Translated material
Freedom of appointment
Sergei Mironov proposes to deprive United Russia of its monopoly on nominating candidates for governor
The leader of the A Just Russia party, Chairman of the Federation Council Sergei Mironov, planned to deprive United Russia of the monopoly right to nominate candidates for governor. On November 17, he told reporters that he was working on a bill according to which only a party that received at least 50% of the votes in elections to the regional legislative assembly would be able to nominate a candidate for the head of a subject. Let us recall that, according to the current law, the list of candidates for the gubernatorial chair is offered to the president of the country by the party that beats all other competitors in the elections, regardless of whether it has achieved recognition from half of the electorate or not.“If a party wins and receives more than 50% of the votes, then it has the right to individually nominate candidates,” Sergei Mironov explained the essence of his initiative. “If no party received more than 50% of the votes, then the coalition of parties that together received more than 50% has the right to nominate their candidates.”
Indeed, in the last regional elections, United Russia began to teeter on the edge of the 50% barrier and even sag below it. Thus, on October 10, in the Magadan region, the “bears” gained 50.8%, in the Kostroma region - 50.02%, in the Novosibirsk region - 44.8%. There were even more relatively “failed” regions for the party in power in the spring regional elections on March 14: 47% were obtained in the Khabarovsk Territory, 44% in Altai, 41% in the Kurgan Region and an absolute minimum of 39% in Sverdlovsk region.
“Mironov is obviously hinting that in many regions United Russia today does not gain 50% without administrative resources, while A Just Russia claims to be the second party in a number of regions,” he commented on the situation for Vremya Novostey. Vice President of the Center for Political Technologies Sergei Mikheev. - You can practice on this topic, nothing would fundamentally change, because “A Just Russia” is just as closed to the Kremlin. But perhaps political competition within these elite circles would increase.”
As one might expect, Mironov’s initiative did not arouse enthusiasm among United Russia members. “The desire of Sergei Mikhailovich Mironov to bargain for preferences for the “Fair Russia” he leads, which has never won a regional election, is understandable,” this is how Sergei Neverov, secretary of the presidium of the General Council of “United Russia,” commented on this proposal. Although, let us note in parentheses, as presented, the idea of the leader of the Social Revolutionaries does not imply preferences specifically for A Just Russia, since the winners would be free to choose their own partner for the coalition. For example, in the Novosibirsk region, if such a law existed, the party in power could well enter into a coalition with the LDPR, which gained 10% and is usually very loyal to any initiatives of the older brothers from United Russia.
But the “bears” are still worried that if they have to negotiate candidates with competitors, then “responsibility will be blurred.” “Today, such a system, on the one hand, is optimal: the party is responsible for the proposed candidates; on the other hand, it is democratic: the party is elected by people and through it they can influence the decisions made,” Mr. Neverov believes. As he put it, “when everyone must answer, in reality it turns out that no one answers, shifting responsibility onto each other.”
“United Russia has a strange logic: if we nominated a president from four parties, is he irresponsible?” - Socialist Revolutionary deputy Gennady Gudkov was surprised, commenting on Mr. Mironov’s initiative for Vremya Novostei.
But the “erosion of responsibility” is not the end of the bears’ arguments. Sergei Neverov is also worried that “negotiations on a single candidate may drag on indefinitely, to the detriment of the interests of regional residents.” They didn’t forget about “world practice”. “All over the world, a party that wins elections in states, as in the USA, or in cantons, as in Switzerland, receives the right to nominate the head of the executive body in a given subject,” such a statement by a State Duma deputy from United Russia, secretary of the political council of the Moscow city branch of the party Elena Panina appeared yesterday on the party portal. Apparently, out of excitement, Ms. Panina lost sight of the fact that in America, governors are elected by direct vote, which the popularly elected governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, could have told the Russian President during his recent visit.
“In the USA and Japan, intra-party democracy is broader than our inter-party struggle. Even in China, there are nine factions in the parliament and there are heads of provinces from other parties,” Gennady Gudkov, in turn, refers to “world practice.” — Of course, what Sergei Mironov proposes is a half-measure. We need to return to direct elections of governors. But this is a step aimed at destroying the monopoly in power.”
By the way, in the heat of the discussion, the parties almost completely forgot that if United Russia did not get 50%, then in total more than half of the votes should go to all other parties. And then they could theoretically form a coalition to nominate a candidate for governor on their own. And the “big brother” in the person of the ruling party would remain in the minority.