Anton Tolmachev again gathered in the City Duma

The famous Perm blogger Anton Tolmachev intends to take part in the by-elections to the Perm City Duma in district No. 32, announced shortly after the appointment of Denis Ushakov as head of the capital construction department of Perm. United Russia nominated the director of Incab LLC, Alexander Smilgevich, for the same constituency. The fame and potential accumulated by Mr. Tolmachev online is unlikely to be realized “in the field,” political strategists interviewed by Kommersant believe.

Director of the advertising group “Lege Artis”, blogger Anton Tolmachev began collecting signatures for nomination as a candidate for the Perm City Duma in constituency No. 32 (Sverdlovsk district of Perm), which was notified yesterday by the TEC of the Sverdlovsk region. He reported this on his blog. Mr. Tolmachev also announced a fundraiser for the election campaign, and “several thousand have already been raised.” “Help as much as you can for the election campaign! Funds are needed only for printing and outdoor advertising (cubes a la Navalny),” the blogger wrote.

Let us remind you that by-elections to the Perm City Duma in district No. 32 will take place in the fall of 2015. The deputy for this district, Denis Ushakov, resigned last fall, heading the capital construction department of the city of Perm. Another contender for the deputy seat in this constituency today is the general director of Incab LLC, Alexander Smilgevich. He won the recent United Russia primaries for by-elections to the Perm City Duma in electoral district No. 32.

Let us remind you that this is not the first time Anton Tolmachev is trying to get into the City Duma. During the 2011 election campaign, when the current composition of the deputy corps was being determined, the blogger was already nominated as a candidate in constituency No. 34 (Sverdlovsk region) and announced the collection of signatures, but was not registered. Alexander Fenev was elected deputy from this district, who later resigned due to his transfer to the post of Minister of Energy and Housing and Communal Services of the region.

“Then I went off the rails. It was winter, the New Year holidays, and I approached the collection of signatures rather frivolously. And he only focused on promoting on the Internet, but the Internet does not work and will not work on these tasks for another five years. It’s important to go offline,” explained Mr. Tolmachev. “In this district, the local population supports me, because I met everyone here while organizing the TOS. Now TOS needs a community center. Two squares need to be brought to life. We need a stadium at school No. 41.”

Former deputy for this district Denis Ushakov, who now heads the capital construction department of the city of Perm, told Kommersant that he does not care which of the nominees will receive the mandate. “I worked as a deputy for 12 years, and people remember me for my actions. Let others try."

The potential accumulated by Mr. Tolmachev on the Internet is unlikely to be useful, political scientists believe. “If someone thinks that on the working outskirts it is possible to achieve any significant results with the help of Internet technologies, then they are mistaken,” says political strategist Alexander Pakholkov. “It will be interesting to see if he can take second or third place.”

Svetlana Bykova, Nadezhda Emelyanova

By-elections are coming out blog