To the fullest extent of peacetime – Newspaper Kommersant No. 38 (7483) dated 03/06/2023

In the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics (DNR and LNR), as well as in the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions, the development of electoral legislation is being completed. Despite the martial law, they are preparing to hold parliamentary elections in September according to the standards of any “peaceful” Russian region. For example, “small” parties will need to collect signatures to register a list of candidates, making them less likely to appear on the ballot.

In March-April, the People’s Council (parliament) of the DPR will consider a bill fixing the regulatory framework for holding elections on a single voting day (UDG) on September 10, a source close to the leadership of the republic told Kommersant. According to him, the document can be submitted to the Parliament this month. Traditionally, legislative work is carried out simultaneously with the DPR in the People’s Council of the LPR, a Kommersant source in the neighboring republic added. In the councils themselves, these issues have not yet been commented on, their speakers Vladimir Bidevka and Denis Miroshnichenko have not answered Kommersant’s calls.

The election campaign officially starts in early June, so the Donbass deputies must adopt election laws by the end of May. The authorities of Zaporizhia and Kherson regions must meet the same deadline. There, the regulatory framework will be fixed by decrees of the interim governors Yevgeny Balitsky and Vladimir Saldo, since there are no legislative bodies in both subjects yet. Recall that in September of this year, residents of the new territories will be able to elect only deputies of the regional and municipal levels. The highest officials of the regions will be elected by the parliaments on the proposal of the President of the Russian Federation. In the DPR and LPR, the corresponding procedure is already enshrined in republican constitutions (see Kommersant of December 30), and in the regions it will be fixed in charters after the formation of legislative bodies, a source familiar with the preparation of this process told Kommersant.

The first compositions of the parliaments of the new subjects are planned to be formed entirely according to the proportional system, that is, the mandates will be distributed only between party lists that have won more than 5% of the votes, interlocutors in both republics told Kommersant and confirmed a source in one of the regions. This approach is due to the territorial factor: a significant part of the DPR, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions, as well as a small piece of the LPR are still under the control of the armed forces of Ukraine. “Cut (single-member.— “b”) districts are not a problem, just so that later they don’t have to be cut upwards,” one of Kommersant’s sources explained the expediency of using the proportional system.

Recall that on October 20 last year, President Vladimir Putin introduced martial law in all four new subjects of the Russian Federation. According to the federal constitutional law “On Martial Law”, elections are not held during its period of operation, however, without exception, all interlocutors assured Kommersant that this contradiction would be removed by September. One of the sources suggested that special “Donbass amendments” could be made to the law. Do not doubt the voting and officials. For example, on March 3, Denis Pushilin, acting head of the DPR, stated at the first meeting of the republic’s election commission that the elections would be held, “as in all of Russia, in the EDG.” A similar statement was made the next day by Acting Governor of the Zaporizhzhya Region Yevhen Balitsky.

As Kommersant reported earlier, parliamentary parties are already preparing for elections in new regions (see Kommersant of January 16). On March 1, United Russia launched intra-party primaries, making a number of significant exceptions to the usual rules for candidates for deputies in the annexed territories. For example, it will not be necessary for them to have only Russian citizenship – it will be enough to declare “unwillingness to be a citizen of Ukraine”. And in matters of the absence of a criminal record, United Russia is completely ready to take the participants of the primaries at their word.

At the same time, there is no question of any concessions from the point of view of the electoral legislation. As a source close to the leadership of the DPR told Kommersant, it will be “as close as possible to the standards of any Russian region.” For example, there are no plans to make any exceptions related to the registration of a party list of candidates. According to the federal law, for this purpose it is necessary to collect signatures of 0.5% of voters in the region. Parties that have previously entered the State Duma, the Legislative Assembly of a given region or any municipal council are exempted from such a procedure. But since elections under Russian laws have not yet been held in these territories, only the federal parliamentary five – United Russia, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, the Liberal Democratic Party, A Just Russia – For Truth and New People will have a “benefit”.

“The rest will collect (signatures.— “b”), it all depends on their desire,” the interlocutor told Kommersant. “The difficult situation in the republic is not a reason to arrange revelry and open doors for everyone. On the contrary, there should be mobilization, not relaxation.” A similar position is held in the State Duma. United Russia deputy Viktor Vodolatsky, who oversees the LPR, told Kommersant that the parties that want to participate in the elections on September 10 are already in the new territories and are providing humanitarian assistance to the population. “People living in Donbass are very active, they will support those who meet their aspirations and interests. Of course, it will be difficult for those who do not even know where the people’s republic is on the map to collect signatures. But there will be no mitigation here, we cannot change the legislation to please a specific subject, ”the parliamentarian explained.

Nevertheless, in the “small” parties they hope for the best. So, the deputy chairman of the central council of the Party of Pensioners (took sixth place in the elections to the State Duma-2021) Vladimir Vorozhtsov told Kommersant that now “pensioners” are registering branches in new subjects, and the issue of participation in parliamentary elections will be decided later – after evaluating all circumstances. At the same time, Mr. Vorozhtsov recalled that in 2014 the Pensioners’ Party was able to collect signatures for nominating candidates in Crimea and Sevastopol. And Rodina leader, State Duma deputy Aleksey Zhuravlev told Kommersant that his party “without a doubt” plans to participate in the elections of deputies in the DPR and LPR. “As for the regions, we will look, because for a non-parliamentary party this is not an easy task,” the parliamentarian added.

Only or almost exclusively Duma parties will participate in elections in the new territories, since the party systems there are not yet sufficiently developed, predicts political scientist Rostislav Turovsky. “Federal authorities are hardly eager to create parliaments that are too complex in composition and structure. It is clear that “United Russia” will try to take the absolute maximum of mandates, there are doubts that even the parliamentary forces will seriously lay claim to something. From “small” parties, including patriotic ones, one should not expect much activity – this may interfere with the United Russia campaign, ”explains the expert.

Andrew Ashes