The consent of the city takes – Newspaper Kommersant No. 147 (7348) of 08/15/2022

Last week, the registration of candidates for deputies of the representative bodies of the administrative centers of twelve regions was completed. An average of seven but no more than nine parties participate in campaigns. The number of registered candidates from Yabloko (the only party that criticizes Russia’s special operation in Ukraine) turned out to be comparable to the number of nominees from micro-parties. In general, the parties received a minimum percentage of refusals – in contrast to self-nominated candidates, whose list by the end of registration was reduced by more than half.

In September, elections will be held in 12 representative bodies of the administrative centers of the regions: in the dumas of Cherkessk, Barnaul, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Vladivostok, Kirov, Pskov, Tver, as well as in the council of deputies of Gorno-Altaisk, the city assembly of Kursk, the city council of Omsk, in the municipality of Yaroslavl and Khural representatives of Kyzyl. Among them, six assemblies will be elected by a mixed system, five by a majority system, and one (Cherkessk) by a proportional system.

According to the Central Election Commission, a total of 185 self-nominated candidates were nominated for elections in 12 cities, of which less than half made it to the election race – 90 people. In majoritarian districts, parties nominated 1,600 candidates, of which almost 1,500 were registered. In general, the parties received a minimum number of refusals (an average of three to five in all cities), but in some cases the number of withdrawals reached ten. Absolutely all single-mandate members were removed only from the Party for Justice (two candidates in Yaroslavl) and Yabloko (the list of candidates in Pskov and two candidates in Vladivostok). As Marina Zheleznyakova, deputy chairman of the Yabloko branch in Vladivostok, explained, the candidates were removed for objective reasons, there is no reason to appeal. Known for their persistence, the Pskov “Yabloko” continue to sue: their list of 15 single-mandate members was removed due to an error in the information about one of the candidates, but the opposition does not recognize it. The last session took place in the Pskov city court on August 8, the court refused to satisfy the claim.

Party lists received even fewer refusals: according to the CEC, out of 1,870 candidates, 1,816 registered. United Russia, Yabloko, Communists of Russia, the Greens, and the Party for Justice did not receive a single refusal to register their lists. The Motherland party received the most refusals (24), mainly due to the fact that the Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky Electoral Commission refused to register a party list of 22 people. The reason for the refusal was numerous violations in the signature lists.

The most competitive elections promise to be in Barnaul, where 20 deputies are elected in single-mandate constituencies, 20 – by party lists. The largest number of parties registered there (nine, in addition to the parliamentary five, they are Rodina, The Greens, Communists of Russia and the Russian Party of Pensioners for Social Justice), but only three are self-nominated.

Eight parties will compete for seats in the parliaments of Vladivostok, Kirov and Tver. Thus, all parties represented in the State Duma, United Russia, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, the SRZP, the Liberal Democratic Party and New People, as well as the Russian Party of Pensioners for Social Justice, which has a deputy in parliament, used the right to nominate representatives to the Vladivostok City Council without collecting voter signatures. Primorye. Nominees from the “Communists of Russia” and the Cossack Party successfully collected signatures in their support. In all districts, only the LDPR and the Communists of Russia registered candidates. However, this year the so-called “Our City Team” (the unofficial version is the “Shestakov bloc”) will go to the elections to the Vladivostok Duma, the candidates from which do not advertise their party affiliation. This team, along with Mayor Konstantin Shestakov, includes candidates not only from United Russia, but also from the Liberal Democratic Party, SRZP and New People.

If in Tver the results of registration were practically without unrest, then the election campaign in Kirov was not without scandal. In late June, the regional branch of the SRHR faced a mass exodus of its members. The party was left by the team of the deputy of the Kirov City Duma Nadezhda Suraeva, who joined the Liberal Democratic Party. The reason was the disagreement within the department: according to her, Ms. Suraeva was outraged by the fact of “selling” a place in the citywide party list of party candidates to a representative of a company that is considered affiliated with the Kirov United Russia businessman Konstantin Gozman.

The largest number of self-nominated candidates (58) is registered in Gorno-Altaisk, where 21 deputies of the city council will be elected only in single-mandate constituencies. This is a peak value against the background of other cities, where the average number of registered self-nominated candidates is 4 (not a single one was registered in Kyzyl). Of the parliamentary parties, candidates for the city assembly of Gorno-Altaisk were not nominated only by the New People, but the non-parliamentary Party of Affairs and Rodina succeeded. A total of 122 candidates were registered, including 58 self-nominated candidates.

It should be noted that New People is the only parliamentary party that did not nominate candidates in all regional capitals. Apart from Gorno-Altaysk, no candidate of the IP will participate in the election race in Cherkessk and Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.

Kira Heifetz, Correspondent Network