Translated material
White on black
Competition in municipal elections was higher than in regional ones
The results of local elections held on a single voting day on October 11 in 75 constituent entities of the federation continue. As in the whole country, the palm in this part of the elections belongs to United Russia. Nevertheless, at the municipal level there are still electoral surprises in the form of fierce election competition, which occasionally results in unplanned victories of non-bearish candidates.The mayoral elections in three large regional centers were predictably won by United Russia members - we are talking about Grozny, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk and Astrakhan. In Grozny, the mayor was elected for the first time, and United Russia member Muslim Khuchiev became the mayor with a traditionally high result for Chechnya - 87.39%. In Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk and Astrakhan, the current United Russia mayors were re-elected, and both managed to break their own record from previous elections. Andrei Lobkin in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk was re-elected with a result of 58%, whereas in 2005 only 31% of citizens voted for him. In Astrakhan, Sergei Bozhenov managed to gain recognition from 65% of voters, while in 2004 40% voted for him. At the same time, the opposition candidates also managed to show decent results by today's standards: the candidate from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation O Tin Ha in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk scored 21%, and the Socialist-Revolutionary Oleg Shein in Astrakhan - 26%.
In smaller cities, the balance of political forces was a little less clear. Thus, in the city of Volzhsky, Volgograd Region, the candidate from “A Just Russia”, deputy of the Volga City Duma Marina Afanasyeva, with 36.87%, literally snatched victory from the current mayor, United Russia member Igor Voronin (36.54%). In absolute terms, this difference should be slightly more than two hundred ballots. It is possible that the head of the city administration will challenge these data and demand a recount - such precedents have already happened.
The Socialist-Revolutionaries also managed to win elections in two more municipalities of the Volgograd region. It was in this region that a campaign unfolded, the outcome of which was closely watched by the media not only in Russia, but throughout the world: a black African-Russian, Joakim Krima, ran for the post of head of the Sredneakhtubinsky district, as well as for the seat of a deputy of the local parliament. But only 4.71% of voters cast their votes for the “Russian Obama,” as the world media managed to dub him. Even less - only 1% - was received by Philip Kondratyev, the second Afro-Russian, who also contested the post of head of the Sredneakhtubinsky district. However, the main struggle was between the current head of the district, Vladimir Romanov, and the deputy of the Volga City Duma, Sergei Tikhonov. At the same time, it was Mr. Tikhonov who enjoyed the support of United Russia and won the elections. Joaquim Creme also failed to win the seat of deputy.
United Russia had to make room a little in the Sverdlovsk region: out of 25 newly elected heads of municipalities, seven are not nominated by the party in power. Moreover, of these seven, only one ran with the support of A Just Russia, the rest acted as non-party self-nominated candidates. In general, at the local level, single candidates more often managed to break into the leadership. In Karachaevsk, Rostov Region, a self-nominated 36-year-old businessman Soltan Semenov with 51.3% of the votes beat the acting mayor Umar Uzdenov, who was supported by the party in power and received 34%. It is interesting that the election commission issued Mr. Semenov a mayor’s certificate the very next day after the elections. Most likely, this means that there will be no recount of votes or revision of the results.
A curious conflict may arise in the city of Staraya Kupavna, Noginsk district, Moscow region. Here, the favorite of the elections was the chairman of the local Council of Deputies, temporarily out of work from United Russia, Igor Sukhin, who received 47%, while his closest rival, the “Socialist Revolutionary” Andrei Barannikov, received 33%. The problem is that, according to A Just Russia, Mr. Sukhin is a citizen not of Russia, but of Ukraine. The Socialist-Revolutionaries sent photocopies of documents allegedly confirming this fact to journalists over the Internet. It should be noted that the election campaign in Staraya Kupavna was generally tense: candidates were removed from the elections through the courts, and the registration of some was subsequently restored. And the previous mayor, Anatoly Pleshan, is now on trial for accepting a bribe from a construction company.
The situation in Dagestan's Derbent remains unclear, where on Sunday there was shooting near the ballot boxes. Of the 36 polling stations in the city, only 23 worked normally, however, according to official data, 55% of the townspeople voted for them, of which about 68% were in favor of the current mayor Felix Kaziakhmedov. However, the recognition of the elections as valid is in question: according to the law, their results can be annulled if more than 25% of voters did not have the opportunity to vote. Mr. Kaziakhmedov’s rivals have already filed applications to invalidate the election results, and therefore the Derbent city court decided to “suspend actions on the contested decisions of precinct election commissions” pending consideration of the issue. True, yesterday the territorial commission of Derbent, contrary to the court order, declared Mr. Kaziakhmedov the winner.
Thus, the total dominance of United Russia at the federal and regional levels does not yet mean a similar situation at the municipal level. The smaller the settlement, the more people know the candidates by sight, the less important their party affiliation is.