Translated material
The Motherland is calling
There are many candidates for the post of mayor of Volgograd and there is no clear favorite
On Monday, the Volgograd city election commission issued the first certificate of a candidate for the post of head of the Volgograd administration to State Duma deputy Vasily Galushkin. And one of those who submitted an application, the director of the musical ensemble Mikhail Grebennikov, voluntarily withdrew his candidacy. Apparently, so as not to interfere with the namesake, communist Roman Grebennikov, whose chances are much higher. At the same time, there is no clear favorite in the election race.In Volgograd, candidates for the seat of mayor of the regional center gathered to break all records . According to the city election commission, as of Saturday, March 24, 21 people had already registered to participate in the elections (now, after Mr. Grebennikov’s refusal, 20 remained). To continue the race, nineteen of them will need to make a cash deposit of more than a million rubles or collect eleven and a half thousand signatures from citizens. The only candidate exempt from these “duties” is Vasily Galushkin, since he was officially nominated by the party, United Russia.
In addition to him, there are representatives of other parties on the election commission lists - the Communist Party of the Russian Federation and A Just Russia, but all of them were not delegated by their parties and are listed as “self-nominated candidates.” In the city, after the completion of applications to participate in the elections, a serious struggle flares up. If earlier applicants allowed themselves only occasionally indirect hints about the sins of their competitors, now the accusations are becoming more specific.
One day, a deputy of the regional Duma, and now a candidate for mayor, Andrei Popkov came to a meeting of the regional legislative assembly wrapped in a scarlet velvet banner and wearing boxing gloves to challenge another deputy and candidate for the post of head of the city, his former comrade in the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, Roman Grebennikov, to a duel. (Popkov left the Communist Party due to disagreements with the local party leadership). “Comrade”, fortunately, missed the meeting that day.
Roman Grebennikov is considered one of the main contenders for the post of mayor. State Duma deputy, candidate from the United Russia party Vasily Galushkin, who has significant experience in administrative work, led the district, worked as vice mayor and vice-governor, has the same chances to head the administration of the hero city. The General Council of the party recommended Galushkin to nominate his candidacy, and after much deliberation, the local party conference approved him as an official candidate. At the conference, it was decided that if Mr. Galushkin wins, the vice-mayor's chair would have to be taken by another member of United Russia, Vladimir Popov.
Also, the head of the Diamant concern with a network of shopping and entertainment establishments of the same name, Oleg Mikheev, who recently joined A Just Russia and resigned from the post of acting head of the city administration Roland Kherianov in order to win the elections, can realistically apply for the post of mayor . The latter made full use of administrative resources to create a positive image for himself. Former acting The mayor distributed gifts, housing certificates and awards to Volgograd residents, appearing almost daily on the municipal television channel.
Each of the named favorites on the pages of newspapers sympathetic to them, with reference to reputable sociological services, occupied leading places in surveys, which gives reason to doubt the accuracy of these ratings.
Some of the candidates, soberly assessing their chances of becoming a mayor, are trying to use their election campaign for political promotion in the upcoming elections to the State Duma. However, most of the remaining ones submitted applications, as they say, “for furniture,” trying to pull votes away from the competitors of the main candidates, so that they could then give them to one of the winners of the first round, if a second one is needed.
Each of the main contenders has identified specific areas, developing which it hopes to win over the townspeople. Some people are interested in social issues, others are interested in the fight against poverty, others consider themselves experts in solving housing and communal services problems. Since the arrest of former mayor Evgeniy Ishchenko under three articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation in the spring of last year, several PR firms have been operating in the city from Rostov-on-Don, Perm, etc. Not a day goes by without free newspapers from one candidate or another appearing in the mailboxes of Volgograd residents. They are accompanied by congratulatory letters and booklets. Law enforcement agencies have so far refrained from characterizing candidates for the position of mayor of Volgograd, however, compromising information on some applicants is leaking to the local media.
Elections for the head of the Volgograd administration are scheduled for May 20. And on May 30 it will be exactly one year since the hero city lived without a full-fledged mayor. During this period, a series of detentions and arrests of local officials took place in Volgograd, many of whom have already been convicted of fraud and abuse of power. A verdict in the case of Evgeniy Ishchenko was also expected soon. But due to the fact that he said he was ill, the next court hearing was postponed to the end of March. According to one of the prisoners who was in pre-trial detention center No. 1 this year, the conditions of detention of the former mayor are more than satisfactory. And he doesn’t even lose contact with the outside world - several times during checks, Ishchenko’s cell phones were confiscated. There is also talk about the availability of European-quality renovation cells and sports training equipment in paid cells. (In the pre-trial detention center there are three categories of paid cells - 5, 10 and 20 thousand rubles per month).