The last training ground

Elections on October 10, 2010 in the Pskov region will be the last measurement of political forces before the large-scale election campaigns of 2011 and 2012

Elections on October 10, 2010 in the Pskov region will be the last measurement of political forces before the large-scale election campaigns of 2011 and 2012

On October 10, the Pskov Region will hold by-elections of a deputy of the Pskov Regional Assembly in the fifth single-mandate constituency of Pskov, as well as elections of the heads of the Sebezhsky and Kuninsky districts and deputies of the meetings of deputies in the same districts according to a mixed system, as well as a number of separate elections of a lower level. These elections will be the last "practical pre-election exercise" for the regional branches of political parties before the large-scale election campaigns of 2011 and 2012.

In fact, a series of new elections opened in the Pskov region in the spring of 2010, when on March 14 more than one and a half thousand city and rural deputies were elected, and elections of deputies of the Assembly of Deputies of the Nevelsky District were political in content. For the first time in the Pskov region, the deputies of the district assembly were elected according to a mixed system: half - according to the lists of political parties, half - in single-mandate districts.

The Nevel experiment turned out to be rich in surprises: it turned out, in particular, that the system of distribution of mandates practiced in Russia, obviously beneficial to the ruling party, according to the scandalous Imperiale formula, makes the 5% barrier for political parties established by law for elections to representative bodies of local self-government inapplicable in practice, actually raising it by a few percent [ 1 ].

As a result, United Russia, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, Just Russia, and YABLOKO managed to get deputies into the local parliament in the Nevelsk district, while the Liberal Democratic Party, which overcame not only the 5%, but also the 7% barrier, did not reach the mandate .

The Nevel elections also showed that with the introduction of a mixed system of elections in the district parliaments, the role of political parties is significantly increasing, and most of the candidates in single-mandate constituencies were also nominated by political parties.

The autumn 2010 elections are important because in the spring of 2011 no politically significant elections are expected in the Pskov region, respectively, October 10, 2010 is the last "fitting of forces", and in conditions quite close to combat.

The spring of 2010 showed that there were five "living" parties in the Pskov region (see above).

The same participants entered the political field six months later.

But in a different configuration.

"Lame" mandate

Outwardly status by-elections of a deputy of the Pskov Regional Assembly in single-mandate constituency No. 5 in Pskov, for which the mandate was “issued” after the transition of Liliya Nikiforova, who won in 2007, to the post of chairman of the Pskov City Health Committee, in fact, did not cause any excitement among parties.

According to the term of office of the Pskov Regional Assembly, they end in March 2012, but for six months the regional political elite has been discussing a possible reduction in the term of office of the Regional Assembly (the so-called "voluntary resignation") for six months, since the Kremlin (Moscow) is strongly it is recommended to “free” the presidential elections, just scheduled for March 2012, from any “related” election campaigns.

If such a reduction in powers takes place (and in the presence of a "vertical decision" it is highly likely), the term of office of the newly elected deputy No. 5 will be only one year.

Perhaps this, as well as the inevitable financial costs, prevented from participating in by-elections in the regional center, which until now held the mandate of "Fair Russia", as well as "YABLOKO".

United Russia nominated the director of Pskov-Polymer LLC and a deputy of the Pskov City Duma Yuri Sorokin, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation - the director of the Pskov branch of Alfa Insurance OJSC Yuri Ivankiv, the Liberal Democratic Party - pensioner Vladimir Ustyugov. Also running in the elections is Alexander Moskovkin, a temporarily unemployed resident of St.

The by-elections to the regional Assembly have two intrigues: will there be any noticeable turnout of voters in Pskov, which is not the most active, as a rule, in the elections, and if not, will the effect that manifested itself in the spring by-elections to the Pskov City Duma be repeated with a low turnout, when, with an extremely low turnout (about 10%), the candidates from United Russia and the Communist Party completed two distances almost on an equal footing, leaving behind one victory each.

Then, in constituency No. 15, pensioner Viktor Dulya (KPRF) won, who scored 340 votes (45.52%), ahead of Ilya Obidov, an employee of the security company nominated by United Russia, by 24 votes (316 votes, 42.30%).

In constituency No. 23, the doctor Elena Utkina, nominated by United Russia, won, for whom 581 voters voted (48.82%). Communist Dmitry Mikhailov fell behind her by 76 votes (505 votes, 42.44%).

Nominees from the Liberal Democratic Party and self-nominated did not show significant results.

In the 5th district, the main struggle, of course, will unfold between Yuri Sorokin (United Russia) and Yuri Ivankiv (KPRF).

Moreover, the election campaign of Mr. Sorokin, as expected, started hyperactively. In the fifth district, there will soon be no more, figuratively speaking, irons and teapots, from where Yury Yuryevich’s comments will not be heard on all (indiscriminately) issues on the agenda: from the beginning of the school year, which turned up by the way (Mr. Sorokin visited on September 1 for day 6 ( six!) solemn rulers in three schools, which was possible only if the schools were “vertically” lined up in their schedule in front of Mr. Deputy and the candidate for deputy) until the preservation of the Geldtov bath, inopportunely covered by the departed administration of the city.

