Navalny should try to win municipal election, for starters - Kremlin administration head
MOSCOW. Oct 1 (Interfax) - Kremlin administration head Sergei Ivanov does not think the authorities should offer a position to opposition activist Alexei Navalny although he admits that Navalny performed unexpectedly well in the recent mayoral election in Moscow.
"Why on Earth would the authorities discuss such a thing? On what grounds? First, the ability to do the job has to be proven. A victory has to be won, for starters. At least, in an election for the head of a municipality. Then, there will be [something by which one could judge Navalny's performance], for instance, the budget of a municipal district. But that did not happen. As you know, there is no use asking for the moon," Ivanov answered the Russian media's question whether the opposition activist might be offered a job.
"Who is Navalny? Roizman won a mayoral election. The mayor is the chairman of a city council, which fully depends on the regional Duma in which United Russia has the majority," the presidential administration head observed.
As to the journalists' remark that Navalny had been named the consolidated opposition leader, Ivanov said, "This is a free country. You may say and write whatever you want. We welcome that. But it does not mean that this is true."
The Kremlin administration head admitted that he was "a bit surprised" with the high percentage (over 27%) of the vote that the opposition activist gained in the election. He noted at the same time that the number of Navalny's voters was not large in absolute figures.
"I agree that Navalny mobilized his voters and the protest vote in general in a very efficient way. I absolutely acknowledge that. Meanwhile, the authorities represented by Sergei Semyonovich Sobyanin practically did not mobilize their voters," Ivanov said, stressing, "It was not a mistake."
In his opinion, the low election turnout - almost 70% of Muscovites ignored the mayoral election - is a sign of stability and evidence of "the healthy condition of society."