Indian, Tolokonsky, Gorodetsky ... Elections of the mayor of Novosibirsk in 1990-2014

On August 23, the Novosibirsk City Hall will be held public hearings on the amendment to the charter of the city, which cancel the second round of mayor elections. The political observer of Taiga.info Alexei Mazur recalled how the heads of the city were elected from 1990 to the present.

Under the Soviet regime, as you know, mayors were not chosen. Formally, there was “power of the Soviets” - in every city, including in Novosibirsk, there was a city council, which elected the Executive Committee, including the head of the executive committee. Speaking of modern terminology-“City Manager”.

The formal powers of Soviet deputies were significantly wider than the current ones: they voted for key appointments in the executive committee and heard the reports of city officials. In addition, each of the ten districts of Novosibirsk had its own district councils of deputies and its own district executive committees.

In fact, the councils of deputies until 1990 played the role of the "screen", just as the modern State Duma of the Russian Federation depicts parliament. Honored (and ideologically verified) workers and employees were selected for the role of deputies, for the most part of the CPSU members, and they always voted only “for”. The first deputy, who voted “against”, appeared in the city council of Novosibirsk in 1989. It was one of the leaders of "demotion"

Anatoly Manokhin

, elected in one of the districts of Akademgorodok on the benefits. Then the City Council consisted of 700 deputies.

With formally wide and “independent” self -government in the USSR, a rigid “vertical of power” had a very specific appearance in the form of the structure of the CPSU: district committees, city committees, regional committees and at the very top - the Central Committee. For especially incomprehensible, this was all reinforced by the KGB.

At the end of perestroika, the formal structure was suddenly filled with real content, and the “vertical of power” collapsed over the year

But at the end of the perestroika, the formal structure of the Soviet government was suddenly filled with real content, and the party “vertical” collapsed literally in a year.

The first alternative elections of local councils in Novosibirsk (as in all of Russia, then - the RSFSR) were held in the spring of 1990, reducing before this the number of chosen ones. 150 deputies were elected to the city council, 100 - 250 in the regional ones, 250. But this turned out to be a lot: the stormy sessions continued for days, and fierce disputes boiled around the most insignificant, but understandable to most issues.

At that time, the "Center of Power" moved from the regional communities to the relevant advice. And the “main” chairmen became “main”. At the regional level, the struggle for this post occurred between the first secretary of the regional committee Vitaly Mukha and the chairman of the regional executive committee Vladimir Bokov. On the city - between the first secretary of the city committee Anatoly Maslov and the chairman of the city executive committee Ivan Indink. If in the region the issue was resolved with the help of a “party vertical” and a fly became the chairman of the regional council, then at the city level “democracy defeated” - the deputies supported the Indian.

In fact, Ivan Indian and headed Novosibirsk at that moment, becoming his “first mayor”, although there was no formally such a position, nor public elections for it.

The Soviet System, Burl and transforming, survived the coup of 1991, but was destroyed after the coup

1993.

Having defeated the armed confrontation with the Supreme Council, President Boris Yeltsin not only dispersed him by appointing elections to the State Duma and a referendum under the new Constitution, which no one really had time to read, but also dissolved all local advice. In a truncated form, only regional councils still functioned for some time.

Despite the costs of “early democracy” and the inevitable chaos and a mess, the “Soviet system”, filled with real content, began to function, and in many respects better than what was later. The deputies were then quite deputies, officials were tormented on reports, and a deputy control system was built at the city level.

All this was destroyed by decree of the angry against the deputies as such Yeltsin. The Novosibirsk City Council was simply liquidated. Addressed officials threw deputies from their offices along with things.

Since the governor Vitaly Mukha openly supported the Supreme Council in 1993, Boris Yeltsin removed him, and Ivan Indinka appointed him in his place. Indinas, in turn, appointed the mayor of Novosibirsk Viktor Tolokonsky. There was still no public election of mayors, and there was no city council already.

The City Council was simply eliminated. Addressed officials threw deputies from their offices along with things

In 1994, with full apathy of both the population and the main political forces (the charter in the State Duma elections and the Federation Council, everyone was preparing for the elections to the regional council), elections to the new city council were held. Then there was still a threshold of turnout in the elections, so the elections were recognized as held only in 16 of 25 districts. Victor Tolokonsky also became a deputy, and the City Council elected him to the mayor.