One can imagine to what manifestations such “unobtrusive agitation” can reach, but among the possible consequences is an increase in allergies to the candidate from the party in power, which is increasingly characteristic of cities.

Against this backdrop, the traditional "no raisin" election campaign of a communist entrepreneur may be more perceived by the few voters who decide to go to the ballot box.

Urns meanwhile will be unusual. For the first time in the Pskov region, during the election of a deputy of the regional Assembly in the fifth district, ballot processing complexes (KOIBs) will be used - scanners that receive a formalized secret choice from the voter. And without the folds of the ballot! But - by any side. The electoral commissions of the region and the city are counting on the interest in the technical innovation, believing that the way of expressing the will may turn out to be even more interesting for citizens than the composition of applicants for the “lame” mandate.

Border alignment

The greatest intrigue in the Pskov region on October 10 is the parallel elections of the head of the Sebezhsky district and deputies of the Assembly of the Sebezhsky district.

After long, apparently, deliberations, the regional leadership of United Russia (in fact, Governor Andrei Turchak) did not dare to support the head of the district, Vladimir Afanasyev, who served two terms, in the elections, although back in early July, his participation in the elections was talked about as a matter of the past.

Publicly, the authorities did not say anything about the reasons for not nominating the current head of the district, but, according to the Pskov province, the reason lies in the extremely large amount of negative information, quite unexpectedly for the new administration of the region, received during a detailed “study of the field” in the district.

As a result, the reputational risks of the governor outweighed the "pluses" of the local administrative resource, obviously at the disposal of Mr. Afanasyev.

After long negotiations, the deputy of the regional Assembly, the chief mechanical engineer of Vet LLC, Leonid Kursenkov, became the candidate from United Russia in the Sebezhsky district.

It is interesting that not only did he not head the unified list of the party, but he did not join it at all.

The list of "United Russia" in the Sebezhsky district was headed by the chairman of the board of the Sebezhsky district police department Elena Platonova, followed by the director of the Idritskaya secondary school Natalya Dudar, the third is the former district prosecutor, and currently an employee of a private security agency Vasily Soldatenkov.

At some point, it seemed that an intrigue would appear at the Sebezh elections within the ruling party: self-nomination was carried out by a member of United Russia, the head of the Sebezh customs post Andrei Dyubenkov, around whom the votes of several thousand customs officers and members of their families could be concentrated, which practically deprived Mr. Kursenkov's already not obvious chances for a positive outcome of the elections.

Local observers have speculated that Mr. Dyubenkov could also be behind Mr. Afanasiev, who is ending his term of office and not entirely happy with the choice of the party in favor of Mr. Kursenkov, although he is fully loyal to Vladimir Afanasyev, as is well known in the district.

But the "vertical" worked, Andrey Dyubenkov's starting calculations (if they were) turned out to be erroneous, and he withdrew his candidacy 4 days after the nomination, barely starting to collect signatures.

"Fair Russia" predictably nominated the head of the Krasnoarmeiskaya volost, Viktor Lapshin, known for his struggle for the rights of local self-government, to the post of head of the Sebezhsky district [ 2 ].

To the surprise of observers, the right Russians, who have the so-called. “parliamentary privilege”, they did not put forward a single list of candidates for deputies of the district Assembly and not a single candidate in single-mandate districts. There were no official comments from the regional or local branch of the party on this matter.

According to some versions, the absence of the list next to a fairly strong candidate for the head of the district is a reflection of behind-the-scenes negotiations between the leader of the regional "Fair Russia" Mikhail Bryachak and the governor Andrei Turchak, the de facto head of "United Russia" in the Pskov region. The surrender of the "party field" in the elections gives United Russia, which is rather weak in the Sebezhsky district, a relative chance of increasing the votes cast for it, although it objectively increases the chances of all other parties.

The absence of a deputy team from the candidate for the head of the district from A Just Russia indirectly confirms the version that the regional leadership of the party is ready to conduct any negotiations with the leadership of the region.

Observers note that Mr. Bryachak's interest in the position of head of the border Sebezh region, where 5 customs posts are located, may be related to the traditional commercial interest for the Bryachak brothers (Ivan is currently under investigation on charges of smuggling) in the customs business.

The Communist Party of the Russian Federation did not nominate a candidate for the post of head of the Sebezhsky district at all, and three pensioners (Sergei Matveev, Valentin Kudrin and Vasily Figurkin) headed the party's single list.

The Pskov regional YABLOKO, after its first success in the Nevelsk district, made the largest nomination in its history in district elections, including for the first time nominated a candidate for the post of head of the district. It was the director of the federal educational institution, the Sebezh Special Vocational School of the Closed Type, Sergey Semyonov, who was elected in the spring of 2010 as a deputy of the Sebezh City Assembly of Deputies.

