With all the frankness – Newspaper Kommersant No. 26 (7471) dated 02/13/2023
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The election of the mayor of Khabarovsk in 2023 will remain direct. This was told to Kommersant by representatives of both “parties of power” of the Khabarovsk Territory – United Russia (ER) and the Liberal Democratic Party. From United Russia, the current mayor Sergey Kravchuk, who won direct elections in 2018, will apply for this post. The Khabarovsk Liberal Democrats promise to put up a “strong competitor”, but they don’t want to name him yet. At the same time, the federal leadership of the Liberal Democratic Party does not exclude that this issue will be resolved “in terms of maintaining a balance and constructive relations” between the two parties.
The upcoming elections in September for the head of the city administration of Khabarovsk will be held in accordance with the current charter, Ivan Rybin, deputy coordinator of the regional branch of the Liberal Democratic Party and deputy of the Khabarovsk City Duma, told Kommersant. Not a single political force in the municipal parliament will attempt to rewrite the charter and replace direct elections with a competitive procedure, he assured. According to Mr. Rybin, this question “arose out of nowhere.”
Recall that the possibility of canceling the direct election of the Khabarovsk mayor began to be actively discussed at the end of last year after a similar reform in Tomsk. Vedomosti then reported that this issue could be resolved by February-March 2023, and the governor of the region Mikhail Degtyarev (LDPR) allegedly opposes the popular vote, who “as a matter of principle to appoint his own person as mayor.” However, Mr. Degtyarev himself later called this information “complete nonsense.” “I am for direct elections of the mayor,” the governor stressed.
The head of the regional executive committee of the United Russia, Yevgeny Solonenko, told Kommersant that it is now difficult to predict the fate of direct mayoral elections, but so far there are “no obvious prerequisites for their cancellation”: “This decision is made by the deputies of the City Duma, where the so-called party pluralism has developed. If any changes are adopted, then only after detailed inter-factional discussions.” United Russia added that he had not heard of any intention to change the charter on the part of the political forces represented in the City Duma, including the Liberal Democratic Party. Mikhail Sidorov, leader of the Just Russia-For Truth (SRZP) parliamentary group, also told Kommersant that, according to his information, the procedure for electing the mayor will remain unchanged.
In 2018, the Khabarovsk Territory simultaneously held elections for the governor and mayor of the regional capital. The head of the subject then became the representative of the Liberal Democratic Party Sergei Furgal, who in the second round beat United Russia’s Vyacheslav Shport with 69.6% of the vote, and the representative of the United Russia Sergei Kravchuk was elected mayor, who received 40%. Communist Maxim Kukushkin (23.9%) finished second in the election of the mayor, and liberal democrat Sergei Bezdenezhnykh (21.9%) was third. SRZP representative Nikita Mikhalev then scored 10%.
According to Kommersant, Sergey Kravchuk intends to be re-elected to his post, although he has not yet announced this publicly. In the Khabarovsk cell of the LDPR, they promise to put up a real, and not a technical, rival against him. “We always participate in elections “in full growth”. As soon as the supreme council of the party determines the candidate, he will immediately be included in the work. And, of course, Sergei Kravchuk will have a strong competitor due to the great popularity of the Liberal Democratic Party in the Khabarovsk Territory – it will not be easy for him, ”Ivan Rybin told Kommersant.
However, the federal leadership of the Liberal Democratic Party does not rule out other options. “The Khabarovsk Territory is a special region for us. Vladimir Zhirinovsky (late founder and longtime leader of the LDPR.— “b”) gave the installation to participate and advance everywhere. But as for the Khabarovsk Territory, Governor Degtyarev will determine, based on political and party nuances, how best to proceed in terms of maintaining a balance and constructive relationships, ”Yaroslav Nilov, deputy head of the LDPR Supreme Council, told Kommersant. Recall that in the 2021 gubernatorial elections, United Russia did not nominate a candidate against Mr. Degtyarev, who was appointed by the president to the post of head of the region after the arrest of Sergei Furgal, as a result of which he won in the first round with 56.8% of the vote.
The Communist Party and SRZP also promise to give a real fight for the chair of the head of Khabarovsk. The head of the regional committee of the Communist Party, Pyotr Perevezentsev, told Kommersant that there are already several candidates for the post of mayor, previously approved by the federal leadership. “These are residents of Khabarovsk, but it is too early to name names. A strong left-patriotic team has been formed around the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, so we will seriously participate in the election of the mayor of Khabarovsk, ”added First Deputy Chairman of the Central Committee Yuri Afonin. According to Mikhail Sidorov, the Socialist-Revolutionaries also have a short list of candidates, but the party is in no hurry to announce them.
Far Eastern political scientist Ildus Yarulin considers the incumbent mayor Sergei Kravchuk the favorite for the upcoming elections. The expert predicts that Mr. Sidorov himself may come forward from the SRWP, since he is a “quite well-known” politician in the city and, with the support of the party leadership, is able to compete with Mr. Kravchuk. “But the Liberal Democratic Party is unlikely to go seriously. If there was a need to take this post away from United Russia, then the governor and regional leader of the LDPR, Mikhail Degtyarev, would have insisted on the abolition of direct elections even when they had an absolute majority in the city duma. It is obvious that the governor is complying with some agreements with the federal center, according to which the main position in the region remains with the Liberal Democratic Party, and in the city – with the United Russia. The absence of conflicts between them, although they were brewing at the beginning, is one of the conditions for the nomination of Mr. Degtyarev for a second term, ”the expert believes.
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