Navalny, Kasparov Win Seats in Opposition’s ‘Shadow Government’

Alexei Navalny file photo

(Moscow Times – October 23, 2012) Well-known opposition figures like anti-corruption blogger Alexei Navalny and former chess champion Garry Kasparov joined lower-profile personalities like former Kremlin G8 sherpa Andrei Illarionov and political analyst Andrei Piontkovsky in a new 45-member “shadow government,” according to election results.

The online election, which was extended into a third day Monday after hacker attacks disrupted weekend voting, saw a turnout of 83 percent, the head of the shadow elections commission, Leonid Volkov, said on Twitter.

Of the 97,727 registered voters whose identities were verified, 81,801 ended up voting, according to the elections commission’s website, cvk2012.org. In all, 209 candidates ran for seats on the coordination council.

Volkov, who also announced the results live on Dozhd television late Monday, said the opposition’s support went far beyond Moscow, the site of the biggest protests against President Vladimir Putin. Volkov said only about 35 percent of votes were cast in the capital.

The coordination council is an attempt by the opposition to organize into a force capable of maintaining its momentum after a tumultuous 11 months that started with mass rallies after disputed State Duma elections in December.

Those rallies prompted the Kremlin to promise political reform but also to pass a series of tough laws that have tightened the screws on protests and nongovernmental groups.

Navalny won the most support in the opposition election, with 43,723 votes, and will sit on the coordination council with the likes of socialite Ksenia Sobchak, Solidarity leader Ilya Yashin, environmentalist Yevgenia Chirikova, Parnas co-leader Boris Nemtsov, Left Front leader Sergei Udaltsov, recently ousted State Duma Deputy Gennady Gudkov and his son, Duma Deputy Dmitry Gudkov.

Two ultranationalists, Alexander Belov (Potkin) and Dmitry Dyomushkin, did not gain enough votes to secure seats.

The Coordination Council (ranked in order of votes)

Regular members

Alexei Navalny
Dmitry Bykov
Garry Kasparov
Ksenia Sobchak
Ilya Yashin
Mikhail Gelfand
Yevgenia Chirikova
Mikhail Shats
Vladimir Ashurkov
Dmitry Gudkov
Tatyana Lazareva
Sergei Parkhomenko
Filipp Dzyadko
Gennady Gudkov
Lyubov Sobol
Boris Nemtsov
Olga Romanova
Oleg Kashin
Andrei Illarionov
Sergei Udaltsov
Vladimir Kara-Murza
Rustem Adagamov
Alexander Vinokurov
Maxim Kats
Suren Gazaryan
Georgy Alburov
Andrei Piontkovsky
Vladimir Mirsoyev
Oleg Shein
Vladislav Naganov

(Navalny won 43,723 votes; Naganov won 15,541)

Liberals

Sergei Davidis
Andrei Pivovarov
Anton Dolgikh
Anna Karetnikova
Pyotr Tsarkov

(Davidis ­ 27,216 votes, Tsarkov ­ 17,729)

Leftists

Alexei Gaskarov
Yekaterina Aitova
Alexander Nikolayev
Akim Palchayev
Leonid Razvozzhayev

(Gaskarov ­ 22,935 votes; Razvozzhayev ­ 12,760)

Nationalists

Daniil Konstantinov
Igor Artemov
Nikolai Bondarik
Konstantin Krylov
Vladlen Kralin (Vladimir Tor)
(Konstantinov ­ 21,433 votes; Kralin ­ 10,593)

Source: cvk2012.org

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