The Communist Party of the Russian Federation proposes to return the proportional system of distribution of mandates to the Ulan-Ude City Council

On Thursday, the People’s Khural (parliament) of Buryatia will consider the initiative of the head of the republic, Alexei Tsydenov (United Russia), to cancel direct elections for the mayor of Ulan-Ude. Even representatives of the opposition have no doubts that the mayor will now be elected by deputies, and not by city residents. As “compensation,” the Communist Party of the Russian Federation proposes to return the proportional system of distribution of mandates to the City Council, which the municipal parliament abandoned ten years ago. However, the communists are unlikely to achieve what they want, the expert believes.

On March 28, at an extraordinary session of the People’s Khural, amendments to the republican law “On the Organization of Local Self-Government”, which Alexey Tsydenov introduced in January of this year, will be considered. The head of Buryatia wants to change the situation according to which the mayor of Ulan-Ude is elected through direct elections. Instead, city council deputies will elect the mayor from among candidates selected by a special commission based on the results of a competition.

The explanatory note to the project states that the competitive model, to which 17 out of 23 municipalities of Buryatia have already switched, “has shown its viability and effectiveness,” as it helps to “increase the requirements for the professional skills and knowledge of the applicant.” Among the reasons for the reform, “financial savings” are also mentioned against the backdrop of the “difficult situation in the country.” It should be noted that the budget of Ulan-Ude for the mayoral elections, which are scheduled to take place in September 2024, includes 86 million rubles.

A Kommersant source close to the government of the republic calls the amendments “an opportunity to level out the build-up of protest sentiments on the part of external hostile forces.” In 2019, the struggle for the post of mayor between the protege of the head of Buryatia, Igor Shutenkov, and the head of the republican committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, Senator Vyacheslav Markhaev, from which Mr. Shutenkov emerged victorious (52.5% of the votes against 36.6%), ended in rallies and even clashes with law enforcement officers.

It is curious that direct elections for the mayor of Ulan-Ude were already canceled in 2012. At that time, a “two-headed” system of municipal management was adopted: the mayor was elected from among the deputies and led the city council, and the head of the administration – the city manager – was determined by competition. However, in 2015, the khural returned the “single-headed” system and direct elections. At the moment, Ulan-Ude remains one of five regional capitals where the mayor is still elected by residents, along with Yakutsk (elections were held in 2021), Khabarovsk (in 2023), Anadyr and Abakan (elections are scheduled for 2024). In 2023, direct elections were canceled in Novosibirsk, in 2022 – in Tomsk.

The Communist Party faction believes that the consideration of the initiative was deliberately postponed to the end of March, although it was originally planned for February. “The authorities realized that on the eve of the presidential elections this would be untimely,” deputy faction leader Bair Tsyrenov told Kommersant. “Our position remains unchanged: we are against the abolition of direct elections.” At the same time, the communist admits that the bill, despite the protest of the opposition, will still be adopted, since United Russia controls the majority of seats in parliament (51 out of 66). He also excludes holding any street actions or pickets, since they are now “difficult to implement.”

The communists hope to at least partially neutralize the reform by changing the method of forming the city council itself, elections to which are also scheduled for September 2024. Now all 30 of its deputies are elected in majoritarian constituencies. According to the project introduced by deputies from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, the city parliament should return to a mixed system, in which half of the mandates go to candidates nominated on party lists. It was abandoned in Ulan-Ude back in 2014.

“If the mayoral elections are cancelled, the need to form a city council that takes into account political diversity becomes urgent. In addition, opposition parties will have the opportunity to influence the choice of the mayor,” Bair Tsyrenov explained to Kommersant. He fears that if the current system is maintained, United Russia may get all 30 mandates, since it seeks to “create the appearance of a monolith”: “The authorities do not pay attention to the need to have a diversity of opinions in a representative body.”

United Russia deputies interviewed by Kommersant said that they have not yet become familiar with the initiative of their colleagues from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation and, when considering it, will be guided by the opinion of the relevant committee and the recommendations of their own faction.

Observers, however, have no doubt that the Communist project will be rejected. Political scientist Alexey Mikhalev believes that returning the lists will add “confusion for voters.” “Residents of Ulan-Ude are accustomed to a majoritarian system; in each district, people know their representative. Deputies almost on a daily basis have to interact with schools, kindergartens, clinics of their single-mandate constituency, and resolve pressing issues. The consequences of the introduction of a mixed system look unpredictable in the city where more than half of the population of Buryatia lives, especially in the context of the possible exclusion of list deputies from problems “on the ground,” the expert sums up.

Vlad Nikiforov, Irkutsk