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President of the Political Technologies Centre Igor Bunin provides us with his forecast:
- It is difficult for the leaders of both the parties to find an acceptable coalition formula. YABLOKO's active voters remember only too well Gaidar's "shock therapy" and don't want to hear about the considered culprit Chubais. It is highly likely that the coalition scenarios proposed from both sides separate the liberals. For example, the SPS proposes the top three candidates [of a coalition] to be listed for the parliamentary elections as follows: Nemtsov, Yavlinsky and Khakamada. And in the presidential elections where no liberal candidates will ever get more than five or six per cent they grant Yavlinsky the right to self-humiliation. This SPS' initiative is, in my view, absolutely unacceptable for YABLOKO.
One of the YABLOKO leaders Sergei Ivanenko has already said, "We won't allow them to suffocate us in their embrace." As an alternative he proposed the following variant: the Union of Right-Wing Forces dissolves itself and joins in ranks YABLOKO headed by Nemtsov and Khakamada.
According to recent polls the popularity of the SPS has sharply dropped - from 11 per cent in October 2002 to five per cent now. Therefore the declarations of the Union of Right-Wing Forces leaders about their possible union with YABLOKO were simply an election gimmick targeted at raising their ratings. Six months ago the outsiders' role at the parliamentary elections was attributed toYABLOKO and now it is attributed to the SPS.
P.S. The meeting between the SPS and YABLOKO leaders scheduled for 29 January on the SPS initiative did not take place. "Unfortunately your proposals are unacceptable for us," d Yavlinsky and his deputy in the YABLOKO faction Ivanenko informed the Union of Right-Wing Forces.
* YABLOKO means "apple" in Russian.
See also:
YABLOKO and SPS
State Duma elections 2003
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