The lists of “United Russia” in the elections to several legislative assemblies will be headed by governors

The parties began to discuss who exactly would lead their party lists to elections to legislative assemblies. In at least six of the 20 regions where deputies will be elected in the fall, incumbent governors will lead United Russia in legislative elections, heading the general part of the list, says one of Vedomosti’s sources in the party. But two interlocutors emphasize that while this issue is being discussed: it is likely that there will be more steam locomotive governors in the elections.

“As a rule, governors head the party lists in elections to legislative assemblies,” says one of Vedomosti’s sources. – Sometimes there are exceptions due to compelling electoral reasons (probably meaning the unpopularity of the regional leader or his belonging to another party. – Vedomosti). But United Russia is trying to defend the need for the heads of regions to head the lists.” According to the regulation on the party’s primaries, participants in the general part of the list may not participate in the preliminary voting.

Governors Radiy Khabirov in Bashkiria, Aleksey Tsydenov in Buryatia, Aisen Nikolaev in Yakutia, Alexander Avdeev in the Vladimir region, Igor Kobzev in Irkutsk, Sergei Tsivilev in the Kemerovo region, Batu Khasikov in Kalmykia can head the lists of United Russia party members in legislative assembly elections, Batu Khasikov in Kalmykia, sources say. Vedomosti”. All of them, except for Tsivilev, are secretaries of the regional branches of United Russia.

The branch in Kuzbass is headed by Senator Alexei Sinitsyn. In addition, it is possible that the head of the Rostov region, Vasily Golubev, will head the list in the elections in the region, but Alexander Ishchenko, the chairman of the legislative assembly of the region, who heads the regional department, can also go there as a locomotive. In the elections to the legislative assembly of Khakassia, it is planned that the list will be led by State Duma deputy Sergei Sokol, whom United Russia plans to nominate against the incumbent governor, the communist Valentin Konovalov.

So far, the situation with the Trans-Baikal Territory is uncertain, where Governor Alexander Osipov went to the polls as a self-nominated candidate in 2019, but did not join United Russia. It is also not completely clear who will head the list in the elections to the assembly of deputies of the Nenets Autonomous Okrug, although the head of the region, Yuri Bezdudny, heads the regional department.

In the Yaroslavl and Ivanovo regions, there will be no head part of the list at the elections of deputies of the regional duma, respectively, the governors Mikhail Evraev and Stanislav Voskresensky will not head the lists. Evraev in 2022 went to the gubernatorial elections as a self-nominated candidate. Voskresensky was nominated by United Russia for his first gubernatorial election in 2018. The Ulyanovsk region is headed by the communist governor Alexei Russkikh.

Separately, the issue of who will head the lists in legislative assemblies in the new territories is being resolved. Now, out of four acting heads from the new territories, the branch of United Russia is headed only by the acting head of the DPR, Denis Pushilin. At the same time, the interlocutor in the party says that it would be right if in all four regions the lists in the legislature were headed by acting heads. Another interlocutor confirms this, adding that the configuration is now being coordinated with the presidential administration.

“Each campaign is an individual decision that finds the key to victory,” says Deputy Secretary of the United Russia General Council Sergei Perminov. – Who will be at the head of the lists, the party will decide later. Based on the situation that develops in each region, and based on the results of extensive research.

The LDPR has not yet decided who will head the lists, says Alexei Didenko, deputy head of the party’s central apparatus: “But we discussed this issue. Previously, Vladimir Zhirinovsky was the head of lists in elections to legislative assemblies, and sometimes in municipal elections, since according to the law, only the image of candidates can be used for campaigning in elections. Last year, there was a transitional period, Didenko adds: “Now it is being discussed that in most regions the lists will be headed by Leonid Slutsky – for the status of the lists and greater opportunities for campaigning.”

The Communist Party of the Russian Federation is also still discussing, which will continue until the end of May, and then the proposals will be submitted to the presidium, says Yury Afonin, First Deputy Chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation: “But it is likely that in most regions the first secretaries of the regional committees of the Communist Party will be at the head. In Khakassia, it is being discussed that the list will be headed by Governor Valentin Konovalov.”

In A Just Russia elections to legislative assemblies, the lists are traditionally headed by the heads of regional branches, says Dmitry Gusev, a member of the presidium of the party’s central council.

For United Russia, the tactics of locomotives is a long-tried and often used technique, said Rostislav Turovsky, vice president of the Center for Political Technologies: “Due to frequent use, it has lost its electoral meaning – it is important for governors to head the list in order to confirm the strength of their political positions and good relations with the center “.

In general, the leader of the list in regional elections can influence the campaign in two situations, says political scientist Alexander Kynev: “The first is if he is a local charismatic who has supporters, which is important in conditions of low turnout in elections. And the second is when, in the conditions of general disappointment in different candidates, someone new appears without a special anti-rating.” In the meantime, the parties are demonstrating a desire to build work with lists according to a conservative scenario, he believes.