Chukotopa democracy

United Russia this week will send to its factions in regional parliaments and local branches recommendations on the application of the law, which gives the regions the right to abandon the direct elections of its head, Kommersant reports . The proposal to take this opportunity will receive three of the nine subjects, who will have elections on September 8: Dagestan, Ingushetia and Chukotka.

If the first two national republics have already been mentioned publicly as candidates for the rejection of direct elections, the publication notes, then Chukotka got into this list for the first time. Sources in the party explain this with the sparsely populated and territorial length of the Northern region, as well as the presence of two unequal national groups in it.

For several months, Chukotka has been discussing how to apply a law on direct elections. They doubt the possibility of fulfilling the requirements of the "municipal filter". “Based on the number of Chukchi deputies of village councils and city councils and the heads of municipalities, the future participant in the election race will have to collect at least 44 signatures,” said Igor Markin, the chairman of the Chukotsk JSC election commission, “requires the law that the candidate is supported by three administrative territories, that is, in six of the available seven municipal districts Chukotki ".

In all four fractions of the regional parliament, this prospect is not enthusiastic. Deputies note that moving around the region is difficult. There is only direct air traffic between district centers, roads are practically absent, and in coastal settlements the main transport of sea. In addition, the notarial certification of each municipal signature will require funds.

In the region, regardless of the selected model, the current governor Roman Kopin is considered the most likely candidate. His powers end in July 2013. If the deputies by local law decide on the rejection of direct elections, the publication notes, Chukotka may already receive the appointed head of the region in the middle of summer.

On April 2, President Vladimir Putin signed the law on the right of regions to choose whether they should leave direct elections of governors or enter the election procedure of the head of the subject through the regional legislative assembly. The law was published and entered into force.

On March 27, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev spoke in support of direct elections of the heads of regions. “This also applies to the Caucasus,” the prime minister said, adding that in some Caucasian regions, "election procedures in their pure form have not yet been used." Medvedev made a reservation that he did not object to the law that allows the subjects of the Federation to abandon direct elections of the heads of regions. “But my opinion: if someone raises the question of canceling direct elections and moving to another procedure, he should prepare well and explain why another procedure should be used,” the prime minister concluded.

In January, on the eve of the consideration of the law in the first reading, the head of Ingushetia Yunus-Bek Evkurov spoke out against direct elections of regions managers, proposing to return to the system of their appointment throughout the country. “The danger of elections is in the decomposition of society,” he said. According to Yevkurov, the election of governors is a matter of the future, while there are enough direct elections of the President of Russia. "There is a head of state who is chosen by the people. Here he is chosen, and he must have a prerogative. The presidential administration will never appoint a loafer to the subject, who will work badly," Yevkurov said.