The return of the intrigue

On March 28, United Russia gathered in Moscow and taught the basics of the political struggle of future candidates, including in single -member districts. There is a registration of voters and candidates for the primaries of the opposition democratic coalition. System parties are looking for new heroes in the regions. How the return of single -mandate will change the course of the campaign and the composition of the future Duma - analyzed The New Times

Dmitry Medvedev warned the associates: it will be hard, Moscow, March 28, 2016

The educational forum “candidate” conducted by United Russia in Moscow may well give skeptics the next arguments in order to announce the upcoming elections to the State Duma boring and planned by the farce in advance. Hundreds of participants in the primaries from the regions, the protocol speech of Dmitry Medvedev (he is not only the premiere, but also the leader of the United Russia), the installation lecture of the secretary of the General Council of the party Sergey Neverov, who told the same parties that the opposition - liars and even at times criminals and only “United Russia” - is almost the only healthy power in society ... all habitually to Zevoi, all habitually to Zevoi, all habitual. But there is still a nuance. They listened to the prime minister and prominent party members, including future single -mandate. Medvedev said to the audience: in order to become a “full -fledged candidate from the party,” now he will have to go through “fire, water and copper pipes”, referring to the primaries procedure. But for single -mandate in the regions, real fire will begin later. And even - here Medvedev is absolutely right - for single -mandate from the party in power.

Course for the regions

The single -mandate will get 225 seats in the seventh convocation of 450. In Moscow - 15 single -mandate districts, another 11 in the Moscow region. The rest are regions. The number of districts depends on the number of voters, in 32 constituent entities of the Russian Federation one district was formed, but there are also those where there are 8 districts (these are St. Petersburg and the Krasnodar Territory).

Of course, all legislative innovations up to the cut of the districts (and it is very different from the one that existed until 2003, when the country was the last time chose single -mandate) aims to facilitate the path to the Duma convenient for power to the authorities. (A detailed comparative analysis of the “old” and “new” cuts will be represented by readers in one of the closest NT numbers). Nevertheless, 225 districts are 225 campaigns, an unlimited number of candidates can take part in each of them theoretically. It’s even purely physically difficult to control the number of “foci of electoral tension” - both the federal center and the governors in the field, because it is the governors by Russian tradition that the result is responsible for the Kremlin. And accordingly, in regions with a large number of districts among candidates not related to the party in power, chances appear.

Julia Mikhalkova consoled fans: and in the elections she will remain the "Ural dumplings", Moscow, February 15, 2016

The single -mandate campaign is significantly different from the struggle of party lists filled with federal political heavyweights and, to attract additional interest, the stars of pop and sports. In the battle for the district, there is more chances - a friend of a local man who understands their problems and willing to speak the same language with them. “Varangians” - not in honor, loud slogans - not in fashion, at the peak of interest - talk about a broken road from the village to the village or closed hospital. And the country blooming in the Crimea and the foreign policy successes of the country are good for the TV, but not for a personal trust with pensioners of the Siberian village. Residents of the collapsed huts may not appreciate the boundless prospects associated with the restoration of the monuments of ancient Palmyra.

The price of the issue

The habit of centripetal comprehension of the political process gives rise to a slightly one-sided view of the 2016 elections. There are EP and other parliamentary parties, the “system opposition”, which is difficult to distinguish from the EP in rhetoric, and there is a PARNAS party, which is heroically opposing it. Well, for those who have not forgotten about the “500 days” program, “Yabloko”, forever eager to unite all “healthy forces” and unable to unite with anyone. But potential single-mandates from the regions can look at the situation in a completely different way.

There will be a lot of negativity in the elections, and all the achievements of the late nineties will come in handy. Compromant for a person from local turns into a city gossip

Who, in principle, is able to go to the polls? First of all, of course, those who want to make a party career or have a taste for politics, the will to power (see NT No. 8 of March 14, 2016 ). But also - local businessmen or lobbyists of their interests. At the federal level, the lobbying potential of the State Duma is negligible today: the Duma is not a place where the laws write, the Duma only votes for what the presidential administration or the government is needed. But in regional disputes around the property, the very right to enter any official, which guarantees the law “On the status of a deputy”, is an important trump card. Plus, let the hypothetical, but invariably frightening local elites have ties in Moscow, plus the possibility of performing in the federal press - all this makes deputy crusts very attractive.

The self -nominated is necessary, first of all, signatures. At least 3 % of the signatures of voters of the district (that is, on average - 15–20 thousand signatures). It is the test of the authenticity of signatures that is the main weapon to cut off unwanted candidates in the hands of the election commission (that is, directly speaking, governors). The campaign of the democratic coalition to the regional elections in 2015 showed this clearly. But candidates from parties with representatives in the State Duma or regional parliaments should not collect signatures. Consequently, party support at the first stage is the most important resource for a potential candidate.

