Russia | »I'm not even upset. I'm tired of wondering«

Street election campaign with obstacles. Marina Peslyak learned how the Russian state is trying to prevent fair elections. But also what it's like to not have enough support from your own party. Photo: Telegram/mpesliak August 11. 38 days until the election

Message from the District Election Commission: A donation does not meet legal requirements, even though all information is correct. This annoys me: now I have to deal with yet another formality. Every message from the Commission causes enormous stress. I fear that she has found another reason to exclude me from the election.

I was at the bank for two hours - the employees themselves don't know how to reverse such a payment. But it worked. It seems like a small thing, but after two hours spent on a single process, I just want to throw it all out and do nothing today.

That evening the New York Times wrote to me and asked me for a comment on my campaign and Jabloko's exclusion from the election. A very strange feeling: just a few hours ago I was struggling with the bank, and now the New York Times is writing to me.

I have arranged to speak to the journalist from the New York Times, but I am afraid of the possible consequences. Yabloko headquarters ignored my question about whether I should agree to the interview.

As a candidate for the city council, I don't want to have to speak for the entire party. That worries me. I want to speak honestly, but I constantly think about where my personal opinion ends and responsibility for the party begins.

I gave the interview. Actually everything is fine, but I still have the feeling that I will now remember every single sentence and worry.

"It finally becomes clear to me that they are simply trying to delay my activities and prevent me from conducting my election campaign in peace."

Woke up in the night with a panic attack because I was afraid I had said something thoughtless in the interview. I am afraid that I will be excluded from the elections. I'm afraid that security guards will break into my house. I'm worried about my mother and sister, who are visiting me at the moment. That night it all seemed completely real, but in the morning I realized how upset I had gotten myself.

22-year-old Marina Peslyak stood as a candidate for the social-liberal Yabloko party in the regional elections in Saint Petersburg. This took place parallel to the Duma election on September 20th, from which many candidates and Yabloko as a whole party were excluded because of their anti-war stance. At the request of the independent journalist collective “Bereg,” Pesljak kept a diary about her election campaign. »nd« publishes translated and edited excerpts of the original Russian text.

I'm discussing making a film about my election campaign with the BBC. I don't know what you could actually shoot there - there are hardly any people and there is no money either. I can't even manage to organize an election campaign. Embarrassing: The film is supposed to be about the election campaign, which practically doesn't exist.

I'm meeting a BBC cameraman. It's an uncomfortable feeling to sit in a cafe and film a conversation about what's wrong in the country and what awaits us in the future. In a public place, in front of the camera, we talk about things that you wouldn't normally say out loud.

The BBC film will not appear: the cameraman suddenly left Russia.

Free broadcast times and advertising space for candidates will be raffled off.

When checking my ID at the entrance to the electoral commission, a member says to me: “Oh, that's the woman whose right to vote we restored! You definitely have to let them through and know them personally. They're now being referenced in other complaints." That's funny.

I sign contracts with television stations and write the text for a television commercial. In order to get the assigned broadcast slots, it has to be ready in a few days. Yabloko cannot make spots for everyone: priority is given to candidates for the State Duma. We will try to do this on our own.

I rush to the local TV station to submit the spot and to the election commission to hand over all the contracts and video and audio materials.

The law only requires me to provide a cover letter and the campaign material itself, but I am required to provide all contracts without exception - for all transactions processed through my campaign account.

An employee of the electoral commission complained that I often criticize them in the media or on my social networks, even though they try to help me in a “friendly” way. I'm not even upset. I'm tired of wondering.

The spots of the St. Petersburg candidates for the State Duma are being withdrawn en masse. Almost all of them received a letter from the broadcasters saying that their videos had found “extremism” and “discrediting the armed forces.”

My video has different content, the text comes from me personally. They leave it alone for now.

She received a lot of positive reception in her neighborhood, says Pesljak. Photo: Telegram/mpesliak The local TV station calls and tearfully asks to voluntarily withdraw the video. They say: "We are subjugated." Apparently the electoral commission sent them a message to that effect. I haven't received any letter.

The most unpleasant thing is not even that the spot was removed. What's much more annoying is that I don't understand at all who makes this decision.

I am submitting a new video and audio recording to the Election Commission for radio broadcasts. The broadcast begins tomorrow.

Ultimately, video and audio materials were not permitted.

