Candidates tampered with ballots - Picture of the Day - Kommersant

Candidates tampered with ballots - Picture of the Day - Kommersant



Only four candidates remained in the elections for the head of Udmurtia. On the last day allowed by law, the representative of the Party of Pensioners Vladimir Segal withdrew from the race, and Georgy Leshchev, a nominee of the Green Alternative, did the same three days ago. Now the head of the republic, Alexander Brechalov, nominated by United Russia, is opposed by only three candidates from the "old" parliamentary opposition. The expert calls it standard pre-election technology.

On August 6, the Central Election Commission (CEC) of Udmurtia annulled the registration of a candidate for the post of head of the republic from the Russian Party of Pensioners for Social Justice, 67-year-old pensioner Vladimir Segal. According to the commission, the basis was his own application, filed the day before. Mr. Segal explained to Kommersant that he had made such a decision “for health reasons” and that at the time of the conversation he was heading to the hospital.

By law, a candidate can withdraw from the election of his own free will no later than five days before voting day, and in the presence of "forcing circumstances" - one day before. Residents of Udmurtia will choose the head for three days, from September 9 to 11, but Sunday is still formally considered the day of voting.

August 5 was the last day a candidate could withdraw from the fight.

Earlier, on September 3, the nominee of the Green Alternative party, businessman Georgy Leshchev, did the same. He explained his decision by the need to unite around one leader and supported the current head of the region, Alexander Brechalov. “During the election campaign, many meetings took place, during which we, together with the residents, discussed the prospects of Udmurtia, talked about the importance of consolidating all forces around the leader of our country, about supporting the course he has chosen, about the fact that today we all should not be divided, but united,” he wrote on social media.

Thus, four candidates will continue to fight for the post of head of the republic: in addition to Mr. Brechalov, these are State Duma deputy Vadim Belousov (“A Just Russia - For Truth”), Izhevsk City Duma deputy Alexander Syrov (KPRF) and Udmurt State Council deputy Timur Yagafarov (LDPR).

Ballots for voting in the elections have already been printed (965,000 pieces) and handed over to the election commissions. Accordingly, their employees will have to manually delete the names of candidates Segal and Leshchev from there.

Recall, earlier, in a similar way, two candidates immediately withdrew from the election of the head of Karelia. Moreover, the representative of the Party of Growth Dmitry Fabrikantov and the nominee of the Party of Pensioners Valery Taborov announced their unwillingness to continue the fight for the governor's chair on the same day.

Izhevsk political scientist Alexander Balitsky believes that the need for “technical candidates” has disappeared: “Probably, analyzing the course of the campaign, the people leading the main candidate realized that they could do without the Pensioners' Party. Yes, they had a certain potential to play against the main opponent of Alexander Brechalov - the candidate from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Alexander Syrov, pulling votes, but the need has disappeared.

Vice President of the Russian Association of Political Consultants Pyotr Bystrov calls such a move standard for gubernatorial campaigns. “This is partly a relic of the past, when it played a role in elections and was one of the strong points of the campaign. The presence of such candidates has little effect, but there have been cases in the past when the removal of candidates led to unexpected results. In Udmurtia, surprises are hardly possible, the intrigue remains rather what percentage the favorite will receive, and not what place it will take, ”says the expert. He believes that the decision to voluntarily withdraw two candidates from the elections was taken after an analysis of the likely consequences. “Probably, it was evident that they were delaying the votes of the main candidate,” suggested Mr. Bystrov.

Mikhail Krasilnikov, Izhevsk



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