Felix Lapin: Last round

Felix Lapin

October 14 - elections for the mayor of Khimki. 13 candidates are fighting for power over the town. A dozen pretenders, three real: acting. the head of the city Oleg Shakhov, environmental activist Evgenia Chirikova and the former prefect of the Northern District of Moscow, former deputy. Head of Rosprirodnadzor Oleg Mitvol.

Who is the favorite in this three? The All-Russian Center for the Study of Public Opinion claims that Shakhov. According to survey results, 41% of Khimki residents sympathize with him. And Mitvol and Chirikova, respectively - 18% and 16%. The Polit.ru correspondent was initially skeptical about this result. But after looking at the candidates “live”, I agreed with VTsIOM.

You may not trust opinion polls, but you still need to trust your own eyes. And with these very eyes I looked at Chirikova and Mitvol on October 12. Their press conferences took place one after another, an hour apart, so it’s easy to compare fresh impressions.

Evgenia spoke first. She performed well. In a soft voice, with teacher intonations, she spoke about the problems of Khimki.

The problems are serious: an acute shortage of hospitals and kindergartens, a disgusting situation with intracity transport and those that run between Khimki and Moscow. Lack of jobs for teachers and doctors and an uncontrolled influx of Asian migrants. The latter live in bestial conditions, in attics and basements, which naturally embitters them. “Getting brutalized, migrant workers attack women and children.” What to do about it? Firstly, to curtail commercial construction in the city, where migrant labor is mainly used, and secondly, to create humane conditions for them. Build hostels for guests, provide medical insurance.

Evgenia Chirikova. Photo: Irina Nesterova

Well, then the usual: about the Khimki forest, about unsanitary conditions and landfills, about a country parasitizing on natural resources, about the need to use the “brains and hands of Khimki residents,” about the creation of a knowledge-intensive economy. About how the government prints and distributes propaganda newspapers at the expense of the budget, about administrative pressure on oppositionists. According to Evgenia, she was unable to find a normal room in Khimki to meet with voters. Either the pipes burst in the chosen hall, or the brass band began round-the-clock rehearsals. But good people support a just cause. Eldar Ryazanov offered to communicate with voters in his cinema. Activists campaign for free and collect money. At the moment, 500 thousand rubles have already been collected. A huge amount!

I try to be objective. But the longer Evgenia spoke, the less I believed in her success. Too intelligent voice, too many complaints. Naive pride over a generally insignificant amount. Winners don't behave like that.

Here Mitvol is truly from the breed of winners. This became clear from the first minutes: from his impudent eyes, from his lordly voice, from the way he crossed his legs. A man who knows the taste of power is a bureaucratic bone, a predator.

He voiced the same problems: infill development, poor ecology, migrants. He offered less sophisticated solutions. He didn’t talk about dormitories for the Asian workforce; he pressed more on a police solution to the problem. “Any local police officer knows what’s going on in the basements on his territory. And if he doesn’t know, it means they put something in his eyes.”

Oleg Mitvol. Photo: Irina Nesterova

According to Oleg Lvovich, “Khimki used to be a nice city, but now it has become stuffy here.” Now it is a “sore spot in the Moscow region” and a “secret center of banditry.” But he, Mitvol, can fix everything because he has extensive management experience. After all, he managed “a larger district than Khimki” for 1.5 years. Who will fix the situation if they win? The team is not the problem. Many former subordinates will happily move from the Moscow prefecture to the Khimki mayor's office, even if they have to leave higher positions.

Mitvol spoke about the administrative resource in the Khimki elections not so much with indignation as with irony: “Shakhov’s rating is growing! Over the past month, the whole city has fallen passionately in love with him. When you talk to people about landfills, they get upset. If you talk to them about playgrounds, they get upset. And as soon as the conversation turns to Oleg Fedorovich Shakhov, they begin to rejoice. They can’t sit still, they jump up and applaud!”

Having gone over the current government, Mitvol accidentally touched upon Chirikova:

“Despite the fact that the candidates received foreign orders for saving the Khimki forest, it was still cut down.”

The candidate joked, radiated confidence, boasted of past achievements, but by the end of the meeting I doubted him too. Some kind of undignity was visible in Mitvol. Fussiness. Well, yes, the bureaucratic bone is a predator, and he remembers the taste of power, but does he remember it well? After all, 2 years have passed since he was torn from the state umbilical cord. This is quite enough to make you lose your grip.

Oleg Shakhov. Photo: Valery Melnikov / Kommersant

I spoke with Oleg Shakhov on the phone on the same day. He didn't speak for long, but enough to rate him as a favorite. And about. The mayor indignantly rejected all the accusations against him. The election campaign is taking place within the framework of the law. Are opponents complaining that they are not allocated premises? They deliberately escalate the situation. They book rooms, but don’t come to the meetings themselves - and then they complain that they were refused.

In the city, however, there are specialists in dirty technologies who spread slander. This upsets Oleg Fedorovich somewhat, but does not for a moment deprive him of confidence in the final result.

Of course, he knows the problems of the city no worse than the oppositionists. But knowing is half the battle; the main thing is to be able to solve them!

Tajik migrant workers. Photo: Irina Nesterova

Shakhov is confident that he can do it because his “experience and education are greater than that of any of the candidates.” Shakhov spoke little, in general terms, without going into details, but there was an iron calm in his voice, which clarified the situation better than any words. The voice was neither plaintive, nor angry, nor sarcastic.

The real voice of power.

VTsIOM was not mistaken.

See also: in Nomination of candidates for mayor has begun Khimki Mitrokhin and Chirikova discussed the elections in Khimki