Did the campaign fail miserably?

Residents of Kamchatka collected almost two thousand signatures for the resignation of Governor Ilyukhin

In Kamchatka, at the beginning of the new year, the political situation suddenly worsened. The figure of Governor Vladimir Ilyukhin was in the center of everyone's attention. His term of office, according to the law, should expire in 2016. However, the head of the region, apparently, decided to speed up the course of events. In any case, his subordinates tell the whole world in confidence that the elections will be held ahead of schedule - in September of this year. Moreover, according to informed employees of the regional government, the winner of the election race is already known. This is Vladimir Ilyukhin himself. He allegedly attended an audience with President Putin at the end of last season and resolved all his questions. Now stories about how the Kamchatka Territory is developing and getting prettier can be seen not only on local, but also on federal TV channels.

However, pleasant impressions from the television picture to the head of Kamchatka were blurred by some events of real life. Immediately, several public organizations of the region began collecting signatures demanding Ilyukhin's resignation. Among the activists are representatives of small businesses, northern peoples of the region, pensioners and large families. The initiators of the action intend to attach their signatures to an appeal addressed to Vladimir Putin, a recent interlocutor of the Kamchatka governor.

According to the authors of the message, the most difficult situation has developed in the region with pensions, housing and communal services and medicine, corruption is rampant and social inequality is growing.

Here are some quotes from the appeal of Kamchatka residents to the President of the country.

“To get to the specialists in the children's polyclinic, residents of Kamchatka have to stand in queues for 4-6 months. The death rate of babies in maternity hospitals exceeds all reasonable limits. However, the regional authorities turn a blind eye to this and do not make any personnel decisions.”

“Over the years of governor Ilyukhin's rule, salaries in the regional government have grown significantly. Today, officials receive an average of 100,000 rubles a month. While ordinary residents of the region earn no more than 25-30 thousand ... Officials are the highest class in the Kamchatka Territory - like nobles in the Middle Ages.

“Newspapers, radio and TV channels are controlled by the authorities either directly or through close oligarchs. At the same time, officials ban protest rallies under any (often far-fetched) pretexts.”

“Criminal cases have been initiated against the officials of the regional government. However, only very few of them managed to be brought to trial... The cynicism of these gentlemen knows no bounds. For example, almost a four-billion contract for the construction of a regional hospital was received by a firm close to the regional elite (governor, senator and Kamchatka deputy). The pseudo-competition was controlled by one of the leaders of the Kamchatka branch of the All-Russian Popular Front. It is he who is the director of the company of the winner.

In less than two weeks, activists have collected about two thousand signatures. However, a number of local media hastened to declare that the action "for the resignation of Ilyukhin" failed miserably. And the regional government refused to comment on the latest events, citing their "low social significance."

“Ignoring what is happening around is a typical style of behavior for Kamchatka bosses. One gets the impression that the governor learns about the situation in his region only from TV reports and soothing stories from his assistants. I think when we collect five thousand signatures, and we collect them, they will still pay attention to us, ”says one of the organizers of the action, businessman Alexei Nikolaev.

The activists, he said, are determined to see their undertaking through to the end. The initiative group has a serious support team. It includes women who lost their children in Kamchatka maternity hospitals, entrepreneurs left without business, pensioners who, after paying utility bills, have five thousand rubles a month to live on. These people simply have nowhere to retreat ...