Again elected

Power returns the election of governors. True, a whole set of restrictions on the path of an ordinary citizen in the governor's chair remains. The risk of the riot of the regionals against the center is also not as large as in the late nineties. However, the measure of regional authorities may well affect the regional authorities.

Dmitry Medvedev began to carry out “anti -Bulberry prevention”: he introduced a law on direct elections of governors to the State Duma. According to the text of the bill, published on the presidential website, it will now be able to become the governor (if the law is adopted, there is no special doubt) a person over 30 years old who has no foreign citizenship or a residence permit of another state.

These citizens are nominated either with political parties, as previously promised by representatives of the power tandem, or, as indicated in the document, in the “procedure for self -nomination”. Parties nominate candidates after consultations with the president, self -nominates will be forced to collect signatures, the number of which will be established in the region.

In other words: there are enough barriers to the governor's chair on the way of an ordinary citizen, but not as much as it was. And even less than one could expect after the explanation of Vladimir Putin that the “presidential filter” is needed, and the governors will be extended exclusively by the parties.

The norm for today's times is ultra -democratic: it was impossible to imagine anything like this two years ago.

During his presidency, Dmitry Medvedev has repeatedly or even two said that the direct election of governors is in principle possible, but he himself believes that the current system, according to which the governors de facto selected in the presidential administration must be preserved.

All the governors who are fully appointed and reassigned to the President, however, will sit their deadlines, if, of course, the president will not want to resign them, as he did just the other day with the Archangel Governor Ilya Mikhalchuk.

When Vladimir Putin described what the system of election of the governors could be, among others there was also the expression “negative control” there - the possibility of the president to send the objectionable head of the region to resign. However, in the presidential bill and this measure is submitted in a completely democratic way. A closed list of reasons for the resignation of the governor has been proposed - in fact, it can be set aside only for corruption.

The degree and the world is actually the dismantling of the Putin system of relations between the center and regions, in which the Damocles sword of resignation hung over the governor all the time, which was the main reason for the loyalty of regional tsarks in relation to Moscow.

Now this control method will be significantly transformed, because corruption will still have to be proved somehow. And the one who, in principle, does not “steal”, seems to be impossible to set aside.

The Putin system was built under the pretext of saving the disintegration of the country. A return to the greater independence of the regional authorities from the federal objectively increases this kind of risks again.

However, in the practical sphere for the Kremlin there are no such powerful challenges. Firstly, it is clear that they will not want to see any self-nominates in Moscow as governors, and the parties will still coordinate candidates. With the existing party system (and even with the upcoming increase in the number of parties), this puts a serious barrier in the path of the governors uncomfortable in Moscow. Secondly, no one canceled the old principle "there would be a person, but there would be a matter." Here we are not even about the fact that all the chapters of the subjects are emergency with embezzlers, but that it will be possible to bring at least the misuse of funds to corruption. Thinly feeling hints of the governors themselves will resign.

Finally, Medvedev’s rotation of the heads of regions almost abolished the long-lived governors.

New chapters are almost everywhere owed their post by the presidential administration and the Kremlin can count on them to some extent. At least, the Kremlin will not have to be afraid of a clear and mass regional rebellion, which took place in 1999, when regional leaders moved their own political project “Fatherland-Versi Russia”.

However, the very complication of the political system (even mainly nominal) is a positive fact. He shows that the authorities are able to somehow react to a changing reality. The election of governors will help to some extent flying the regional authorities through the election procedure. And there, even a “normal” democracy, it can come.