Tymur Rubin was the leader of the United Nationalist Democrat Party and is a former State Minister for Education, Science and Healthcare, serving Prime Minister Koruin Gruaman in 2011. He was Deputy for Turov in Kamchetka from 2003-2013.
As the former leader of a political party which was crushed by the hand of voters, I know how much democracy works and matters. It is not something that can be taken granted – a lesson and message we know all too well. That is why I am increasingly concerned about what I call the authoritarian tilt of this new federal administration.
The Prime Minister is someone I know well, having served in the House of Deputies with him until 2011, and as colleagues in the country’s first coalition government that same year. We certainly do not share the same politics nor ideas for the future of our country – but I never had cause to doubt his commitment to the idea of Polasciana as a democracy. Backing his party in the presidential election last year I took seriously my role as a citizen – and as a former politician. I believed our country would be better if the Centrist Progressive alliance that I had previously campaigned against, won the presidency and could ensure Polasciana continued to chart the path of an open, fair and democratic nation. Less than a year later that vision seems at risk.
My concern at that election was one of an antidemocratic surge – a view that being a democracy didn’t matter to our future or our prosperity. That the rights of certain citizens could be ignored, or at least were not valued the same as others. And whilst the party I used to lead used the term ‘nationalist’ – it did so in the view that every citizen deserved a home that they could be proud of, and were united by a single idea of a nation – not an ideology or an ethnicity. My opponents, since 2003, have been loud, vocal and clear: Polasciana as an idea is not one they share. They want to split us up, tear us apart and keep us away from each other. That is not the country I believe we want to be.
This is why I am concerned. This is why I believe we must renew our commitment to ensuring that Polasciana remains an open, fair and democratic country and why the Prime Minister must live up to the promises his party made at the legislative elections in 2018. That was not an election where he was leading his party, but one where the people did choose his party to lead. This is an important distinction that he must remember. This is a government which looks different, sounds different and is different to the one people voted for. As frustrating as that may be, its new ministers have an obligation to reflect the mandate that it sought at the time, not one that it is pursuing now. The dangerous rhetoric and policies being followed should be of concern to us all – and the government must heed this warning: people did not vote to lose their democratic rights.
It is on all of us to fight for the country we want to see.
We must ensure Polasciana remains an open, fair and democratic country
Tymur Rubin was the leader of the United Nationalist Democrat Party and is a former State Minister for Education, Science and Healthcare, serving Prime Minister Koruin Gruaman in 2011. He was Deputy for Turov in Kamchetka from 2003-2013.
As the former leader of a political party which was crushed by the hand of voters, I know how much democracy works and matters. It is not something that can be taken granted – a lesson and message we know all too well. That is why I am increasingly concerned about what I call the authoritarian tilt of this new federal administration.
The Prime Minister is someone I know well, having served in the House of Deputies with him until 2011, and as colleagues in the country’s first coalition government that same year. We certainly do not share the same politics nor ideas for the future of our country – but I never had cause to doubt his commitment to the idea of Polasciana as a democracy. Backing his party in the presidential election last year I took seriously my role as a citizen – and as a former politician. I believed our country would be better if the Centrist Progressive alliance that I had previously campaigned against, won the presidency and could ensure Polasciana continued to chart the path of an open, fair and democratic nation. Less than a year later that vision seems at risk.
My concern at that election was one of an antidemocratic surge – a view that being a democracy didn’t matter to our future or our prosperity. That the rights of certain citizens could be ignored, or at least were not valued the same as others. And whilst the party I used to lead used the term ‘nationalist’ – it did so in the view that every citizen deserved a home that they could be proud of, and were united by a single idea of a nation – not an ideology or an ethnicity. My opponents, since 2003, have been loud, vocal and clear: Polasciana as an idea is not one they share. They want to split us up, tear us apart and keep us away from each other. That is not the country I believe we want to be.
This is why I am concerned. This is why I believe we must renew our commitment to ensuring that Polasciana remains an open, fair and democratic country and why the Prime Minister must live up to the promises his party made at the legislative elections in 2018. That was not an election where he was leading his party, but one where the people did choose his party to lead. This is an important distinction that he must remember. This is a government which looks different, sounds different and is different to the one people voted for. As frustrating as that may be, its new ministers have an obligation to reflect the mandate that it sought at the time, not one that it is pursuing now. The dangerous rhetoric and policies being followed should be of concern to us all – and the government must heed this warning: people did not vote to lose their democratic rights.
It is on all of us to fight for the country we want to see.
Former Leader of the United Nationalist Democrats and Minister of State in the Centrist-UND Coalition government in 2011.