Vyacheslav Volodin, head of the Popular Front's headquarters, made this announcement at a meeting on Friday, June 17, that was mostly attended by young people between the ages of 26 and 28. This is the upper limit for of people categorized as "young people" by Rosstat (State Statistics Service). Their comrades over 30 made their own proposals.
Oleg Denisov, chairman of the Student Trade Unions Association, who will turn 45 in a week, suggested that studies in a higher education institution be treated as a special form of labour and that a relevant chapter be added to the Labour Code. Ramil Sadriyev, the 33 year-old chairman of the Kama State Academy's Student Trade Union Committee, demanded legal guarantees of job quotas for graduates.
Younger people promised the front's leadership to resolve more important issues. "We want Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's course to continue and this is why we'll combat any manifestations of liberalism," Chairman of the Russian Students Trade Union Alexei Kazak promised. In his opinion, the greatest threat to the country is posed by "certain oligarchs that head political parties without any support." Kazak promised to win for United Russia the support of those categories of young people that seem to have been neglected so far: musicians, visually- and hearing-impaired and people from the Caucasus living in Moscow. "United Russia has always enjoyed good results in the Caucasian republics but people from the Caucasus who live in Moscow do not take part in the elections. It is necessary to work with them," he said.
However, Volodin emphasised that the front expects the young activists to tackle quite different tasks, notably, to draft a section of the front's programme devoted to the youth policy.
They should also prepare their representatives for the forthcoming primaries. Volodin said there will be no quotas for them on election lists. "Right now we worry about you more than you worry about yourselves," he said. "You should realise that not only youth problems but also other issues, such as utilities, roads and so on will be discussed during the primaries... People from youth organisations may appear to be less competent than others." Therefore, there are plans to hold practical seminars on rhetoric, politics and other subjects for young nominees.
This week representatives of the front's youth organisations are planning to go to the streets and find out what issues are important to young voters. "It's summer now, everyone is out and it is easier to talk to young people in the streets," explained Yekaterina Stenyakina, Young Guards coordinator for the Southern Federal District. "We'll hold rallies and short polls and formulate these proposals later on. We'd like to hope that the front will review them when drafting its youth policy," she said.
Alexandra Bayazitova