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Russian Party Asks Young: Who Wants to Be a Deputy?
Yevgeny Zenkov, left, Sergei Pozdnyakov and Pavel Lysenko were among early winners in a United Russia party competition to find youthful candidates.
(By Peter Finn -- The Washington Post)
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So promised a jingle aired over the last two months on local radio stations in Lipetsk, which is about 225 miles south of Moscow.
Critics call this approach a desperate gimmick. "Demidov is a showman," said Vladimir Pribylovsky, head of the Panorama research institute in Moscow. "The president asked him to propagandize among young people and he had to come up with something new to generate some interest. But I don't believe they'll give away parliamentary seats. There are too many of the party's adults who want them."
One young person who embraced the idea was Kondakova. "You look at politicians, and all you see are middle-aged men -- and how are they going to solve the questions of young people?" she said, speaking on the beach of an artificial lake outside Lipetsk. "This competition is a real surprise and a chance for young people to actually do things."
Contestants were invited to come to a Young Guard office in the city. There they had to fill out a long questionnaire on their personal backgrounds and political views.
"The USA is our friend, enemy or economic partner?" one question asked. Respondents were instructed to elaborate on their answers. There are no set correct answers, they were told.
"The U.S. is our strong competitor," wrote Andrei Trofimenkov, 26, who works for a local private group that promotes cooperation between government and business, in a fairly typical response. The Lipetsk branch of Young Guard provided The Washington Post with the completed questionnaires of all 60 people who entered the contest in the city.
"It is not our friend because it is not interested in restoring Russia's greatness," continued Trofimenkov. "Neither is it our enemy because it's not interested in Russia's total elimination."
"It's too tough to say enemy," wrote Dmitry Zakhvatayev, 24, a manager at a small company. "But they don't wish us any good, that's for sure."
Some responses were inflammatory. Asked what the first action of a new youth movement should be, Kondakova wrote that she would like "to disperse a gay parade." An attempt to stage the first gay and lesbian pride parade in Moscow last month ended in violence when it was broken up by police and skinheads.
"I expected worse," Demidov said after reviewing questionnaires from the first nine regions taking part in the contest. "We wanted to find those who have desire, who identify themselves as leaders. There was a lot of confusion about ideology, in their understanding of power, but the main thing is they have the desire to take part. Some people say it's an artificial thing. It's always difficult to find talented people, but it's better to have this 20 percent as a door, rather than the wall we've had until now."
