Deputies of the Samara Gubernia Duma approved the first members of the commission

Samara deputies yesterday approved seven members of the new regional election commission. One of these days the governor should do the same, after which at the first meeting the commission will elect a chairman, his deputy and a secretary. However, according to experts, it can already be said that the post of chairman of the regional electoral commission will go to the head of the service of magistrates under the management of the regional judicial department, Vadim Mikheev. The current deputy chairman of the commission, Alexei Soldatov, and secretary Sergei Bogdanov will also retain their positions. Observers are preparing for a “hard” scenario in the upcoming election campaigns.

Deputies of the Samara Provincial Duma yesterday approved a list of seven members of the regional election commission. Parliamentarians voted unanimously on almost all the candidates presented. The only candidate from the regional branch of the Yabloko party, commercial director of Samara City Information Systems OJSC, Alexander Semerozubov, did not get into the regional election commission. Next, the Duma members approved two candidates from the LDPR and Communist Party factions - Valery Makhonka and Valery Rogozhin. Four more candidates were proposed by public organizations. The Union of Pensioners of Russia in the regional election commission will be represented by the 33-year-old director of Oktogon LLC Oleg Nikitenko, who is still 27 years away from retirement; home front workers and labor veterans - head of the secretariat of the chairman of the provincial Duma, Mikhail Vasyunin. In addition to them, the deputies voted to include Svetlana Simonova, a consultant from the main legal department of the regional government apparatus, on the commission from the Samara Youth Union. The head of the legal monitoring department of the regional government, Alexey Soldatov, was delegated to the OIC by the Russian Lawyers Association. The communist faction and a number of other opposition deputies voted against Mr. Soldatov’s candidacy. However, the Duma majority nevertheless approved all four candidates. Similarly, the deputies voted for Sergei Bogdanov, the secretary of the current regional election commission, recommended by the Central Election Commission.

Let us remind you that the powers of the current OIC composition expire on July 24. By the end of June, the Central Election Commission should receive the final list of candidates who will join the new regional election commission. A total of 14 people are to be elected, seven each from the regional parliament and the governor. Next, the central commission will have to decide on the candidacy of the chairman of the OIC. Olga Solomatina, who has held this post since 2006, announced in mid-May that she would not re-nominate her candidacy.

The final list of members of the regional election commission, according to the head of the information policy department of the government of the Samara region, Sergei Filippov, will be formed closer to the end of this week, after the governor approves his list. It is known that, in addition to the candidates approved yesterday by deputies, it will include one representative each from United Russia and the Right Russia, as well as Vadim Mikheev, recommended by the Central Election Commission, the deputy chairman of the city election commission, the head of the service of magistrates under the administration of the regional judicial department. According to experts, it is Mr. Mikheev who, with a high degree of probability, will head the election commission. Alexey Soldatov, who was previously tipped for this position, according to a source in the regional administration, will get the chair of deputy chairman of the commission, and Sergei Bogdanov will retain the post of secretary.

“A completely expected decision,” says Igor Ermolenko, chairman of the Yabloko regional department. — Both in terms of refusing our candidate, and in terms of future appointments to leadership positions in the regional election commission. The current system is not interested in having foreign elements in it, and the new composition of the commissions will be able to skillfully, without violating the law, achieve the result the authorities need.” Regional Duma deputy Mikhail Matveev is confident that the opposition “shouldn’t expect anything good from the commission.” “Judging by the organizations some of the candidates came from, we can see that the government entered the commission through two doors,” the politician believes.

Regional coordinator of the Association for the Protection of Voter Rights “Voice” Lyudmila Kuzmina noted that rotations in election commissions are now underway in most Russian regions. “This indicates the tough nature of the campaigns for December this year and March next year. First of all, they are obliged to provide the authorities with an unconditional victory in the December elections so that they can form a constitutional majority in both the provincial and state dumas. And for this we need people capable of non-standard, tough decisions, legally competent and, to some extent, even unprincipled,” Ms. Kuzmina is convinced.

Maxim Kalach

The election commission is half full