It was already a completely different City Council, a little and flexible. He was elected for the “transition period”, for two years, and, among other things, accepted the charter of Novosibirsk, in which the public elections of the mayor were prescribed.

In 1995, the first election of the governor of the Novosibirsk region was held. Ivan Indian lost them in the second round Vitaly Much, although he scored more in the first round. Victor Tolokonsky during the election was supported by an Indian and even promised to resign in the event of a fly. And he really resigned, but the deputies of the City Council did not accept her and convinced Tolokonsky to stay at the post.

In 1996, the first “popular” elections of the mayor of Novosibirsk took place, where Victor Tolokonsky gained more than 80% of the vote. The author could neither recall the names of his competitors, nor find them on the Internet. I must say that in 1996, the president’s very stormy elections were held, against which no one paid attention to the mayor’s election campaign.

In 1999, the history of "succession" was on the post of mayor of Novosibirsk. Victor Tolokonsky in a complex campaign won the election of the governor of his competitors Ivan Starikov (in the second round) and Vitaly Mukha (he did not even fall into the second round). Having become the governor, he appointed the acting mayor of Novosibirsk his deputy Vladimir Gorodetsky.

According to the traditions that developed at that time, the election of the mayor of Novosibirsk took place immediately after the stormy elections of the Governor of the Novosibirsk Region, and the main “players” no longer had enough strength for them, and the electorate had interest.

The mayor’s elections in 2000 were quite sluggish, the main competitor of Gorodetsky was entrepreneur Georgy Glebov, who scored only 14%. Gorodetsky received 52% and won the first round.

The only case when an acute struggle unfolded in the mayor’s elections and a second round was needed in 2004. Then the main rival of Vladimir Gorodetsky was Telemagnat Yakov London, in the hands of which was the popular local Channel NTN-4.

By that time, the practice of “elections to the elections” had already completely formed in Novosibirsk. The districts were “cleaned” from strong competitors with the help of agreements at best and threats in the worst. In 2004, the author (then - the functioner of the Yabloko party) took a conversation with Jacob London. He said that he himself went to the mayor’s elections not from a good life. According to London, he was negotiating joint actions in the mayor’s elections with Alexander Karelin, persuaded to go to the elections of Vladimir Anisimov, and later Viktor Ignatov. However, Karelin dodged the coalition, Anisimov “Suddenly” received a flattering proposal and went from the city hall to work in the regional administration (deputy governor), and Ignatov filed a statement at first, and recalled after a couple of days.

According to London, he was negotiating joint actions with Karelin, persuaded to go to the elections of Anisimov and Ignatov

The 2004 election campaign was active and quite rigid, some television channels praised Gorodetsky, others (NTN-4)-scolded him. In the newspaper "Evening Novosibirsk" one could see a U -turn, on which there was a paid advertisement for Jacob London on one lane, and on the neighboring one - as if an editorial article with a large heading "Why do not Jews like in England."

In the first round, Vladimir Gorodetsky scored 42%, and Yakov London - 24%. In the second, with a turnout in 40%, Gorodetsky received 59% of the vote, and London - 29%. “Against all” in the first round came out 16%, in the second - 11%.

The mayor’s elections in 2009 fell at the end of Putin's stability and the construction of the “vertical of power”. Next year, United Russia will gain less than 50% of the vote in the Novosibirsk region, and in

2011-

He will lose the Communist Party in the State Duma of the Russian Federation in all areas of Novosibirsk. But Vladimir Gorodetsky goes to the mayor’s elections almost uncontested and gains 73%. The second place (9%) is received by the “Technical Candidate” Alexander Plyushkin. The task of attracting the electorate to the “elections without elections” of 2009 was solved by distributing discount cards in polling stations.

So, from 1990 to the present, the continuity of the authorities in the city hall of Novosibirsk has not been interrupted: in

1995

Indies “puts” on the city of Tolokonsky, and he “puts” Gorodetsky four years later. The next mayor’s elections, recall, will be held in 2014. They should expect a high level of competition and protest voting.

Alexey Mazur