Chelyabinsk Legislative Assembly rejected a referendum on direct elections of mayors

The Legislative Assembly of the Chelyabinsk region did not agree on the issues of a referendum on the return of direct elections of mayors of cities and regions. The decision was made by way of an absentee poll. The deputies justified the refusal by the fact that the proposed issues have already been regulated by Russian legislation. Representatives of the initiative group consider this decision to be contrary to the Constitution and intend to appeal against it in court. The Just Russia faction also opposed it, announcing the preparation of a legislative initiative to return direct elections.

The initiative group proposed to submit two questions to the regional referendum: on direct elections of heads of cities and districts of the region and on the election of deputies of the Chelyabinsk City Duma directly by the townspeople (now they are delegated by district councils). Having considered this proposal without holding a meeting, by means of an absentee poll, the deputies of the Legislative Assembly recognized both issues as not meeting the requirements of federal and regional legislation. The corresponding decision was published on the portal of legal information.

“A referendum is held if the issues it raises are not regulated by the Constitution and federal laws. In this case, the questions raised have already been resolved and provided for in the legislation, ”commented Kommersant on the decision of the legislative assembly in its press service. The absentee vote was explained by the fact that the deputies had to consider the petition and documents on holding a referendum within the 20-day period established by law.

One of the representatives of the initiative group, the head of the Chelyabinsk Yabloko, Yaroslav Shcherbakov, told Kommersant that the decision of the Legislative Assembly would be appealed in court: “We are preparing documents, looking at practice, studying the grounds. It will be a class action lawsuit, to which an unlimited circle of people can join. He admitted that the decision of the deputies was expected, but he was surprised by the form of its adoption, which is used in exceptional cases. However, the initiators of the plebiscite also “fundamentally disagree” with the motivation for the refusal. “This is a very loose interpretation. According to their logic, those issues that were in the laws cannot be submitted to a referendum. But we have all the issues one way or another settled. In fact, they generally denied citizens the right to a referendum. In our opinion, this is a direct violation of constitutional rights, there are grounds for appeal,” said Mr. Shcherbakov.

The money that has already begun to be raised for the referendum will be directed to a public campaign for the return of direct mayoral elections, Yabloko added: “We want to tell a wider circle of people about our initiative, about how it is not missed, how important it is to directly select heads. We will allocate funds for the manufacture of cubes, we will also declare pickets, and we will continue the public campaign.”

Meanwhile, representatives of the Just Russia – For Truth faction in the Legislative Assembly stated that they opposed the resolution, despite the existing “legal collision”. “We voted against the refusal to hold a referendum, thus denoting our principled position on the return of direct elections. However, the impossibility of holding a referendum does not negate the need to solve the problem itself. We still have the right of legislative initiative to return direct elections, which the faction will certainly use. We are already working on the amendments,” Vasily Shvetsov, a member of the faction, said on social networks. According to him, the return of direct elections is supported by 70% of the population.

It should be noted that the decision on the second question of the failed referendum has, in fact, already been made: at the initiative of the authorities, a law is being prepared to abolish city districts and district councils in Chelyabinsk. Accordingly, in the next elections in 2024, the City Duma will have to be elected in direct elections.

Direct elections of heads of municipalities in the Chelyabinsk region were canceled in 2015. In the past ten years, eight attempts have been made in the region to organize a referendum on the return of direct elections, which invariably ended in failure either at the stage of creating an initiative group, or when agreeing on the proposed issue with deputies.

Recall that attempts to return direct elections of heads of municipalities through a referendum were made this year in other regions of Russia. So, in early June, the relevant proposal of the initiative group was rejected by the State Council of Komi, and in July a similar decision was made by the Legislative Assembly of the Novosibirsk Region. In both cases, the deputies, as in the Chelyabinsk region, referred to the fact that this issue has already been regulated by federal and regional legislation.

Julia Garipova, Chelyabinsk