Translated material
Attendance is strictly required
Sergey Avdeenko
The only concern of the authorities on the eve of March 26 is to ensure that voters come to the ballot boxes
The only concern of the authorities on the eve of March 26 is to ensure that voters come to the ballot boxes
They appear to us in orderly rows and entire blocks - popular actors, soulfully instilling from the television screen that the Fatherland, its citizens, young people and old people are in danger. At the same time, potential voters are often approached not just by good actors, but also, as they say, by “professional partygoers”, indispensable heroes of newspaper publications about parties, birthdays, presentations, etc. If on March 26 the voter does not fulfill his civic duty and does not take advantage of his constitutional right, then, for example, the impressive Anatoly Romashin will not be at all confident in the future of his little son, the charming Masha Shukshina will not be confident in the future of youth, and the imposing Boris Khmelnitsky will not be confident in the future of his little son after coming to power. other people" will not finish playing a game of billiards (the main thing, in addition to participating in presentations, is the actor’s hobby).
In search of a plot
Long gone are the “golden” Soviet times, when power was limited to the elementary, more command-like slogan “Everyone to the polls!” and 99.98% of registered voters came to the ballot boxes, and regional leaders fought among themselves for the right to bring this figure as close as possible to 100%. (Taking advantage of the moment, some irresponsible citizens, on the eve of the elections, “pumped up their rights” and demanded from public utilities small life improvements that in normal times the authorities would not get around to, such as patching roofs, replacing rotten pipes in bathrooms and ball valves in toilets .) Today we can count on a turnout figure of 60-75%, which is normal for a normal society not shaken by social cataclysms. It would seem that this is absolutely enough.
However, the problem of turnout has not been completely ignored by insinuating journalists, political analysts, Putin’s staff officers and nameless creators of Tsik’s videos. By the way, this is exactly what Yeltsin’s team was concerned about on the eve of the last presidential elections. Then, the president’s electorate, which had greatly thinned out by June 1996, had to be pulled out of their dachas and garden plots, and the creative and other intelligentsia, who were grieving the failure of the Russian football team, had to be persuaded (which is what the TV commentator did throughout the broadcast) not to drown out the bitterness of defeat in the traditional Russian way, and go to the polling station, fortunately there were three hours left before the end of voting.
Putin’s team, which, like Yeltsin’s ’96, faces the task of defeating Gennady Zyuganov, does not have a “seasonal” problem (few people go out of town during the March thaw), except perhaps some voters, annoyed that on election day , it’s a day off, an hour was stolen from them - it is on March 26 that Russia switches to daylight saving time - he won’t want to spend another half hour going to the nearest school. The main concern is to stir up a sluggish, perhaps not very politicized, voter who, in principle, sympathizes with the “new boss”, but believes that they can do without his vote (this is exactly the case when the rating is too high, as they say, “ interferes").
In order to get people to participate in the “referendum on March 26” (remember that for the elections to be recognized as valid, the turnout must be 50% plus one vote), the structures working for Vladimir Putin, that is, all the authorities, began to intimidate voters with terrible punishments for provocative calls for non-participation in elections. Chairman of the Central Election Commission Alexander Veshnyakov, who, by removing Zhirinovsky from the field, wittingly or unwittingly did everything to discourage hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of LDPR fans from participating in the vote (or pushing them to vote “against all”), having realized what was what, warned: “measures will be taken” against those who urge people not to go to the polling stations (Veshnyakov later clarified that he means those who will physically prevent citizens from voting). And this despite the fact that it is absolutely obvious that the degree of public indifference has not yet risen to the point where every second potential voter would prefer to stay at home. In this case, as some media and social media began to scare us, repeat elections will be called, in which none of the 12 current contenders for the Kremlin will take part - neither Ella Panfilova with Grigory Yavlinsky, nor Umar Dzhabrailov with Alexei Podberezkin , nor V.V. Zhirinovsky... And, of course, another V.V. cannot be a candidate. - and about. President and Prime Minister - Mr. Putin. And that means that, as we have already heard, “other people will come to power”...
Let us hasten to reassure those who are worried about this - according to the law on presidential elections, all of the current wonderful dozen candidates, if they want, will be able to participate in repeat elections (for more information on this, see “Possible options”).
Love and discipline
And therefore, the only real, and not fictitious, threat that could somewhat spoil the triumph of Vladimir Putin (and which, in fact, the acting president’s headquarters fears most of all) is elections in two rounds. If the overall turnout is a little more than 50%, even 60%, but no more, then among supporters of communist leader Gennady Zyuganov - and we know the high degree of discipline of this electorate - the percentage of turnout will be immeasurably higher and can even reach 80-85% - a limit that not a single presidential candidate, including Vladimir Putin, will be able to approach. This means that the gap between the two leaders of the presidential race may not be as impressive as it seems today, a few days before the elections (remember that, according to the latest opinion polls, Vladimir Putin’s rating is 55%, Gennady Zyuganov’s is 20%). And then - who knows - Putin may be just a little short of a “clean” victory in the first round, which will seriously hit the gradually promoted concept of “Putin is the president of all Russians.”
Many analysts and sociologists argue, however, that over the last month the acting. The president managed to win over many former supporters of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation to his side - with the help of “sovereign-patriotic” rhetoric, abstract reasoning about a strong state and the dictatorship of the law. However, it is not at all necessary that the newly converted “Putinites”, disillusioned with Zyuganov, will move to the polling stations in orderly ranks. After all, not all Putinists have the same attitude towards their idol as fans of, say, the Turkmen leader Saparmurad Niyazov, who already in post-Soviet times managed to get over 99% of the votes (when asked by a foreign correspondent about the reasons for the amazing unanimity, Turkmenbashi answered with his characteristic modesty: “Well It's not my fault that they love me so much."
However, nothing will prevent Putin and his people from forgetting about all the pre-election situations, the problem of turnout and non-appearance, the degree of love for this or that candidate the very next day after the elections, in which, for example, Putin defeats Zyuganov even with a microscopic gap of 2-3 percent. The main thing is to become President.
And “all Russians” or just half - who cares!