best district in the world, my parents, grandmother and friends live right there. Our area is such that very few people leave, and if it moves, it goes to the next street or to the neighborhood. Therefore, the neighbors know each other, and they do not give a damn about the area. And when people from Sokolnikov meet somewhere, they immediately ask: "And which school are you from?" This is a very pleasant feeling of a big family.
My neighbors have always been not indifferent to the problems of the district. They fought for the recycling station, opposed paid parking (on some streets they managed to cancel the decision of the administration), actively monitored the overhaul, initiated meetings for deaf residents of the district. In your area, you can be active and seek small positive changes without MPs, there would be only time and desire. True, many inquiries in the instance are answered with formal replies, but the municipal deputy has a little more chance to be heard.
Основная проблема с теми муниципальными депутатами, которые год за годом избираются при негласной поддержке районных администраций, - их равнодушие. Они получают полномочия от административного ресурса и обслуживают запрос этого ресурса. Но позвольте, партийные списки, политические программы - какое это вообще имеет отношение к проблемам района? У нас здесь на земле реальные интересы, и они зачастую прямо противоречат интересам администрации. На чьей стороне в такой ситуации должен быть муниципальный депутат? Для меня ответ очевиден.
Most of all, of course, are eternal questions: paid parking, renovation (at meetings in the administration they proposed to demolish the administration), construction of a new metro and interchange circuit, demolition of sports grounds, arbitrariness of management companies and the stupidity of the Zhilischnika performers. Fences are painted right on rust, the historical fence of our hospital was painted in bright pink in winter, the grass is mowed with a trimmer and not removed, but on the contrary, the leaves are packed in bags in the autumn, the asphalt is shifted completely chaotically, when and where consistent with neither the needs nor the sanpinahs. It is bad that none of the heads of our council was local for several years. Or from another area, or even from another city.
The decision to run for parliament was impulsive. In the neighboring group of another district on Facebook, I saw the post of a young man, they say, you need to collect signatures, help. But he did not write about himself. I wondered who he was and what he wanted to do. The answers struck me! He does not live in the area, what to do - he does not know, he is not aware of the problems either, but you sign. I thought, what the hell? And filed in the TEC application.
The application procedure is simple: you need to write an application, make copies of your passport, diploma, get a certificate from work, if you work, and go to the TEC. You register, give a certificate for opening an account in Sberbank. You go to Sberbank, open an account, put some money (210 rubles at least for printing the subscription lists), get the necessary papers and go to print the subscription lists. Then you collect signatures, you prepare a financial report, you collect everything, and again you carry it to the TEC.
The process on the Dmitry Gudkov website for independent municipal deputies simplifies the process significantly - there are all the templates and forms. The site works as a service and does not impose any obligations on candidates to Gudkov or his supporters. They print subscription lists and, if necessary, then check them. They also have a support service and chat - a bit strange. I unsubscribed from him when his supervisor, Maxim Katz, wrote something in the spirit: "If you do not support paid parking, then you do not understand anything in urban studies, and I will not be able to support you." It was quite unpleasant for me to read such a thing: in my opinion, if you are for democracy, then respect someone else's opinion.
It is easy to collect signatures themselves: there were a lot of people who volunteered to sign from their neighbors and from Facebook. Everyone was very friendly, supported, offered help and fed on pies. Self-promoted candidates like me (and there are many of them this year) are, frankly, not enough: in the last election, only the school principal and the university rector were elected, and all the rest were party ones. And not all voters need changes: the old women in the house covered me when I offered the chair of the housing cooperative to provide a financial report on their activities. Like, computers are cheating, but our accountant - never!
I immediately decided that I would not collect money for the campaign: I would campaign on the Internet and personally meet with voters. Nobody reads leaflets, it is very expensive to print them (it is better to collect this money and transfer it to some fund, as if there will be more benefit). Therefore, I’m finishing a site that will provide useful information for anyone who wants to make the area better himself. How to get the yard cleaned? What to do if the riser flows? What if the playground looks like after a visit to Godzilla? It will definitely be useful and will remain even after the elections. In the end, it is important to teach people what they can do to make things a little better around.
Posts in two district communities brought unexpected success. I was internally preparing for the opposition, but I received unexpectedly strong support from local residents. However, pretty soon the moderator of the most numerous community "Sokolniki. Neighbors" decided to moderate not only the group, but immediately the municipal elections in favor of his fellow candidates and stopped skipping my posts. It is also important to remember about the real world, so on August 31 I will have two meetings with voters, where I will talk about myself and why I go to municipal deputies
Very often I am asked a question about political ambitions. I don’t have them, and I don’t regard this municipal parliamentary system as a “step” in big politics, my main work is much more interesting. I decided to go into this story not in order to sit in the State Duma for some distant future, but so that in the area that I call my home, where I was born and raised, where my family and friends live, is pure and nice - and it is quite real.
Photo: personal archive