Date
Author
Виктор ХАМРАЕВ; Ульяновск--Москва
Source
Preserved copy
Translated material
Governor in stripes
More notable than other victories is the victory of General Vladimir Shamanov over the former governor Yuri Goryachev, who ruled the region continuously for more than 13 years. The general was brought to the governor's chair by the local business elite, grouped around the regional branch of the Union of Right Forces. Entrepreneurs are tired of having to value proximity to power more than the success of their own business. In the local political elite - neither among the left nor among the right - there was not a single figure who was known to at least a third of voters.
Ulyanovsk politicians remained in obscurity due to the harsh leadership style of Yuri Goryachev, who did not recognize not only the opposition, but even pluralism. Media independent of the governor (in particular, Simbirsk Vestnik) were published outside the region. The Ulyanovsk City Duma, which at the beginning of this year dared to adopt a privatization program that was not acceptable to the regional administration, was dissolved. But Mr. Goryachev’s personal fame helped him retain the governor’s seat only in the last elections, in 1996, when his main rival was the secretary of the regional committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, Alexander Kruglikov. Over the past four years, the socio-economic situation of the region has fallen into complete decline, so that now local residents envy the neighboring Samara region. They compare their situation with their neighbors according to criteria that seem to have already been forgotten by all Russians. Namely, by the availability of sausage and cheese for free sale.
In short, by the current elections, the current governor had nothing left in his arsenal except fame, which he maintained by weekly broadcasting conference calls with the heads of district administrations live on local television. The meetings lasted, as a rule, one and a half to two hours, and during all this time the Ulyanovsk residents saw their governor. The ironic attitude of television viewers is the mildest of all possible reactions of citizens to such reports.
The business elite took advantage of this state of affairs; at the beginning of the year, with the help of sociologists, they found out that the region was ready to vote for the “Varangian.” True, the “Varangian” needed a strong-willed and tough one: as sociological forecasts showed, the region would not accept any other governor. The businessmen invited General Shamanov and they were not mistaken. Sociologists were right - voter turnout was over 55% (regional law sets the turnout threshold at 25%). The general collected over 56% of the votes, although in the summer Mr. Shamanov was known to only 27% of Ulyanovsk residents.
The so-called administrative resource attracted by local authorities does not always help in the election race. Moreover, as the Ulyanovsk experience shows, it can also work against local authorities. For example, on Mr. Shamanov’s first visit to the region, for some reason there were no places for the general in Ulyanovsk hotels. The future candidate for governor was invited to their dispensary by the management of the largest aviation company Aviastar, giving a signal: not everything in the region is done on the orders of the governor.
When the general became a candidate for governor, his meetings with voters began to break down every now and then. The clubs where meetings were planned suddenly closed for various reasons half an hour to an hour before the scheduled event. But the general was not at a loss and began communicating with voters right on the street - the “evening of questions and answers” turned into a rally. General Shamanov’s team appreciated the advantages of such communication in time and took their candidate to the streets, to shops and, above all, to collective farm markets. Among rural voters, the current governor's rating was high. It was impossible to get into the pages of regional newspapers with paid advertising: prices for advertising increased by 5-10 times during the pre-election period. Therefore, the general went to the market with leaflets, which then reached the villages through collective farmers.
A month before the vote, Mr. Shamanov's campaign staff assessed his chances as fifty-fifty. But by this time, the Ulyanovsk regional election commission removed the candidate from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Oleg Kazarov from the race. Local communists saw in this the “hand of Goryachev,” who wanted to win over the left-wing electorate, and declared that they supported the general. As a result, Mr. Goryachev was able to collect half as much as Mr. Shamanov - about 24% of the votes.
The political and business elite of Ulyanovsk, celebrating the victory over the former governor, has so far refrained from predicting what kind of governor General Shamanov will become. The general’s election platform has everything: sections that captivate liberals from the Union of Right Forces (market economy, middle class), and theses beloved by communists (deprivatization, state monopoly on land). Mr. Shamanov himself managed to state yesterday on Ulyanovsk television that he considers himself obligated only to voters, and to no one else.