It is curious that in a face-to-face duel in a single-mandate constituency in the spring, Mr. Semenov, nominated by YABLOKO, defeated Ms. Platonova, who headed the single list of United Russia, also nominated by the party in power, gaining 46% of the votes of the voters of the district against 15% of the opponent, who lost also to another lady - a self-nominated candidate.

Sergei Semyonov also headed the Sebezh single list of YABLOKO, the second number in it was the former head of the district education department Valentina Konovalova (a direct hint at the party's struggle for rural schools), the third - military pensioner Mikhail Alexandrov.

YABLOKO used an unusual technology in the Sebezh elections: the last, ninth, number of the party's single list was nominated by the chairman of the regional branch, Lev Shlosberg, who took a position "at the tail of the composition." Explaining his decision, which was made even before Mr. Afanasyev's non-nomination as a candidate for the position of head of the Sebezhsky district became known, Mr. Shlosberg said: “The socio-political situation in the Sebezhsky district is very complex and causes great concern. Political processes in the region are highly influenced by forces whose activities are outside the scope of legislation, whose economic tasks have nothing to do with state and public interests. This poses a threat not only to the holding of legitimate and fair elections, but also to the general way of life in the Sebezhsky district.

Understanding all these circumstances, ... a decision was made on my direct participation in these elections as the chairman of the regional branch and a member of the federal Bureau of the party.

With this nomination, we make it clear to the criminalized community in the Sebezhsky District that there will be no local, shadow election campaign for the election of the head of the Sebezhsky District and deputies of the Assembly of Deputies of the Sebezhsky District.

This will be a regional political election campaign that will be in the focus of public and media attention. If circumstances so require, this election campaign will receive federal public status.

I have my teammates' backs in this election campaign. This is a principled position, we had sufficient grounds for making such a decision.”

Despite such a harsh statement, outwardly everything is going well for YABLOKO so far: the only party forced to collect signatures from citizens in support of the nomination of its candidates, it easily overcame this barrier, the territorial election commission registered all the nominated Yabloko members.

The LDPR nominated Vasily Krasnov, head of the Sebezhsky District, Vasily Krasnov, who lives in Pskov, Vasily Bobalev, assistant chairman of the regional branch of the party and deputy of the regional Assembly, who replaced the Pskov leader of the LDPR, Alexander Khristoforov, the current deputy of the Regional Assembly from the Sebezhsky District and the Ust-Dolysskaya Volost of the Nevelsky District.

Vasily Bobalev, in contrast to the position taken by the "Yabloko" Lev Shlosberg, also headed the single list of the Liberal Democratic Party in the Sebezh district elections. It is obvious that Mr. Bobalev will not only not accept the mandate of the deputy of the regional Assembly, but he will not be able to: for this he needs to give up the mandate of the deputy of the regional Assembly, which will not happen.

The first two issues of the Pskov election campaign in the municipal district, on the one hand, indirectly confirm the version that the Liberal Democratic Party quite comfortably agreed with the current authorities on the role of an “active spoiler”, whose main task is not to win the elections, but to attract votes as much as possible the most radical voters who a priori do not vote for United Russia, so that other parties do not get them.

On the other hand, Mr. Bobalev has the opportunity to directly "go into the field", especially after the failure of the LDPR in the elections in the Nevelsk district, where the party did not receive a single mandate out of more than 100 allocated in the elections.

The second number in the single list of the Liberal Democratic Party is Vladimir Afanasyev's longtime and close business partner, director of the Sebezhsky Market Municipal Unitary Enterprise Leonid Anshakov, and Vasily Krasnov closes the top three.

An indicative moment: in the Sebezhsky district, all 23 registered candidates for deputies in single-mandate districts were nominated by political parties, not a single self-nominated candidate participates in the elections. United Russia and the Liberal Democratic Party nominated 7 single-members each, 5 - YABLOKO, 4 - the Communist Party.

In the unified lists of parties for 8 seats distributed “according to the party quota”, United Russia has 11 candidates, YABLOKO has 9, the Liberal Democratic Party has 7, and the Communist Party has 6.

Of the 8 candidates nominated during the election campaign for the post of head of the Sebezhsky district, four remained in the end: Viktor Lapshin of A Just Russia, Leonid Kursenkov of United Russia, Sergei Semenov of Yabloko and Vasily Krasnov of the Liberal Democratic Party.

It is noteworthy that the first three are elected persons: deputies of the district (Kursenkov), city (Semenov) and rural (Lapshin) meetings of deputies. Obviously, it is between them that the main struggle will unfold.

None of the self-nominated candidates could overcome the preliminary barriers in the elections of the head of the district in the Sebezhsky district.

In the Sebezhsky district, the “most party-like” elections in the history of the Pskov region are being held.

Konstantin MINAEV

1 See: M. Kiselev. Avtonomka // "PG", No. 10 (481) of March 17-23, 2010; M. Kiselev. Threshold of sensations // "PG", No. 11 (482) of March 24-30, 2010

2 See: E Shiryaeva. They took and did not give back // "PG", No. 51 (420) of December 24-30, 2008