How did losing candidates benefit from the presidential election?

The Political Technologies Committee of the Russian Association for Public Relations (RASO) on Thursday tried to figure out what kind of “profit” the candidates from parliamentary parties and these parties themselves received from the past presidential elections. But, having begun to analyze the pros, experts eventually came to the cons, deciding, for example, that the LDPR is becoming more and more like United Russia, and the Communist Party of the Russian Federation has shown the result of a “niche party.” And even the nominee of the New People, Vladislav Davankov, who can consider his campaign successful, will now have to prove that he is not the “leader of the opposition and relocants.” However, some considered the fact that they ensured the legitimacy of the elections to be an undeniable “profit” for the party members.

The participants of the RASO round table immediately agreed that they would discuss not Vladimir Putin, who won the elections, but the remaining candidates. At the same time, it was decided to focus on the “profits” that participation in the elections brought to the parties.

The head of RASO Evgeniy Minchenko spoke about the study of the committee on political technologies, in which about 60 experts assessed the election campaigns of all candidates. The incumbent president’s campaign turned out to be the best in all respects, but the “second-tier candidates” also had their strengths. Thus, Nikolai Kharitonov (Communist Party of the Russian Federation) became the best in organizing headquarters, Vladislav Davankov – in communication strategy, working on the Internet and the media, as well as participating in debates. The leader of the LDPR, Leonid Slutsky, together with Mr. Kharitonov, as “tested fighters,” showed themselves well during the debate in terms of mastery of the material and resistance to stress. Well, “New People” “have created a serious foundation for themselves” in such segments as large cities, the middle class and youth, Mr. Minchenko said, recalling that candidate Davankov received 400 thousand more votes in the 2024 elections than his party in State Duma elections 2021.

True, after such an optimistic start, the time has come for pessimistic assessments. Thus, the Communists, “essentially, moved from party No. 2 to the league of niche parties,” noted the head of RASO. In the LDPR, “with the stated line of maintaining Zhirinovsky’s course, the ideological basis of the party has undergone a serious correction,” and now the Liberal Democrats “resemble United Russia-light,” said Yevgeny Minchenko. (This thesis was later developed by political strategist Sergei Tolmachev, saying that when he comes to the regions, Leonid Slutsky begins to behave like an inspector and calls ministers to report to him.) However, the head of RASO reconcilingly noted that although the LDPR “sank electorally, gained in respectability,” because Mr. Slutsky “did a lot to attract foreign observers to the elections.” But in “A Just Russia – For Truth” (SRZP) the opposite process is taking place: its respectability, according to Mr. Minchenko, has noticeably decreased, and the refusal to nominate its presidential candidate “brought it more disadvantages than advantages.”

“Every coin has two sides,” Yaroslav Ignatovsky, head of the Politgen expert center, continued the given “balanced” approach. He even found advantages in the fact that the SRZP did not participate in the elections – after all, it “did not take last place.” The LDPR, in his opinion, “wasn’t enough of Vladimir Zhirinovsky,” and the project with the neural network of the same name “wasn’t completed,” but nevertheless, the new leader of the party grew in recognition. “New people,” according to the expert, have taken “a big step into the political league,” but they have yet to find their niche in the regions, and “internal political blocs of regional administrations— “Kommersant”) look at the “New People” with suspicion.” Finally, “an unsuccessful result for the Communist Party of the Russian Federation will become a reason for some kind of internal discussion on party reforms,” Mr. Ignatovsky concluded.

“The main “profit” is that at some distance from 2026 (the year of the next State Duma elections.— “Kommersant”) parties, in principle, can start from the same positions,” said political consultant Alena August, in turn. “New people,” according to her, need to think about program content, and Mr. Davankov personally is very disadvantaged by the opinion that he collected the votes of “all relocants, oppositionists.” “It will be a difficult task for Davankov to pass between the streams. Such a samurai way. I don’t think that he would like to slide into the status of leader of the opposition; it is unlikely that this would be to his benefit,” Mrs. August explained her thought to Kommersant.

Evgeniy Minchenko, towards the end, also returned to Vladislav Davankov and explained that his electorate is, first of all, “Capital Russia,” but it seemed to “Russia that has left” that this candidate was talking to her too, although in fact “they had thought out a lot for him ” “But in general, so far in the legal political field this is the only offer for this segment. There is no other option at the moment,” stated the head of RASO.

“There is no second, third, fourth place. These three candidates totaled 12% with a small increase. But their main “profit” is that they fulfilled their most important historical task: they ensured the legitimacy of the elections,” Sergei Tolmachev found another reason for optimism.

Andrey Vinokurov, Ksenia Veretennikova