From 4 to 12 candidates nominated for gubernatorial elections in 21 regions of Russia

On Saturday, in the regions where direct gubernatorial elections will be held, the stage of nominating candidates was completed. Moscow turned out to be the leader in their number, although 7 out of 12 contenders for the mayor’s chair in the end did not manage to collect signatures for registration. Minimal competition was found immediately in four regions – in the Tyumen, Magadan and Kemerovo regions, as well as in Chukotka, where only four candidates each wished to participate in the gubernatorial race.

The campaign in Moscow turned out to be traditionally competitive in terms of the number of declared participants, where the law allows independent nomination. 12 people were going to fight for the chair of the mayor: representatives of six parties and six self-nominated candidates. True, this is almost three times less than in the 2018 elections, when 33 candidates (15 party members and 18 self-nominated candidates) tried to get on the ballot, and almost four times compared to the 2013 elections (41 candidates were nominated, 12 of them from parties). This time, not a single self-nominated candidate managed to collect signatures from district deputies to overcome the municipal filter. Previously, only the incumbent mayor Sergei Sobyanin managed to do this, who this time is running for United Russia (ER). As a result, only representatives of the Duma five received registration.

The situation is similar in the Omsk region, where self-nomination is also allowed (there are no more such regions this year). Eight people decided to compete for the governor’s post there, half of which are self-nominated, but none of them submitted to the filter. But successfully collected signatures and registered all the candidates from the parties: representatives of the United Russia, the Communist Party, the Liberal Democratic Party and the “Communists of Russia”.

The most competitive in the purely “party” elections was the campaign in the Altai Territory, where nine people ran for governor at once. True, only the current head of the region, Viktor Tomenko (ER), has been registered so far. Five more candidates – from A Just Russia – For Truth (SRZP), LDPR, New People, the Pensioners’ Party and the Communists of Russia – are awaiting a decision by the commission (verification of documents takes up to ten days). Failed to collect the required number of signatures “environmental” nominees from the parties “Green” and “Green Alternative”, as well as the first secretary of the regional committee of the Communist Party, State Duma deputy Maria Prusakova.

The most massive withdrawal of party members from the race occurred in Yakutia, where half of the eight nominated candidates had already been weeded out by the municipal filter: representatives of the Party of Pensioners, Motherland, Greens and Civil Initiative could not collect signatures. So far, only the current head of the republic, Aisen Nikolaev (ER), has passed the registration, and the nominees from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, the Liberal Democratic Party and the Communists of Russia are waiting for the decision of the commission.

The campaign in the Krasnoyarsk Territory was marked by increased competitiveness, where five acting and one former deputy of the legislative assembly immediately advanced against the acting governor Mikhail Kotyukov (ER). However, two representatives of the “New People” and “Rodina” have already fallen out of the race, having failed to collect the required number of signatures. The documents of the other candidates (from the Communist Party, the LDPR, the SRZP and the Greens), as well as Mr. Kotyukov himself, are still being checked by the commission.

In Khakassia, Primorye and Samara region, six candidates each ran for governor. In the first region, two signatures failed to collect (from SRZP and Motherland), in the other two – one each (from the Party of Pensioners and the Democratic Party, respectively). At the same time, everyone who brought documents to the election commission has already received registration. Also, six people have been nominated for the post of head of the Smolensk region, but so far only acting governor Vasily Anokhin (ER) has been registered there. Candidates from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, the Liberal Democratic Party and the Communists of Russia are waiting for the decision of the commission, but the nominees of Rodina and the Pensioners’ Party have not collected the required number of signatures.

In the Moscow, Novosibirsk, Voronezh, Orel, Pskov, Ivanovo, Amur and Nizhny Novgorod regions, five people each decided to participate in the elections. In the Moscow region, ex-State Duma deputy Boris Nadezhdin (“Civil Initiative”) failed to collect signatures, in the Oryol region – businessman Vladislav Abramov (“Russian People’s Union”). Other candidates submitted the necessary documents to the commission, some of them have already been registered, the rest are awaiting a decision.

Finally, a total of four candidates each claim the governor’s post in the Tyumen, Magadan and Kemerovo regions, as well as in Chukotka. Everywhere they are representatives of the “old” Duma four who have collected the required number of signatures. In the Tyumen and Magadan regions, all four have already been registered, in Kuzbass and Chukotka – so far only the current leader Sergei Tsivilev and acting governor Vladislav Kuznetsov, respectively (both from United Russia).

In the party context, the most active were the United Russia, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation and the Liberal Democratic Party. United Russia put forward candidates everywhere, except for the Oryol region, which is led by the communist Andrei Klychkov, who was first appointed to this post by the president. The Liberal Democrats did not take part in the elections in the Amur Region, but they, like United Russia, have no losses at the stage of collecting signatures. The Communists, on the other hand, refused to participate in the race in Primorye, “lost” Maria Prusakova in the Altai Territory and risk being left without a candidate in the Amur Region: last week it became known about the electoral commission’s claims to the signatures of the public business ombudsman Boris Beloborodov nominated by the Communist Party of the Russian Federation.

There will be no SRHR candidates in at least seven regions. The Social Revolutionaries themselves abandoned the fight in Yakutia, Omsk, Nizhny Novgorod, Pskov, Oryol and Smolensk regions, and in Khakassia the deputy of the Supreme Council Olga Shirkovets failed to overcome the municipal filter. The fifth parliamentary party, the New People, has nominated candidates for governor in only six regions (out of 21), while in the Krasnoyarsk Territory it has already lost Denis Terekhov, a deputy of the Legislative Assembly, who failed to collect signatures. In terms of the number of nominees, the New People even lost to the Communists of Russia, which nominated nine candidates and so far have not lost a single one of them.

Motherland delegated six candidates to the gubernatorial elections, of which four have already dropped out of the struggle, the Party of Pensioners – five (three dropped out), the Greens – four (two dropped out), “Civil Initiative” – ​​two (both dropped out). All other “small” parties, in particular, the Party of Growth, the Party of the Revival of Russia, the Cossack Party, the Democratic Party, Civil Power and the Green Alternative, nominated one candidate each.

Andrew Ashes