The growth of the rating of “United Russia” turned to face the governors

On March 29, deputies of the Legislative Assembly of Primorsky Territory adopted amendments to the regional electoral code by a majority of votes, prohibiting self-nominated candidates from participating in gubernatorial elections. Now a candidate for the post of head of the region can only be nominated by a political party. During the meeting, Yevgeny Lyashenko, a member of the Communist Party faction, recalled that the right of self-nominated candidates to run for governor was established in 2018.

The author of the new amendment, Andrei Andreichenko, head of the LDPR faction, replied to the communist that “the role of political parties should be emphasized and increased” (quoted by RIA Novosti).

“If a person represents a political force, he should be associated with this political force, and thus here the political system needs only to be developed <...> If a person cannot come to an agreement with several dozen political parties that exist and are registered in our country, then, probably, he should not submit his candidacy, ”Andreichenko said. His amendment was supported by 24 deputies, 11 voted against.

An interlocutor of Vedomosti, close to the presidential administration (AP), says that the changes in legislation in Primorye are the initiative of the governor of Primorsky Krai Oleg Kozhemyako, as he fears that a strong independent candidate may come forward against him. At the same time, he recalls that Kozhemyako himself was a self-nominated candidate for the election of the governor of Primorye, and it was for him that the legislation changed in 2018. Another interlocutor close to the Presidential Administration says that the amendments are Kozhemyako’s proposal.

“2018, when Kozhemyako himself ran as an independent candidate, is already a different era,” he ironically says. Then he was nominated to the leadership of the region in the re-elections, after the first two rounds did not officially determine the winner (the main candidates were United Russia Governor Andrey Tarasenko and communist Andrey Ishchenko).

One of Vedomosti’s sources notes that in recent years, candidates from the authorities have been self-nominated in gubernatorial elections in those regions where there were some kind of intra-elite or coalition agreements. According to another interlocutor, this is due, among other things, to the ratings of United Russia: where the party had normal ratings, candidates came from it, and where there were problems in the elections in previous years and the rating was low, they were self-nominated.

Legislative changes in Primorye reinforce the recent trend towards the partisanization of the political process in the regions. It is connected with the United Russia rating, which throughout 2022 grew along with the level of approval of all government institutions. According to the All-Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VTsIOM), as of the end of January 2023, the electoral rating of the ruling party is 38%. A sharp rise (from 30%) occurred after the start of a special military operation in Ukraine.

At the moment, out of 21 constituent entities of the Federation, in which gubernatorial elections will be held on September 10, 2023, self-nomination is available only in three: in the Kemerovo and Omsk regions and in Moscow. The issue of admission of self-nominated candidates is always taken on an individual basis, political scientist Rostislav Turovsky told Vedomosti. “But most recently, the governors have again become closely interconnected with United Russia, so the peak of self-nominations has passed. In addition, self-nomination is the risk of resource candidates from the local elite appearing in the elections, and this is what governors fear the most,” Turovsky explained.

Political scientist Yevgeny Minchenko notes that “very often certain changes to the legislation are adopted for specific figures,” as was once the case with Kozhemyako. “In general, there has recently been a trend of partisanship, when the heads of regions who previously distanced themselves from United Russia begin to head regional branches (for example, in the Tomsk, Kirov and Sakhalin regions. – Vedomosti). It will lead to the fact that in a smaller number of regions this norm [о праве самовыдвиженцев участвовать в выборах] will be an exception,” he said.