A week ago a single voting day was held in all regions across the country. The 2018 election is over! This year, the FAMILY PARTY took part in the elections more than ever. Family Party candidates took part in municipal elections in 13 Russian regions. In total, the number of regions that announced their intention to participate in elections at different levels rose to 32 in comparison with just four last year. To date, there are 17 registered candidates in 2018.
In one region – the Orenburg region – the elections were postponed to October 14 due to the shortage of candidates for elections in the municipality, and there is also a candidate from the Family Party here. Therefore, the results can only be finalised in the second half of October. However, even now it is possible and necessary to analyze the participation of the Family Party in elections and to consider the experience of our candidates. To this end, preparations are under way for an all-Russian online meeting with all our candidates.
FAMILY PARTY is laying the foundations to build a large building! The regional branches of the party began to take their first independent steps. This has been a valuable experience!
Establishment of relations with election commissions, examination of documents and procedures, solving teamwork problems, and defining the candidate’s image.
It is correct to hold a general meeting with the correct formalities and a quorum in summer. Some stumbled at this stage, while others held the meeting twice.
An equally interesting step is the collection of signatures. Collecting signatures of like-minded people and among strangers are two different processes. There is a kind of psychological barrier. We came to the conclusion that in order to collect signatures from strangers, the signature collector should have, as a minimum, a photograph of the candidate, basic facts of their autobiography and brochure including their proposals and statements.
There were some curious cases. For example, people collected signatures, and then, because of hasty changes in electoral boundaries, it turned out that they were collected in the wrong territory. Well, it happens … We learn from mistakes!
No less important is a kind of declaration of participation in elections. What is it? In all social networks where a candidate has pages, they must declare: “I am participating in the elections of such and such. I am ready to answer your questions.” And publish “Q & A” at least once a week. During the campaign period: interaction with the media, social media, and meetings with the public, the experience of public speaking, and many, many more.
Most regions successfully completed the task of nominating and registering a candidate in elections. However, there were also regions, candidates in which they decided to achieve victory results for themselves. That did not happen. From the feedback from like-minded people in the teams of our candidates, we can summarize several important conclusions:
1. Elections should be prepared in advance – not a couple of weeks or even months before the registration of a candidate, one should start pre-election activity. Preparations for elections should start one year before the elections. It is known that after the announcement of the beginning of the election campaign, a number of restrictions on information materials allowed to be disseminated come into effect. Therefore it is much easier to start informing about the idea and about the party (and about the candidates, of course) long before the announcement of the elections. Ideally, you need to start right now.
2. The preparation ahead of time allows you to distribute the load so that the team is not exhausted at the final distance. This is finance, time, and energy. It is much easier to formulate a campaign budget over 3-4 months, rather than to collect money for the production of campaign materials within a few days.
3. The development of program campaign materials also takes time. Not in vanity will thought turn into reality. To write an effective program, it is necessary to meet with people living in the municipality where the nomination of a candidate is planned (especially if it is the municipality containing a family homestead settlement). It is necessary to establish contact with local residents, to be interested in their problems, and even invite them to work together to develop program materials. All this brings people together and opens up new potentials to attract new people to our idea.
4. Any event in the settlement turn into a worthy information opportunity. In preparation for the elections, it is possible to hold early open meetings with voters early in the settlements. And of course, HOLIDAYS. They allow us to feel our idea to the fullest extent, and this is a remarkable work to prepare a fertile soil for the “planting of seeds” of our beautiful idea.
So what are we left with?
Unfortunately, the FAMILY PARTY does not have elected deputies. But we have gained invaluable experience that cannot be acquired in training or in theory. Only practice! Only business!
We thank the candidates and their teams of like-minded persons who took part in the 2018 Elections:
• Vladimir Region – Tatiana Molchanova;
• Voronezh region – Vladimir Pomazkov;
• Kostroma Oblast – Kiselev Alexander Anatolevich;
• Krasnodar Territory – Anton Vasilievich Gladchenko and Irina Vishnyakova;
• Novgorod region – Oleg Feofanov and Evgeny Gennadievich Vasilyev;
• Novosibirsk region – Igor Novoselov;
• Orenburg region – Oleg N. Korshunov and Andrei Muzovatkin;
• Penza region – Svetlana N. Gubanova and Elena Loginova;
• Pskov Region – Alexey Alexeevich Alexeev;
• Primorsky Krai – Vitaly Gennadievich Zlobin;
• Republic of Chuvashia – Alexei Nikolaevich Matyunin;
• Sverdlovsk Oblast – Vera Osadchaya;
• Ulyanovsk region – Larissa Dimeeva.
More quantitative results can be found on the websites of electoral commissions of the respective regions.
As we wrote in the beginning, the elections are over. But we understand that only the elections of a single voting day were held. 2018. The fact is that practically in all regions new elections, additional or repeated elections are constantly appointed in municipalities. This should be monitored. To help us is the GAS system Elections and websites of regional election commissions.
Once again, we note that in the only territory where there are our candidates, the elections are continuing. In the Buguruslan district of the Orenburg region, the election of deputies of the Pilyuginsky Village Council was postponed to October 14, 2018. We wish good luck to our candidates: Vyatkina Elena Mikhailovna (not yet granted the candidate status) and Oleg Korshunov!
It is a start! There are still many achievements!
Yours faithfully,
Kuznetsova Natalia (Sverdlovskoe RO),
Pelmeneva Maria of Irkutsk RO).
https://vk.com/rodnaya_partiya?w=wall-10630249_6493