EISI liked the activity of parties at the stage of nominating candidates for the autumn elections in the regions

The Expert Institute for Social Research (EISI) on Thursday held a round table on the results of the nomination of candidates for the autumn elections in the regions. According to the participants of the event, party members are very active this year: for example, 18 parties wished to participate in the gubernatorial elections against 16 last year. Experts did not see any particular problems in the current campaign, noting only the difficulties of some candidates with passing the municipal filter, arising from the “weak work” of their parties in the field.

Maxim Grigoriev, member of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation, First Deputy Chairman of the Commission for Public Control and Work with Citizens’ Appeals, presented a report on the results of the nomination of candidates at the round table. According to him, 90% of Russian parties wished to take part in the elections at all levels, which demonstrates an “extremely high level of activity.” In total, more than 63,000 candidates nominated from 23 parties.

Among the most active organizations that regularly and almost everywhere participate in elections, the speaker referred to United Russia, the KRPF, the Liberal Democratic Party and A Just Russia – For Truth, to which the New People are “rapidly approaching”. In the group of parties with significant activity, Mr. Grigoriev included the “Communists of Russia”, the Party of Pensioners and “Motherland”. Local activity (the party tightly focuses on several regions) is demonstrated by the Russian Party of Freedom and Justice, the Greens, the Green Alternative and the Growth Party. Finally, pinpoint activity (nominating candidates in certain districts of some regions) is shown by the Russian People’s Union, the Democratic and Cossack parties, the Party of the Revival of Russia and a number of others.

In general, according to the author of the report, there is a patriotic consensus in the current campaign: the majority of parties have formulated an unambiguous attitude towards geopolitical processes and the NWO. Only Yabloko, Civil Initiative and PARNAS (liquidated by the Supreme Court, but the decision did not enter into force) remained outside this consensus.— “b”), and this drives these parties into a crisis, the public figure is sure.

18 parties intend to take part in the gubernatorial elections, despite the fact that in 2022 there were 16 of them, and in 2021 – 13, Mr. Grigoriev emphasized. The average level of competition at the end of the nomination stage was about six candidates per seat, and in the elections to regional parliaments, lists from six to seven parties were nominated on average, Maksim Grigoriev concluded.

It should be noted that during the registration of candidates, the level of competition is noticeably reduced. Thus, the campaign in Moscow, where 12 people gathered to fight for the seat of the mayor, was a record number of nominees, but only five of them were registered. In the Altai Territory, nine people were nominated for governor, but only six brought documents for registration. And in the Omsk region and Yakutia, the list of eight nominees was halved.

Another participant of the round table, the head of the department of regional programs of the EISI Darya Kislitsyna focused on the gubernatorial elections. According to her, after registration, voters will see an average of four to five candidates on the ballots. She also drew attention to the fact that only four interim governors are going to the elections this year, and most of the heads of regions (17 out of 21) are running for a new term, which, according to the expert, is explained by the general demand of society for stability. Ms. Kislitsyna considers the Moscow campaign to be a reference gubernatorial campaign, because it was in the capital that all five candidates gained fame even before registration and allowed themselves vivid political statements and PR moves.

According to political scientist and member of the Digoria expert club Alexei Malinin, in 2023, the Communists of Russia stand out among the small parties, which create difficulties for the Communist Party of the Russian Federation. “Judging by how many candidates the party has nominated at various levels in the regions, it really seems to be planning to step on the heels (opponents from the Communist Party.— “b”). In the left camp, it is felt that the competition will be rather big, ”he explained.

Finally, Pavel Danilin, director of the Center for Political Analysis, who moderated the round table, decided to debunk some of the myths about the gubernatorial campaign. So, he is sure that the only region where there is an obstruction of the activity of competitors is Khakassia, the head of which Valentin Konovalov (KPRF) prevented the candidate from the “Communists of Russia” Vladimir Grudinin from registering. The expert also does not consider the municipal filter to be a deterrent: it’s just that candidates from parties who lack “their stock” of municipal deputies (including the Communist Party of the Russian Federation) have to negotiate with other parties. This year, according to Mr. Danilin, there are extremely few refusals to register: for example, in the Moscow region they refused Boris Nadezhdin from the Civil Initiative, and in the Altai Territory they refused Maria Prusakova from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, but both candidates did not submit the required number of signatures to the election commission . The reason for this, especially in the case of the Communist Party, is the weak work of parties in the region, the political scientist concluded.

Elena Rozhkova