The mayor is moved along the party line – Kommersant

As it became known to Kommersant, the current mayor of Moscow, Sergei Sobyanin, this year will run for a new term from United Russia, and not as an independent candidate, as in the previous two elections. The metropolitan branch of United Russia told Kommersant that the nomination will take place at a party conference, the date of which will be determined after the official start of the campaign. The head of the Moscow branch of the party and deputy chairman of the State Duma, Pyotr Tolstoy, told Kommersant that Mr. Sobyanin’s decision to nominate from the party was due to his close connection with United Russia and the consolidation of society around the president’s party. According to a recent study by Russian Field, 67% of all respondents and 74% of those who intend to participate in the elections are now ready to vote for Sergei Sobyanin.

The current mayor of Moscow, Sergei Sobyanin, plans to run again for this post and take part in the autumn elections as a candidate from United Russia (ER), and not as an independent candidate. This was reported to Kommersant by a source close to the Moscow mayor’s office, and confirmed in the metropolitan branch of EP. For Mr. Sobyanin, this will be the third election of the mayor of the capital. In 2010, he was appointed to this post by the president, and then twice, in 2013 and 2018, he won direct elections as a self-nominated candidate with the support of the United Russia, which did not nominate its own candidate.

“In the election of the mayor of the capital, the Moscow United Russia party plans to nominate Sergei Semenovich Sobyanin as a candidate for the post of Moscow mayor,” Kommersant was told in the press service of the Moscow branch of the United Russia Party. “Sergey Sobyanin is a member of the Bureau of the Supreme Council of the United Russia party. In 2021, he headed the party list of United Russia in the elections of the State Duma of the Russian Federation, did a lot for the development of the capital, for the implementation of the People’s Program of United Russia. The nomination will take place at a party conference, the date of which will be determined after the publication of the decision to call the elections, the press service added.

The leader of the Moscow United Russia Party, State Duma Vice Speaker Pyotr Tolstoy, told Kommersant that the mayor’s decision to run this year from the party is due to his close connection with United Russia, as well as the consolidation of society around the president and his party. “During the time that Sergei Sobyanin has been in charge of the city, he has implemented a huge number of projects that have qualitatively changed the lives of not only Muscovites. The metropolitan approaches, tested in Moscow, actually changed life in the country. Therefore, he is the person whose candidacy is easy to defend precisely because of real achievements,” Mr. Tolstoy explained.

Recall that the election of the mayor of Moscow is appointed by the Moscow City Duma 90-100 days before the single voting day. This year it is scheduled for September 10, and therefore the election must be announced no earlier than June 2 and no later than June 12, after which the nomination of candidates will begin. Earlier, Kommersant reported that in these elections the opposition will be represented only by nominees of parliamentary parties: as a Kommersant source familiar with the situation explained, a candidate from the non-parliamentary opposition is unlikely to be able to pass the municipal filter, since for this it will be necessary to enter into contractual relations with deputies from ER.

Meanwhile, on May 18, the Russian Field research service published a fresh study on the socio-political situation in the capital and a comprehensive assessment of the electoral mood of Muscovites. The survey was conducted on May 12–13 among 1,000 respondents. According to sociologists, two-thirds of respondents (65%) know that mayoral elections will be held this year, and 72% of respondents announced their intention to take part in them. Of those who are going to vote, 55% plan to do so in person at the polling station, and 40% of Muscovites are more likely to choose the electronic method of expressing their will. “The majority of respondents aged 18 to 44 prefer the electronic voting format: from 52% to 56%. In the age group of 27-34 years, there are the most ready to vote through the DEG and the least supporters of going to the polling station: 56% and 41%, respectively,” the authors of the study note.

Among potential candidates for mayor, Sergei Sobyanin is the most recognizable — 96.8% of respondents know him. In second place is the grandson of the Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov, Moscow City Duma deputy Leonid Zyuganov: his name is familiar to 46.9% of respondents. Next come the Deputy Chairman of the State Duma from the LDPR Boris Chernyshov (16.3%) and the leader of the metropolitan branch of A Just Russia – For the Truth, State Duma deputy Dmitry Gusev (11.8%). Muscovites are least familiar with the Vice Speaker of the State Duma from the New People party, Vladislav Davankov. If the elections were like this coming Sunday, then 66.8% of all respondents would vote for Sergei Sobyanin, and the rest of the candidates in aggregate would gain less than 10%, follows from the poll data. Among those who intend to participate in the elections, the incumbent mayor is supported by 73.9%. At the same time, Leonid Zyuganov has the highest anti-rating: 18.8% of respondents would not vote for him “under no circumstances”.

Among political parties, by far the highest rating in Moscow belongs to United Russia (45.2%), which is well ahead of the Liberal Democratic Party (8.6%) and the Communist Party (8.5%). On the fourth line – “Fair Russia – For the Truth” (5.1%), and “New People” and “Yabloko” are preferred by 4.3% and 4% of respondents, respectively. 10.7% of Muscovites do not want to vote for any of the listed parties, another 12% found it difficult to answer. Yabloko has the highest anti-rating (34.9%), the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (16.1%) and United Russia (15.5%) are also in the top three in this indicator.

On the whole, as follows from the Russian Field survey, 82% of respondents are satisfied with the state of affairs in Moscow, 14% are rather dissatisfied, and the rest found it difficult to answer.

Elena Rozhkova