Regions are dealing with insufficient voter turnout in the presidential elections

Last week, the Central Election Commission summed up the official results of the presidential elections, the winner of which was Vladimir Putin with a record result. Kommersant studied the voting protocols and identified the entities that gave the president the largest increase in votes compared to the 2018 elections. The only region where fewer voters supported the current head of state than six years ago was the Komi Republic, which also became an anti-leader in terms of turnout. Kommersant’s sources in regions with low voter turnout do not rule out that “weak” results could cost local officials their jobs.

The largest increase in votes for Vladimir Putin was provided by the largest subjects – Moscow, the Moscow region and the Krasnodar Territory. In the capital, 1.38 million more voters voted for the current president than in 2018, in the Moscow region – by 1.37 million, and in Kuban – by 1.14 million. In percentage terms, this gave him an increase of 14.3, 12 and 11.3 p.p., respectively. Also, significantly more votes than in the previous elections were given for candidate Putin in the Rostov region (+682.6 thousand) and St. Petersburg (+589.4 thousand), although this did not affect the relative result so significantly (+ 11.8 and +6.7 p.p., respectively).

Let us remind you that according to the final data of the Central Election Commission, 76.28 million people voted for Vladimir Putin, or 87.28% of those who took part in the elections. This is 19.85 million more than in 2018, when the president was supported by 56.43 million voters (76.69%).

Bashkiria (+455.2 thousand votes), Chelyabinsk (+432.9 thousand), Nizhny Novgorod (+414.7 thousand), Samara (+399.3 thousand) and Sverdlovsk regions also saw significant increases in favor of the head of state regions (+372.9 thousand), Primorsky (+359.9 thousand) and Perm Territories (+354.7 thousand). Primorye also became one of the leaders in the growth of Vladimir Putin’s relative results: if in 2018 he was supported by 65.3% of voters in the region, then in 2024 – already 88.3% (+23.1 p.p.). The percentage increase was more significant only in the Jewish Autonomous Region (+24.9 p.p.) and Yakutia (+23.4 p.p.), although in terms of votes it was still less there (+46.4 thousand). and +102.9 thousand, respectively).

In total, 45 subjects gave Vladimir Putin more than 100 thousand additional votes each, another 11 – more than 50 thousand, the rest – less than 50 thousand. The outsiders were the small Nenets and Chukotka Autonomous Okrugs, where the increase in the result was 4.6 thousand and 4.9 thousand votes, respectively (+7.9 and +8.2 p.p.).

The only region where Vladimir Putin’s absolute result decreased was the Komi Republic. In 2018, 290.7 thousand people supported him there, and in 2024 – 286.7 thousand, that is, 4.1 thousand less. But the relative result was still higher by 9.1 percentage points. This is explained by a significant reduction in the number of voters in the region (by 65.4 thousand people over six years) and a drop in turnout from 60.4% to 58.5%. Attendance at polling stations in Komi generally turned out to be the worst among all 89 subjects, with an average turnout of 77.4%.

Turnout also decreased in the Kaluga region (from 68.1% to 68%), Udmurtia (from 63.5% to 63.3%), Buryatia (from 75.2% to 73.7%), Chuvashia (from 76. 2% to 73.4%) and Altai Territory (from 65.4% to 58.8%). In all other subjects it increased, and the leaders were the EAO (increase from 60.2% to 91.8%), Astrakhan (from 60.4% to 84.2%) and Ivanovo regions (from 58.5% to 80). .9%), Crimea (from 71.5% to 89.6%) and Sakhalin region (from 61.2% to 78.9%). In general, activity increased by ten percentage points or more in 32 regions.

Interestingly, in regions with low turnout they have already begun to look for those to blame. For example, the head of the Irkutsk region, Igor Kobzev, was dissatisfied with the result of 63.2%, although it exceeded the previous one by 7.5 percentage points. Already on the night of the vote count, Mr. Kobzev publicly blamed the lack of turnout on the heads of municipalities, who “did not reach out to residents,” and advised them to “work on their mistakes.” “This is part of history, which should be a lesson for them,” the governor threatened. However, the officials responsible for the elections will not be seriously punished yet, Kommersant sources familiar with the situation say.

But in Udmurtia, where turnout dropped by 0.7 percentage points, even personnel changes are possible. According to Kommersant’s interlocutors, they may affect the internal policy department of the administration of the head of the republic. In Chuvashia, a reduction in turnout by 2.9 percentage points was already discussed at a closed meeting in the administration of the head of the region, Kommersant’s source knows, and the blame was laid on the leadership of the largest cities – Cheboksary, Novocheboksarsk and Alatyr. Kommersant’s interlocutor says that their heads can be “quietly squeezed out without public scandals and demonstrative vices.”

Finally, personnel decisions are also expected in Komi. Kommersant’s interlocutor, close to the administration of the head of the republic, says that the reshuffle may affect officials responsible for the internal policy of the region. “A debriefing also simply must be done in relation to the regional branch of United Russia, which is traditionally responsible for mobilizing voters,” adds the Kommersant source. He justifies the weak turnout by the large number of “dead souls” in the northern cities of Inta and Vorkuta, about which the republic’s leadership repeatedly complained to the Central Election Commission, as well as by the bad weather that prevailed over the weekend.

Andrey Prah, corset “Kommersant”