Debates without discussions – Newspaper Kommersant No. 155 (7356) of 08/25/2022
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In 14 regions of Russia, there are debates of candidates for governors, whose elections are scheduled for September 11. True, only three of the acting heads or those appointed by the president so far have participated in them: Mikhail Evraev from Yaroslavl, Roman Busargin from Saratov and Evgeny Kuyvashev from Sverdlovsk. Governor of the Kaliningrad region Anton Alikhanov also considers it “important” to take part in the debates, however, due to the “heavy schedule”, he postponed them to the last pre-election week. The rest of the heads of the regions could not find time to participate in “joint campaign events.”
Anton Alikhanov announced the forced postponement of the debates scheduled for August on August 23. “In connection with urgent adjustments to the work schedule, I asked the election commission to give me the opportunity to participate in the debate in the week immediately before the elections. I consider it important to participate in the debate,” he wrote on Telegram. According to the plan, which was adjusted on August 19, Mr. Alikhanov will not be able to attend three August meetings with opponents: instead of August 24, 26 and 31, they will be held on September 5, 6 and 7. Two more broadcasts (September 2 and 8) will be held according to the previously approved schedule.
The press service of the head of the region explained that the debate was postponed “due to the tense busy schedule of the governor.” The chairman of the regional election commission, Inessa Vinyarskaya, told Kommersant that the change in the debate schedule was initiated at the personal request of Mr. Alikhanov, and the opponents had no objections: “The law provides that a candidate has the right to apply. We considered it taking into account the mutual consent of the candidates.” Communist Maxim Bulanov, who was supposed to meet with the governor at the debate on August 24, suggested that the reason for the transfer was a more convenient time for broadcasting: “New time (21:00 instead of 9:00.— “b”) is prime time when people are at home in the evening.”
Kommersant’s interlocutor in the regional authorities suggested that the governor could go into quarantine before an “important meeting.” However, on August 23, Anton Alikhanov conducted a live broadcast from his office on the VKontakte social network.
Recall that in September there will be direct elections of heads of 14 constituent entities of the Russian Federation. In the last four weeks before voting, “joint campaigning events” are held there – speeches by candidates on one site (according to the law, at least half of the free air time allocated to candidates is allocated to them). This year, four current leaders decided to take part in the debate: in addition to Anton Alikhanov, these are the acting head of the Saratov region Roman Busargin and the Sverdlovsk governor Yevgeny Kuyvashev (all three nominated by United Russia) and self-nominated, acting head of the Yaroslavl region Mikhail Evraev (he is supported by United Russia and party “Fair Russia – For the Truth” (SRZP), which did not put forward candidates against him).
Mr. Evraev was the first to attend the “joint campaign event” on August 16. It lasted an hour and a half and consisted of speeches by the participants on the declared leading topics: rural development, personnel issues, etc. All five candidates participated in the debate, each was given two minutes to speak, questions were not supposed to be asked. Mikhail Evraev (until 2012 he was a member of the federal bureau of Yabloko, now he is non-partisan) in his speech stated that residents of the Yaroslavl region were “his party”, and focused on issues of transport and improvement.
On the same day, a joint campaign event was held in the Saratov region, in which all five candidates also took part, including Roman Busargin. His speech on the topic of road construction lasted about five minutes. The candidates did not ask each other questions and did not discuss anything. After that, the acting governor participated in the debates on August 17 and 22, repeating his speech. He did not enter into a discussion with the other candidates, the format of the event, in principle, did not involve an exchange of views. The press service of Mr. Busargin warned in advance that due to his busy schedule he would not participate in all broadcasts, so he missed the August 23 debate. Now he has another face-to-face meeting on his schedule – on August 25 with boxer Artem Chebotarev (SRZP).
Finally, on August 22, the first televised debates took place in the election of the governor of the Sverdlovsk region, in which Evgeny Kuyvashev and the deputy of the legislative assembly of the region from the Liberal Democratic Party Alexander Kaptyug took part. During the meeting, they asked each other three questions each. Mr. Kuyvashev asked his opponent to tell more about himself, and at the end of the debate he recalled that in 2017 his opponent in the elections was Dmitry Ionin from A Just Russia, who has been working as deputy governor since 2021. “You are a young, promising person. If I win these elections and invite you to work for me, will you go?” – he asked. Alexander Kaptyug obviously did not expect such a question, but in the end he agreed. “I think we are already cooperating. Our common goal is to make people’s lives more accessible, comfortable and safe,” said the Liberal Democrat. Three more meetings are scheduled between candidates Kuyvashev and Kaptyug – on August 25 and 30, and also on September 1.
Most of the heads of regions this year could not find time for “joint promotional activities”, citing busyness. A source at the headquarters of the head of Buryatia, Alexei Tsydenov, told Kommersant that “this is due to operational necessity”: “In the second half of August and the first ten days of September, he has a busy schedule of business trips outside the region. In particular, in August the head of the region will work in Moscow, and in September at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok.” The press service of the acting governor of Vladimir Alexander Avdeev also referred to the “irregular work schedule”. And the acting head of the Tambov region, Maxim Yegorov, “simply has no time to participate in debates,” a source close to him told Kommersant. Finally, the head of the press service of the Tomsk government, Aleksey Sevastyanov, told Kommersant that in the work schedule of Acting Governor Vladimir Mazur, pre-election events “have been and will be at a minimum, since he is acting governor in full.” “His position is to spend time auditing and solving problems, not talking about them,” Mr. Sevastyanov emphasized.
According to political strategist Yevgeny Minchenko, the Russian format of “joint campaigning events” cannot be considered a full-fledged debate, since it does not involve sharp questions or even polemics: “We don’t have any debates, this is very important to understand. This event is usually quite safe.” There is a misconception that the current leader or interim governor should not participate in the debate, “because if you have a higher rating, it will have a bad effect on him,” the expert notes. But “practice shows that this is not so, there is nothing to be afraid of,” Mr. Minchenko is sure, although in general the effect of this event is “very insignificant.”
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