| Vladimir Putin's partners in the presidential elections have been identified Until recently, the only, almost unreal threat to the re-election of Vladimir Putin as head of state was the possibility of a boycott of the elections by the right and left forces. The lack of interest in the elections and the absence of serious opponents could lead to insufficient voter turnout. Putin was predicted to have a comic rivalry with undertaker German Sterligov, who was the first to announce his desire to run for president. However, the idea of a boycott was not realized: the left and partly the right considered refusal to participate in the elections to be more disastrous than an obviously losing fight with the current president. As a result, nine people decided to pretend to compete with Putin. Since the nomination of candidates ended a week ago, this figure can only decrease, especially since most candidates have to collect 2 million voter signatures in their support.
The list of Putin's competitors suggests that parties, including those that nominated their candidates, chose to avoid serious participation in the presidential race. The leader of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Gennady Zyuganov did not put forward his candidacy; Nikolai Kharitonov will have to go the kamikaze path instead. This solution to the issue can probably be called the best for Zyuganov and the Communist Party of the Russian Federation as a whole. If he himself had gone to the polls, his personal result would most likely have been much lower than the 12.9% received by the Communist Party of the Russian Federation in the parliamentary elections. This would encourage Zyuganov’s opponents in the Communist Party of the Russian Federation. If Zyuganov’s main opponent, Gennady Semigin, had become a candidate (namely, the Communists chose between him and Kharitonov at their plenum), this would have strengthened the split in the Communist Party of the Russian Federation.
Yabloko decided to ignore the elections altogether. Co-chairman of the Union of Right Forces Irina Khakamada put forward her candidacy herself, hoping for the party’s support, but not being sure of it. Representatives of a number of democratic forces have already called her a strikebreaker, and the inflexible Valeria Novodvorskaya is already threatening the entire SPS with the same stigma if the party does not dissuade its Khakamada from taking a “loyal” step, according to the qualifications of the leader of the Democratic Union. The former head of the Central Bank, Viktor Gerashchenko, is running for president from the Rodina bloc, while the stronger candidate from the Rodina camp, Sergei Glazyev - perhaps the only serious contender for the presidency (in 2008) - became a self-nominated candidate.
But the biggest surprise was presented to voters by LDPR leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky, who nominated his security chief Oleg Malyshkin for president. With this shot, the leader killed three birds with one stone. Firstly, he made a shocking joke, secondly, he demonstrated his loyalty to the authorities by refusing to personally fight Putin, and thirdly, he got the opportunity to conduct an election campaign on behalf of Malyshkin.
In addition, the speaker of the Federation Council, leader of the Russian Party Sergei Mironov, former secretary of the Russian Security Council, and now Boris Berezovsky’s comrade-in-arms in the Liberal Russia party, Ivan Rybkin, and entrepreneurs Vladimir Bryntsalov and Anzori Aksentiev also wished to run. And Sterligov was removed from the race for incorrect execution of election documents. Without the country's main funeral director, the impression of a farce from the group of pretenders to the Kremlin has decreased significantly, although it has not disappeared at all.
The absence of serious opposition figures on the list of candidates for the people's trust is bad luck for Russia and the main problem for the president. Even the nine applicants do not create the feeling that Russia is being offered a serious choice. And the point is not so much the legitimacy of the more than predictable victory of the incumbent president, but the danger of insufficient turnout. When there is no struggle, no intrigue and the result is known in advance, voters on March 14, 2004 will need to be very disciplined in order to still get to the polling station and check the right box. Ksenia VERETENNIKOVA |
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