LDPR candidate for mayor of Moscow Chernyshov reported on the election campaign and debates without rivals

The candidate for mayor of Moscow from the Liberal Democratic Party, Deputy Speaker of the State Duma Boris Chernyshov on Monday told reporters about the results of the election campaign that has not yet ended. He criticized his rivals for avoiding debate (last week the Liberal Democrat was the only participant and debated with himself on two TV channels). But Mr. Chernyshov does not hold a grudge against his opponents and even promises, in case of victory, to invite them to work in the Moscow government, which, among other things, will fight against the loneliness of the townspeople.

As Boris Chernyshov immediately explained to journalists, his election campaign is distinguished by several important factors: “We do not terrorize our voters with a huge amount of waste paper. We have a large number of outdoor advertising, 50 points of distribution. I go to debates alone. Last week was a turning point in the entire election campaign, when I remained one candidate (at the debate.— “b”). I wanted to appeal to every voter. And thanks to my opponents, I succeeded.” All this, the liberal democrat hopes, can lead to the second round, where he (contrary to the opinion of sociologists who promise him only 5% of the vote) will enter together with the incumbent United Russia mayor Sergei Sobyanin.

Recall that in the first rounds of the debate, in addition to the LDPR candidate, State Duma deputy Dmitry Gusev (A Just Russia – For Truth) and its vice speaker Vladislav Davankov (New People) participated. But last week, the TV channels “Moscow 24” and “Moscow. Trust”, only Mr. Chernyshov came. According to him, TV channels are already “praying” for him. And failure to appear at the debate is “a disrespectful attitude towards voters, weakness, unprofessionalism, by and large political death,” the deputy emphasized. However, just on the evening of September 4, Mr. Gusev again joined him at the televised debate.

The most criticism from Mr. Chernyshov went to the candidate for mayor from the Communist Party, the Moscow City Duma deputy Leonid Zyuganov – in particular, for the insufficient number of views of posts on social networks. The Liberal Democrat even offered to give the communist a free social media masterclass.

Boris Chernyshov also stressed that he is the most experienced of all opposition candidates. “They are pioneers, they just came to parliament (Dmitry Gusev and Vladislav Davankov were first elected to the State Duma in 2021, and Leonid Zyuganov of the second convocation is a deputy of the Moscow City Duma.— “b”). Some of them don’t even know where the canteen is. They go hand to mouth, so they are so dissatisfied. This is my second convocation (in the State Duma.— “b”). I was the deputy head of the executive authority (Rosobrnadzor.— “b”),” the Liberal Democrat attacked his rivals. But he immediately promised, in the event of his victory, to invite all opposition candidates to work in the Moscow government.

At the same time, Mr. Chernyshov criticized his opponents for “frankly stupid populist initiatives that I do not allow.” Although the candidate from the Liberal Democratic Party himself, during the parliamentary recess, introduced several bills to the lower house at once, which quite fit the definition of “populist”. For example, he proposed to amend the Labor Code to reduce the working day at the request of the employee at high air temperatures (at 28.5 ° C – for an hour, from 28.6 to 29 ° C – for two hours, from 29.1 ° C and more – by four hours) and supplement the law on advertising with a norm according to which the interruption of a TV program by advertising blocks must be accompanied by a demonstration of a countdown until the resumption of broadcasting. In addition, the vice-speaker turned to the Minister of Culture Olga Lyubimova with a proposal to award the title of People’s Artist of Russia to singer Mikhail Shufutinsky. This appeal is dated September 3 – the date from the song of Mr. Shufutinsky, which gave rise to a large number of memes on the Internet. Although Boris Chernyshov himself explained his initiative not at all by the pursuit of “hype”, but by the continuation of the work of the late founder of the Liberal Democratic Party, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, who, according to the mayoral candidate, “achieved that Shufutinsky was given an honored artist of Russia.” Other proposals of the deputy, according to him, are also due not to populism, but solely to concern for citizens.

Summing up the results of the campaign that has not yet ended (voting in the Moscow mayoral elections will take place from September 8 to 10), Mr. Chernyshov said that he and his team have already held 98 meetings and events, and over the remaining week their number will reach 120. At the same time, according to According to the Liberal Democrat, he receives ten times more appeals than other deputies participating in the mayoral elections, and most of all people are concerned about issues related to overhaul, noise, clean water and air, and security. In addition to solving these problems, Boris Chernyshov also promised to “fight the main problem for the person as a whole – the epidemic of loneliness.” To do this, he plans to create places where people could meet.

The president of the Minchenko Consulting holding, Yevgeny Minchenko, assesses the election campaign of Boris Chernyshov as successful, especially noting outdoor advertising, where the candidate casts a shadow of Vladimir Zhirinovsky. “Given the fact that electoral points are secondary here, and positioning in the elites can be more significant, I think Chernyshov did a good job of rolling out the program,” the expert says. And Mr. Minchenko considers the main loser from the debates to be Leonid Zyuganov, who did not appear at them, who “should not be afraid of more experienced opponents – he could have been given an indulgence for his youth.”

Ksenia Veretennikova