The mandates of the opposition members of the Novosibirsk-2020 coalition in the City Council will go to United Russia

The victory of United Russia (UR) ended by-elections to the Novosibirsk City Council in two single-mandate constituencies, where three years ago the nominees of the opposition coalition “Novosibirsk-2020”, deprived of their mandates in the summer of 2023, won. The results of the vote will allow United Russia to strengthen control over parliament in the municipality, which has been led by communist Anatoly Lokot for almost ten years. This convocation of the City Council next year will have to elect the head of the city from among the candidates selected by the competition commission. Mr. Lokot has already stated that he is not going to participate in the competition.

In Novosibirsk, on December 17, three-day voting ended in by-elections to the City Council in districts No. 40 and No. 49. Vacancies in parliament appeared after the deprivation of mandates in June 2023 of Helga Pirogova and Sergei Boyko (both included in the register of foreign agents), who were part of the Novosibirsk-2020 coalition formed by independent deputies in the 2020 elections. The by-elections did not arouse much interest among the townspeople: the turnout was 16.85% in district No. 40 and 17.96% in district No. 49 – this is less than in 2020, although then voting took place on the same day.

Victory in both cases went to candidates from United Russia. According to preliminary data from the State Automated System “Elections”, in the 40th district, 2.97 thousand voters (59.1%) voted for the deputy of the regional legislative assembly Anastasia Andronova, and in the 49th district, the deputy head of the public foundation “Towards Victory Together” Alexander Bykovsky supported by 2.1 thousand people (50.6%). The second candidates were from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation: head of the legal department of the Association of Defrauded Shareholders and Investors Maxim Egorov (1.8 thousand votes) and adviser to the head of the metro Sergei Sukhorukov (1.7 thousand).

Let us recall that the mayoral elections in 2014 in Novosibirsk were won by the first secretary of the regional committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, Anatoly Lokot, who was re-elected in 2019 for a second term. But over the past ten years, the communists have failed to take control of the city council.

In 2015, United Russia won 32 of 38 single-member constituencies, and according to the results of the 2020 elections, United Russia had 28 out of 50 seats in the City Council.

In 2020, there were no United Russia candidates in the 40th and 49th districts, but the Chairman of the Advertising and Information Committee of the City Hall, Dmitry Lobynya, and the Second Secretary of the Regional Committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (now State Duma Deputy) Renat Suleymanov were nominated from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation. In total, they received 3.49 thousand votes, and in 2023 Maxim Egorov and Sergei Sukhorukov practically repeated this result.

“United Russia won because systemic work was organized, there is a preliminary voting procedure, which is supported by the best candidates who are ready to participate in the elections under the flag of United Russia. In the elections of December 15–17, United Russia gained almost one hundred percent results. All our candidates nominated or supported by us won a landslide victory and are ready to continue working for the benefit of the entire Novosibirsk region,” Kommersant commented on the results of the elections in the regional United Russia.

According to Roman Yakovlev, secretary of the regional committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation for election campaigns, the leadership of the Novosibirsk communists will sum up the election results in the coming days.

Candidates from other parliamentary parties received only symbolic support from voters. For example, representatives of the LDPR Evgeny Kobzev and Vladislav Ryzhov received a total of only 51 votes in two districts – 15 times less than two candidates from this party three years earlier.

Let us note that candidates supported by the Novosibirsk-2020 coalition were not allowed to participate in the by-elections due to “involvement in extremist activities.” “I advised supporting candidates from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, since only they conducted real election campaigns, which is generally visible from the voting results. How many votes Sukhorukov would have received if he had focused on solving the city’s problems instead of PR for a long-dead dictator, one can only guess,” appreciated election results coalition member, city council deputy Anton Kartavin.

Political scientist Alexei Osipov explains the lack of growth in support for candidates from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation primarily by the state of the city, which is headed by the communist Lokot: “Despite the fact that many deputies from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation work effectively and put forward programs that the population greets with sympathy, the very results of the leadership (of the mayor’s office.— “Kommersant”) do not cause much admiration. This worked against us.” At the same time, political scientist Vladimir Leontyev believes that the results of the by-elections cannot be extrapolated to the 2025 elections. In his opinion, United Russia has recently been strengthening its position, but other parties still have their own niches. In addition, it is impossible to accurately predict the general political situation in which elections to the City Council will take place in two years.

After the official summing up of the election results, the United Russia faction will increase from 28 to 30 deputies.

In September 2024, this composition of the City Council will, for the first time in the history of Novosibirsk, have to elect a mayor from among the candidates selected by the competition commission. Last week Anatoly Lokot told the publication “BFM-Novosibirsk”that he does not plan to participate in the competition.

Valery Lavsky, Novosibirsk