How public headquarters of candidates for mayor of Moscow work

Almost a month ago, the registration of candidates for mayor of Moscow ended, and soon after, three of them publicly opened their public support headquarters. A Kommersant correspondent raided these centers and made sure that the headquarters of Sergei Sobyanin (United Russia), Dmitry Gusev (A Just Russia – For Truth) and Vladislav Davankov (New People) are working quite actively, focusing on collection and processing of mandates of voters. And in some places, as it turned out, you can even personally meet the candidates themselves.

The current mayor of the capital Sergei Sobyanin, as in the previous campaign in 2018, placed a public headquarters in the former building of the Novorossiysk cinema on Pokrovka, which was converted back in the 1990s into a venue for small and medium-sized businesses (the current name is Digital Business Space). The organizers did not resort to aggressive outdoor campaigning, limiting themselves to a small portable sign near the side entrance.

Inside the headquarters, everything is arranged in detail: neat volunteers in snow-white polo shirts scurry around the hall, decorated in the spirit of the capital’s MFCs, and it smells of coffee, which they are ready to drink to anyone who enters even in the thirty-degree heat. The headquarters has not yet announced events with the participation of the incumbent mayor – here they rather help draw up an election order for the mayor, and the “duty leader of public opinion” is always ready to convince the guest of the correctness of the course taken by the city authorities. On the day of the Kommersant correspondent’s visit, he turned out to be State Duma deputy Roman Romanenko (United Russia), who was located in the corner opposite the coffee machine and introduced himself as an “expert of the public headquarters.” “No one is driving anyone here,” Mr. Romanenko assured. “We, as people who are members of the party, if there is such an opportunity, are obliged to show our attitude (toward the candidate.— “b”) and come to support. The deputy recalled that he had been working with Sergei Sobyanin “not for the first time”, and therefore “purely as a human being” decided to support his candidate and help him collect the wishes of voters. These wishes, according to Roman Romanenko, are mainly aimed at “improving the infrastructure around the place” where the townspeople live. “Questions are accumulated according to the directions, and then special people at the headquarters process them,” the politician explained. program to address these issues and implement it.

Headquarters of a State Duma deputy Dmitry Gusev stationed in an office building on Sretensky Boulevard. Right-wing Russians have already used this site in the 2021 State Duma elections, and now they feel at home there – they regularly change patriotic banners on the facade and even started repairs. To visit the headquarters, it is enough to firmly declare to the guard below: “I’m going to Dmitry Gusev” – and go up to the second floor. The room is crowded: members of the election team sit in several rooms with subdued lights. Those present told Kommersant that no public events were planned for today, but they would not expel anyone who found their way to them. “Anyone who needs help can apply here,” Andrey Anokhin, head of the apparatus of the Moscow branch of the SRZP, explained. “When we learn about the problem, we can immediately send them to our party centers for the protection of the rights of citizens.” The headquarters itself, according to Mr. Anokhin, is designed to coordinate the efforts of the team: “People are divided into sections, and every day events are held on the topics of their work. The other day there was a security event (protection from drones), on Monday there will be mothers of large families.” Other residents of the headquarters willingly spoke about the appeals of Muscovites, their pressing problems and grandiose initiatives. Collection of information, according to Spravorossov, party divisions began in April.

As it turned out, there is a chance to meet at the headquarters with the SRZP candidate himself: the Kommersant correspondent ran into Dmitry Gusev at the exit. “Why did I come? First of all, I left here in the morning! Gave interviews, discussed with technologists options for APM (campaign printed materials.— “b”), now we will shoot videos, ”said the deputy. Those who wish, according to him, can come to the headquarters, but with specific problems, the candidate advises to contact the district organizations of the SRHR and centers for the protection of the rights of citizens.

Another candidate who can be found at the headquarters is the vice speaker of the State Duma Vladislav Davankov. The meeting with him there took place on the eve of the visit of the Kommersant correspondent, but others are expected. The headquarters of the New People in the apartment building on 1st Tverskaya-Yamskaya is hard to miss: the windows on the ground floor are hung with colorful propaganda, the door has a schedule of events, although people are invited inside outside of them. “We have a headquarters without doors!” – Anna Trofimenko, head of the Moscow branch of the party, said not without pride. In fact, there are two doors in the headquarters: the entrance and the one leading to the restroom. Otherwise, the space looks more like a trendy co-working space for zoomers and millennials who are fascinated by politics. The chairs of different colors delivered to the event hall should indicate the regular presence of visitors. The inhabitants of the headquarters – young volunteers with laptops – occupied all the spaces on the second floor suitable for sitting in a university style: as Ms. Trofimenko explained, they paint “activities” for their candidate (a series of pickets “Turquoise Moscow” is next) and prepare media support for them .

Almost the only relatively quiet corner was allocated to the head of the public reception, Irina Sorokina. She works with appeals of voters, of which there are two hundred. The applicants, according to staff officers, went through almost all possible topics – from housing and communal services and transport to healthcare and security.

Two more candidates for mayor did not open their headquarters publicly. The Communist Party of the Russian Federation explained to Kommersant that in the interests of the deputy of the Moscow City Duma Leonid Zyuganov the entire city party infrastructure is working, and voters are expected in any district or central branch of the Communist Party on Simferopol Boulevard. However, it was not possible to get there: the security did not let the Kommersant correspondent inside. Local residents, however, suggested that it was possible to catch one of the party members in the mornings near the doors.

Finally, the Vice Speaker of the State Duma Boris Chernyshov (LDPR), as Kommersant was previously told in its press service, he preferred mobile public receptions to a stationary headquarters, mainly in residential areas of Moscow. The Kommersant correspondent did not have a chance to meet them during his raid.

Grigory Leiba