The struggle of the Central Electoral Committee with the “twins” in the elections was not successful

As Kommersant found out, the struggle of the Central Election Commission against attempts to confuse the voter by nominating candidates with matching last names has not yet been successful. The CEC tried to put an end to this practice after the scandal with the nomination of three Boris Vishnevskys for the elections of the legislative assembly of St. Petersburg in 2021. Last week it became known that eight candidates with the same surname were nominated for one of the district councils of the Voronezh region at once. The sophistication of technologists is growing: not only the names of candidates, but also their positions and places of work have begun to “double”.

For elections to the Semiluksky District Council Voronezh region in constituency No. 11, eight candidates named Vakhtin were nominated at once: Alexander, Alexei, Anatoly, Anton, Viktor, Vladimir, Evgeny and Yuri. Seven of them are self-nominated, and only Vladimir is running for the Rodina party. Representatives of United Russia and the Liberal Democratic Party also claim the mandate.

According to Kommersant, Vladimir Vakhtin is close to the former mayor of Semiluk, Sergei Shevelyukhin, who last year refused to resign at the request of Governor Alexander Gusev, which is why the head of the region had to dismiss him through the courts. The ex-mayor is also running for the district council from Rodina, and in his constituency No. 5 there is also a namesake – self-nominated Sergey Shevelyukhin. In addition, candidates with the same last name meet in constituency No. 1, where Elena Nekrasova-Brezhneva (“Motherland”) is opposed by self-nominated candidates Kirill and Evgenia Nekrasov, and Alexander Karaulov (KPRF) is opposed by self-nominated Denis Karaulov.

The local electoral committee explains that they cannot refuse registration to candidates with the same surnames, since they check their documents only for compliance with the law, and it does not contain such prohibitions.

Based on the results of the check, six out of eight Vakhtins, as well as all namesakes in other districts, will take part in the elections.

Recall that the use of “twins”, that is, candidates with the same last name, first name, and sometimes middle name, caused a loud scandal in the elections in 2021. Then, two candidates ran against the deputy of the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg Boris Vishnevsky (“Yabloko”), who differed from the “original” only in patronymics: they had previously changed their names, surnames and even their appearance. After the scandal, the State Duma adopted amendments according to which the ballot should contain the old full names if the candidate changed them in the last year before the vote, but this obviously did not solve the problem with natural “doubles” (that is, those who did not change their full names for the election).

During the current election campaign, Kommersant discovered other examples of the use of this technology.

Yes, in Lipetsk region in the by-elections to the State Duma, against the leader of the Communist Party faction in the regional council, Sergei Tokarev, a former member of the local electoral committee Oleg Tokarev (“Communists of Russia”, KPKR) advanced. Two years ago, in the main elections, he already ran against a communist in another constituency, but from the Pensioners’ Party.

In elections to the legislature Ulyanovsk region “doubles” from the KPRF also came forward against the candidates from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation. In constituency No. 6, this is retired Andrei Ivanov – the full namesake of the current deputy from the Communist Party. In constituency No. 10, Lyudmila Shishkova, director of the Center for Children’s Creativity, Lyudmila Shishkova (KPRF), is going against the vice-mayor of Dimitrovgrad, Lyudmila Shishkina (KPRF). And in constituency No. 15, from which the current deputy Yevgeny Vasin (KPRF) was previously elected, the unemployed Valery Vasin (KPRF) was nominated.

However, the Communists from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation applied for registration a little later than the Communists from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, and therefore managed to replace candidates in constituencies No. 6 and No. 15. “As a person, I take this very negatively, but as the chairman of the commission I can’t do anything,” Yury Andrienko, head of the Ulyanovsk Regional Electoral Committee, told Kommersant. “Only legislation can oppose such technology, but there is no concept of “doubles” in the law.”

In elections to the legislature Irkutsk region six nominees with similar names were immediately found who are running against candidates from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation and A Just Russia – For Truth (SRZP) in single-member districts. Five of them were nominated by the Russian Party of Social Justice, and one more by the Civic Platform. Among the likely “twins” are an employee of an industrial enterprise, a driver, a swimming instructor, individual entrepreneurs, and even an unemployed resident of Penza. “Despite the overused technology, it is dangerous, since some of the votes will still be lost,” Larisa Yegorova, head of the SRZP cell, told Kommersant. Please don’t interfere.”

Curiously, in the neighboring Buryatia the Socialist-Revolutionaries themselves act as probable “twins”. In the elections to the People’s Khural in one of the districts, the candidate from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Valery Molokov is opposed by Oleg Molokov (SRZP). And in another district, the deputy of the People’s Khural from the Communist Party Bair Tsyrenov is trying to compete with the nominated SRZP Mikhail Tsyrenov.

Appear namesakes and municipal elections.

For example, in the city council Yekaterinburg Entrepreneur Andrey Volodin independently advanced against speaker Igor Volodin (United Russia), student Yekaterina Ovchinnikova opposed the former head of the United Russia faction Ira Ovchinnikova (both, however, were denied registration), and unemployed Maxim, against the member of the regional public chamber Valery Cherkashin Cherkashin (lost his candidate status).

In the elections to the city council Tolyatti there are namesakes in eight constituencies at once, and somewhere the likely “doubles” are candidates from the KPKR competing with representatives of the SRZP, and somewhere the Social Revolutionaries themselves, who are going against United Russia. In constituency No. 33, two Valentina Semibratovs came forward – from the KPKR and SRZP. Right-wing Russians claim that the “communist” recently changed her surname, but this information is not yet available in the GAS “Vybory”.

Finally, for the by-elections to the City Duma Izhevsk As a self-nominated citizen, a citizen declared himself with a candidate from the United Russia in the same district who completely coincided not only with his full name, but also with his place of work and position: Mikhail Yuryevich Pocheptsov, General Director of Argon 19 LLC. They differed only in the date of birth (by one year) and the place of study. As it turned out, previously self-nominated Pocheptsov had a different middle name and last name, and his company was registered only in June 2023. But he was denied registration not because of this, but because of the concealment of information about his criminal record.

Andrey Prakh, corset “Kommersant”