I'm going back to the election commission. The Chairperson said that three more irregular donations were received, which is why they were transferred to the state. Supposedly I should transfer the funds back to the donors. There is not a word about this in the law. Apparently I have to do this from my own resources.

It is said that the public prosecutor's office has "expressed interest in me." I'm very nervous. I will re-read the law referred to. It finally dawns on me that they are simply trying to delay my activities and prevent me from conducting my election campaign in peace. There is very little time left anyway.

I am officially invited to debates and meet my competitors for preliminary discussions. Three participants, including me, have already been tried to be excluded from the election.

The dialogue was surprisingly constructive, although our main competitor from United Russia refused to take part. After all the stories with the commissions and the documents, it's nice to be able to at least have a normal conversation with the other candidates.

Today is my birthday. At least the evening is mine.

September 8th. Ten days left until the election

I have been receiving numerous calls since the morning. It turned out they were from the prosecutor's office. In my inbox I find an email from her from September 7th. Very ironic – thank you for the gift. The email came in the afternoon and ended up in the spam folder, but I still have to get there at 5 p.m. today. I answered the call at 4 p.m.

The public prosecutor's office was polite. I got the impression that they themselves didn't fully understand why my video was a violation. The employee saw it for the first time during our conversation and described the statements as “prophetic.”

I received a warning and was told to be more careful. It was emphasized several times that they were almost “forced” to give me a warning. Of course no proceedings were initiated, there was no reason for it.

At Yabloko they didn't tell me that the leaflets had run out until I asked myself. I don't really understand why I'm constantly neglected. Is this common for them, or is it just me that is so “lucky”?

And the marmot greets you every day. I get up and drive to my constituency. I'm campaigning and get home around 11 p.m. I physically feel the pent-up tiredness.

There's hardly any time left and the posters aren't finished yet. I'm worried that somehow I'm not a real candidate.

September 13th. Five more days until the election

For a long time I had the feeling that I was essentially running the election campaign all alone. And then suddenly people came – of their own accord. It was probably the first time during the entire election campaign that I felt that all of this was important for others too.

On election day, Pesljak was at many polling stations. Photo: Telegram/mpesliak Overall, I was very lucky with my constituency. Everyone is quite positive about both my candidacy and the party I am running for. However, today for the first time we met people who “don’t feel like talking” to Jabloko.

The leaflets have been used up - as it turns out, 5,000 aren't that many. I write hastily to the printer. I'm starting to panic a little because there's still so much to do.

I'm waiting for my leaflets. I'm going to my constituency. I'm waiting for my leaflets. I'm going to the election commission. I'm going to my constituency.

Physically I feel very bad. I haven't eaten properly in over a week. I feel like I'm getting sick because of the stress.

September 16th. Two more days until the election

The debate is taking place today. The first in my life. To be honest, things didn't go well. I was nervous. Sometimes I didn't say everything I wanted, sometimes I could have answered better. But participation alone is important.

The last day of the election campaign. I'd love to sleep for a few days, but I have to keep going. Today as many people as possible should come - we will distribute the last 2,000 leaflets.

I've now gotten so used to the stress that it has become normal. It's scary and tiring, I'm tired, but I set out anyway. To be honest, I almost have no strength left. But I see it as my duty to complete the campaign independently.

A helper and I stocked up on water and snacks and drove to our observers and the election commissions - so that they wouldn't go hungry. All day long I visited electoral commissions, spoke to the chairmen and saw what the situation was like in the polling stations where we had no observers.

A funny anecdote: The commission at a polling station complained that they lacked gifts for first-time voters. Typically, such gifts are provided by the government. The chairman asked me to “buy them presents.” He said that they would be very grateful to me for this and that they would tell everyone who voted for me that it had come from me: "We'll see who voted for you." Whether that's nonsense or not - I don't know. Surreal. Perhaps members of the United Russia party came to them and did so …

Overall, the chairmen of the electoral commissions treated me quite politely.

At around three in the morning, a friend from a polling station sent me the protocol with the preliminary results. The result was of course disappointing. I was in second to last place: just over 30 votes. The United Russia candidate, who did not campaign at all, got about 150 votes.

According to preliminary information, I am in last place. Given that almost every polling station I visited added 400 votes after it closed, that doesn't surprise me.

Above all, it was important to me to speak out for peace - and to show people that they are not alone. All the while, my team and I were able to talk to people about their real problems. The opportunity to express yourself is very important to us.

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