Hakamada's online victory

Presidential candidate implements her ambition in the Internet.
Russian media are paying less and less attention to the coming presidential elections. The issue of the new government is the beat of the day. Opposition presidential candidates are trying hard to receive public attention. They are making pompous statements, threatening with disclosing the truth, suing their opponents and authorities.

This all produces no result. None of the opposition candidates hopes to win the elections, and they honestly confessed the voters about this at some point of their run.
Only candidate Irina Hakamada, the woman of Japanese origin, does not give up. Scandals are accompanying her run. Maybe she is trying hard because she is required to spend her sponsors’ money, or probably she wants better popularity rating.

Irina Hakamada started debating with Vladimir Putin online, on www.putin.hakamada.ru website. Ms. Hakamada said that if Vladimir Putin has no time to come for debates in person, she agrees to have online discussion. “The purpose of my election campaign is bring people’s voice to authorities”, said Irina Hakamada. “The online discussion with Vladimir Putin continues the project “Write your point in the people’s plan for Russia’s development”.

The most important issues – fighting poverty, raising living standards, corruption, terrorism and security, reform of Russian Army – have been chosen for the debates. There are quotes of Vladimir Putin’s statements of these issues and statements by Hakamada on the opposite side of the page. Under each issue’s topic there is a tool for voting called “Whose position do you favor?” Interestingly, judging from the voting results, Vladimir Putin has no chances to surpass Irina Hakamada. In every point she is the first. However, one should not make quick conclusions, the Internet let down Russian rightist parties many times. Before the elections to Russian Parliament, Yabloko and SPS parties were the first in online voting results, but during real elections this parties failed to gain five percent of votes and did not pass in the State Duma.

Irina Hakamada is self-confident. “There are only two legitimate presidential candidates in Russia: Vladimir Putin and myself”, she said. “If Vladimir Putin had marvelously withdrawn from the run, I would have become the leader”.
Irina Hakamada believes that her political power has been proved by the results of SMS-voting on mobiles last weekend and by the data of some independent sociological research.

”It is obvious whom Russian people prefer. The authorities being formed today do not correspond with the interests of the majority of Russians”, said Ms. Hakamada.

Earlier Irina Hakamada said that she could withdraw from the presidential election campaign. However, lately she has said to a reporter that there is no way she could withdraw and she was not willing to discuss this issue any more”.

According to Ms. Hakamada, her running for elections in 2004 does not mean that she could be the rightist opposition leader for the election campaign in 2008. Irina Hakamada thinks it is not important who will become the leader for the rightist parties in 2008. The most important thing for democratic parties is correcting the mistakes they made.