On the eve of the September State Duma elections, the United Russia party prepared a handbook for candidates and campaigners titled “A Dozen Tough Questions for UR”. The document offers suggested wording for answering the harshest criticism directed at the party. Kommersant reported on the handbook, citing the text of the document.
Blocking and freedom of speech
When asked why the party had become a “party of bans,” had “closed the internet,” and was “strangling freedom of speech,” campaign staff are advised to reply with a counterargument: if such accusations can be voiced publicly, then freedom of speech supposedly still exists. The handbook goes on to say that the party has always supported free speech, but that under what it calls an “information and psychological war,” temporary restrictions are, in the authors’ view, unavoidable.
Administrative pressure and ideology
In the section on the use of administrative resources, the party does not deny pressure on state employees. Instead, it argues that “victory cannot be guaranteed” because a person marks the ballot independently. The text also says that excessive zeal from school principals and chief doctors only increases risks for the party itself, since pressure may provoke the opposite reaction from voters. The document further states that in recent years United Russia has lost some campaigns, including because of pressure on voters.
The party describes its ideology as a rejection of one group dictating terms for the benefit of another. It claims that without United Russia, certain unnamed “masters” might have imposed a 12-hour workday and a six-day workweek, or, conversely, someone might have “jailed all businessmen” in the name of workers’ rights. The article does not specify who these figures are meant to be.
Other parties and a “stable” future
The handbook portrays other officially allowed political forces as patriotic in words, yet quick to remember that they are in opposition whenever problems arise or difficult decisions are needed. United Russia, by contrast, presents itself as the force that, according to the document, never “hid in the bushes” and took responsibility for decisions important to the country’s future. In the section on the future, the party urges Russians to rely on its experience, which it says will help the country endure coming trials and move forward without stagnation or “revolutionary catastrophes.”