Rumors began around direct elections – Newspaper Kommersant No. 207 (7408) dated 11/09/2022

The administration of Khabarovsk, headed by United Russia Sergei Kravchuk, on Tuesday commented on earlier information about the possible cancellation of direct mayoral elections. They said that such “drastic decisions” can only be made after discussion with the population. Theoretically, the regional Duma, controlled by the Liberal Democratic Party, can replace direct elections with a competitive procedure. But after that, the city parliament, split into three opposing groups, is unlikely to agree to vote for a candidate loyal to the regional authorities, the expert believes.

“The position of the mayor is unequivocal: this is a decision (on the method of electing the mayor.— “b”), in a good way, should be accepted by people,” Nikolai Nagorny, head of the press service of the Khabarovsk mayor’s office, told RIA Novosti on Tuesday. “If people think that it’s easier to choose, then it’s more correct to choose. If people think that the appointment of deputies is good, then, accordingly, people know better.” According to the official, the issue of abolishing direct elections “sooner or later will be discussed”, so it is necessary to organize, for example, public hearings to find out the opinion of the population. “In fact, such sharp leaps in the history of our great Russia have never led to anything good,” summed up Mr. Nagorny.

Recall that the future of the election of the mayor of Khabarovsk began to be actively discussed after the cancellation of the popular vote in Tomsk (see Kommersant on October 27), since the direct procedure for expressing will remained in a few regional capitals (in addition to Khabarovsk, these are Abakan, Novosibirsk, Ulan-Ude, Anadyr and Yakutsk ). On November 3, the Vedomosti newspaper reported that a decision on the Khabarovsk elections could be made by February-March 2023 (Sergey Kravchuk’s term expires in September), and among the supporters of the abolition of direct voting is Governor Mikhail Degtyarev (LDPR), who wants to see the mayor ” his person.”

At the end of last year, the Khabarovsk liberal democrats had already paved the way for reform: then, at their suggestion, the region’s legislative duma allowed municipal deputies to independently determine the model for electing a mayor in direct elections or through a competition. Previously, in large cities, including Khabarovsk, only the first option was possible. Representatives of the Liberal Democratic Party explained the amendments by saving money when voting in hard-to-reach areas. United Russia members were skeptical about them, but this did not affect the voting results, because the majority in the Duma is controlled by the Liberal Democrats. Mr. Kravchuk then said that in the matter of the electoral model, “it is important to rely on public opinion.”

According to a Kommersant source in the City Duma of Khabarovsk, the municipal parliament controlled by the Liberal Democratic Party was already ready to consider replacing direct elections with a contest, but this was prevented by the transition of ten liberal democrats to United Russia (ER). The demarche was staged by deputies allegedly close to the city administration, says the interlocutor of Kommersant. And now the Liberal Democratic Party controls 14 out of 35 seats in the City Duma, United Russia – 10, A Just Russia – For Truth – 9, the Communist Party – 1, and one more deputy remains non-partisan. In this situation, none of the political forces is able to independently change the charter of the city and cancel direct elections (at least 24 votes are needed for this), and the deputies are clearly not able to agree yet. For example, at the end of October, the Liberal Democrats disrupted a meeting at which the Social Revolutionaries and United Russia tried to elect a new speaker.

In the regional branch of the LDPR, the intention to initiate the abolition of direct elections of the mayor is denied. Ivan Rybin, deputy coordinator of the regional cell, City Duma deputy, told Kommersant that “possible models of political alignments will have to wait.” “In our most difficult time, when we are conducting a special military operation in Ukraine, it would not be entirely correct to talk about some domestic political innovations,” he said. State Duma deputy from the Khabarovsk Territory Maxim Ivanov (ER) told Kommersant that United Russia “has nothing to discuss yet,” since the initiative “may or may not follow.” He also did not hesitate to recall that during the 2019 election campaign, when elections to the regional and city dumas were held, one of the main promises of the Liberal Democratic Party was precisely the preservation of direct elections (the region was then led by liberal democrat Sergey Furgal, later arrested on suspicion of organizing contract killings). Mikhail Sidorov, leader of the Social Revolutionaries in the City Duma of Khabarovsk, told Kommersant that their group would definitely not support the initiative if it was submitted to parliament.

The abolition of direct elections does not yet look like an expedient step on the part of the regional authorities, since it will increase the conflict in the City Duma, where split lines have already formed, political scientist Rostislav Turovsky believes. “The current deputy corps is not like the one with which it will be easy to agree on the approval of a candidate for mayor. Given the protest potential that remains in Khabarovsk, as well as the attention of the politicized part of the public to direct elections after the decision in Tomsk, it may be more correct to maintain the status quo,” the expert argues.

Andrey Ashes; Ernest Filippovsky, Khabarovsk