The candidates were put on the counter – Newspaper Kommersant No. 149 (7350) dated 08/17/2022

The Moscow branch of the Just Russia – For Truth (SRZP) party has assessed the campaigns of its candidates for municipal deputies. For this, special KPIs were used: in particular, the capital’s party leadership assessed how party nominees conduct outdoor campaigning and work in social networks. The three best candidates received cash prizes ranging from 10,000 to 30,000 rubles, while the two worst candidates were excluded from the election. Experts believe that such amounts will not help the candidates much, and the “competition” itself is more likely aimed at making the campaign of the Right-wing Russians more visible.

As Kommersant was explained in the SRZP, the assessment of party candidates participating in municipal elections took place in four areas: meetings with voters, the release of campaign materials, door-to-door campaigning, and activity in social networks. Dmitry Gusev, secretary of the presidium of the SRZP central council for political affairs, chairman of the council of its Moscow branch, Dmitry Gusev, explained to Kommersant that meetings with voters and door-to-door campaigning were evaluated by the number of contacts acquired during them. “The important thing is not how many meetings there were, but how many people, based on their results, can be added to the base of their supporters. It is possible to hold ten meetings, but they will be visited by one person,” the party member noted.

As for work in social networks, the content of the posts was also evaluated here. “One of our candidates seems to have a lot of publications. But these were all reposts of other people’s messages. Nothing personal. He did not receive a high rating,” Mr. Gusev gave an example. According to him, on average, candidates were recommended to make seven to ten posts a week: they even received a special terms of reference, in which they were offered, among other things, the topics of messages for the week.

Based on the results of the last week, the management of the Moscow branch of SRZP identified the three most successful candidates who coped best with the implementation of KPI. For their work, they received small cash injections into their campaigns: Roksana Tumanova, a candidate in Northern Butovo, got 30 thousand rubles, Andrei Gulko, who ran in Northern Tushino, received 20 thousand rubles, and Sergei Lomakin, who was nominated in the Yakimanka district, received 10 thousand rubles. . In addition, following the results of the KPI analysis, the Social Revolutionaries withdrew two of their candidates from the municipal elections – Vladislav Pozhidaev (Pokrovskoye-Streshnevo) and Eduard Omelchenko (Cheryomushki). “Their participation in the political and other activities of the party turned out to be the lowest,” the SRZP explained, adding that the party intends to continue to use the methods of both “carrot” and “stick” during the campaign.

According to Dmitry Gusev, in a week the capital’s Right Russians are planning to hold a separate competition for the best agitation and propaganda materials, and in two weeks they will once again sum up the results of the KPI.

Political scientist Konstantin Kalachev believes that it always makes sense to try to motivate candidates. “In addition, by implementing KPI, hypothetically, you can beautifully get rid of not only passive ones, but also objectionable ones,” the expert believes. However, the gingerbread is “too small”, notes Mr. Kalachev: the money allocated to the best candidates is not enough even to pay for a lawyer or foreman of agitators. “If the city headquarters of the SZRP not only encouraged the winners financially, but also threw additional organizational resources into these districts, then the idea would have acquired completeness,” the political scientist sums up.

According to the head of the Petersburg Politics Foundation, Mikhail Vinogradov, the activities of the Moscow SRZP are rather a way to popularize the election campaign itself. So far, according to the expert, it is hardly noticeable: “This applies to the campaign in general, and the place of the Socialist-Revolutionaries in it.” In addition, the SRHR initiative works as a way for the party to get feedback from its candidates, Mr. Vinogradov adds: “Candidates will feel that their work is being evaluated. We can talk about effectiveness only if the campaign becomes more visible.”

Viktor Poturemsky, director of political analysis at INSOMAR, believes that such a KPI can be viewed as a kind of USE for candidates, that is, an attempt to somehow standardize the requirements for them. “You may like or dislike this approach, but the very attempt to introduce certain standards commands respect. However, an important question is how unconditional such standards will be for the party,” the expert says.

Andrey Vinokurov, Anastasia Kornya