The Communists did not get a discount – Picture of the Day – Kommersant

On Thursday, January 26, the Legislative Assembly of the Altai Territory failed to adopt amendments to reduce the municipal filter in the autumn gubernatorial elections from 7% to 5%, although the opposition factions that supported this idea in total control half of the mandates. This initiative was made by the Communist Party faction, according to which the 7% barrier with a large number of municipalities excludes the possibility of registering a truly opposition candidate. United Russia voted against the proposed changes, accusing the Communists of unwillingness to fight for deputy mandates at the regional level.

The bill on amendments to the regional code on elections and referendums was developed by the Communist Party faction to “reduce artificial restrictions that prevent representatives of various political parties from participating in the gubernatorial elections.” Now a gubernatorial candidate must enlist the support of 7% of local deputies and elected heads of municipalities in the region, and the Communists have proposed lowering this bar to 5%. Federal law allows, at the discretion of the regions, a fork from 5% to 10%.

“In many subjects, the municipal filter is set at 5%. There are 695 municipalities in the Altai Territory, but our election code sets the filter size at 7%. We are the only subject where, in absolute terms, there is the largest municipal filter,” Andrey Krivov, head of the Communist Party faction, said at the session. According to him, in ten regions, where there are more than 445 municipalities, the municipal filter is exactly the minimum 5%.

Now there are 7.2 thousand municipalities in the Altai Territory – accordingly, for registration, a candidate for governor needs to collect 504 signatures.

If the filter was reduced to 5%, their number would be reduced to 360.

Other opposition members also supported the amendments. “The Just Russia – For Truth (SRZP) faction, of course, will support this bill, because we support any measures aimed at ensuring competitiveness, openness and legitimacy of electoral processes,” said its leader Alexander Molotov. In his opinion, the attitude towards the amendments is a marker that allows you to determine whether the party is really opposition. The initiative was also supported by the leader of the LDPR faction, Vladimir Semyonov, and the head of the faction of the Communists of Russia, traditionally competing with the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, Sergey Matasov. “Despite another PR comrade from the Zyuganov party, our faction decided to support this initiative as a whole, since it is still aimed more at direct democracy in the interests of the inhabitants of the Altai Territory,” Mr. Matasov explained.

United Russia (ER) did not see the need to change the rules of the election campaign and “twist the law in a way that is convenient.”

“Only in 22 regions the filter is smaller than ours, in 27 subjects it is the same – 7%. We can say that we have a normal, working municipal filter,” said Denis Goloborodko, deputy speaker of the Legislative Assembly and deputy head of the United Russia faction. He also recalled that in the municipal elections in 2022, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation nominated only 700 candidates for 5.5 thousand mandates. “Today it is necessary to continue to work on the ground. Some political parties succeed, which we advise others to do as well,” Mr. Goloborodko summed up.

The low activity of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation in the countryside was also noted by independent deputy Elena Khrustaleva: “Out of 144 seats, only two people were nominated for the post of head of the village council by the regional branch, and even those did not pass.” She called the seven percent barrier for the Altai Territory the golden mean. Recallthat in the fall of 2022, Mrs. Khrustaleva was expelled from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation for voting for the draft regional budget, contrary to the position of the party.

In the current convocation of the Legislative Assembly of the Altai Territory, United Russia does not have a majority: it has only 31 out of 67 mandates, and the four factions that supported the amendments have a total of 34. However, the bill of the Communists received only 30 votes in the end, while 35 votes were required for the adoption of the amendments – a majority from the list number of deputies (68).

Elections of the head of the Altai Territory are scheduled for September this year. In 2018, the candidate from United Russia Viktor Tomenko won them with 53.6% of the vote. In addition to him, nominees of the Liberal Democratic Party, A Just Russia and the Party of Growth fought for the post. The Communist Party refused to participate in the campaign, citing the high threshold of the municipal filter.

However, even lowering the filter to 5% would not guarantee the registration of opposition gubernatorial candidates.

According to the Socialist-Revolutionary Molotov, the SRZP has 352 municipal deputies in the region, while other parties have even fewer. In his opinion, it would be better to allow self-nominated candidates to participate in the elections, which would make it possible to nominate a single candidate from the opposition. And the Liberal Democrat Semyonov suggested abolishing the filter for candidates from parliamentary parties.

“None of the opposition parties has the required number of deputies to pass the municipal filter in the Altai Territory,” confirms political consultant Konstantin Lukin. In his opinion, the initiative of the Communist Party is rather a way to draw attention to the possible nomination of his candidate.

Valery Lavsky, Novosibirsk