Teleptation Boris Nadezhdin counts on the support of EP, Moscow, February 18, 2016

And here again the familiar scheme breaks, in which there are only system parties, Parnassus and Yabloko. In the legislative bodies of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation there are deputies from the Patriots of Russia, the Russian Party of Pensioners for Justice, the Russian Ecological Party "Green" and a number of parties, which are not at the federal level by political players. But in the regions, supporting not intending to negotiate with the governor and system parties of single -mandate, these microparties can earn political weight. Yes, and they can simply earn.

The permitted maximum of the election fund for a candidate in a single -mandate district is 40 million rubles. The “typical” campaign and representatives of several Moscow political technological teams, already anticipating the “summer haying in the field” are approximately twice as much as twice as much. But they are laid down in calculations and unofficial expenses - to ensure party support and on black PR.

Julia Yuzik made a way from Komsomolskaya Pravda to an opposition political project

Negative elections, the interlocutors of NT suggest, there will be many and all the developments of the late nineties will come in handy. The compromising evidence for a person from local, familiar to the public is much better than the heroes of television talk shows, turns into a city gossip, causes increased interest and remains effective, and sometimes even the main weapons of the political struggle.

In any case, elections in single -mandate districts are not entertainment for the poor.

Politics in faces

“United Russia” is the main part of the candidates (not necessarily party, it is enough not to be a member of another party and not have criminal records) to pass through the primaries procedure. At the last congress of the party, it was argued that this is a way to identify real leaders of public opinion. At the moment, 1812 candidates have been registered to participate in the preliminary vote, among whom, by the way, there are already many regional businessmen. But they do not yet attract maximum public attention. Among those who wanted to get to the Duma, with the support of the EP,, for example, Boris Nadezhdin, who was already a deputy of the State Duma of the Third convocation from the Party of the ATP, was discovered. Today, Nadezhdin is the usual guest of propaganda TV shows, where he is assigned the role of an implacable oppositionist. The more amazing the intention to become a candidate from the ruling party in one of the single -member districts of the Moscow Region.

The head of the Open Elections Timur Valeev says that he was “tired of lie” on state TV

However, most of the EP lists are going to form a preliminary vote. There, among the usual party leaders, unexpected candidates also come across. In Yekaterinburg, the impulse to become a deputy of the State Duma visited the actress of the show "Ural dumplings" Julia Mikhalkov. Mikhalkov is going to support the Ural Farmers and consumers of their products. The mood is serious: “I am like a woman who is worried about our health, I want and can develop this topic. What do we eat now? Take any product from the counter - you wonder how many harmful substances, ”says Julia in an interview with one of the local news agencies. Ideologically an actor is also fed: “I am a supporter of the party for many years and never hid it. If you say that United Russia does not have everything in order with the rating, why will you, a journalist, a famous person, will not enter the party and not raise it? Actually, our leader, Vladimir Putin stood at its origins. ” And politicians do not shy away - I went out, for example, on stage in a dress with a portrait of the governor of the Sverdlovsk region. However, the Yekaterinburg political scientist Fedor Krasheninnikov, in an interview with NT, appreciated the chances of Mikhalkova - "unless local specifics and female charm intervene."

Candidates from the democratic coalition who want to get the support of Parnassus will pass through the primaries procedure. One of the organizers and, by the way, a participant in the primaries, Leonid Volkov told NT that the competition is high-more than a hundred people who wish, but potential single-mandates will be determined by preliminary voting only in those districts, “where there are linings,” that is, there are more than one approval candidate. Such districts are “three or four”. The primaries of the EP - May 22, the primaries of the demoralization earlier - April 23–24.

Nadezhdin is the usual guest of propaganda TV shows, where he is given the role of an implacable oppositionist. The more amazing the intention to become a candidate from the ruling party

Another center of power is the project of Mikhail Khodorkovsky “Open Elections”, designed to support - primarily informational and organizational - candidates with a clear program capable of forming an election fund. Since December 2015, the project has been headed by Timur Valeev, a former employee of the Moscow 24 state television channel, known in the opposition environment by ambiguous assessments of events on Bolotnaya Square on May 6, 2012. But among the candidates supported by the “open elections”, who was accused in the “swamp case”, Maria Baronova, who is not tired of explaining to the opposition and Ukrainian citizens on social networks, why Crimea should belong to Russia. And also - Julia Yuzik, in the past - an employee of Komsomolskaya Pravda and the author of the book “Bride of Allah”, which stated that the Western intelligence services and human rights activists were behind the terrorists in the Caucasus. There are even a member of EP Ruzil Mingalimov among candidates.

Mikhail Khodorkovsky himself on Facebook explains his position: “The choice of the opposition in the conditions of the authoritarian regime is simple: barren grunts on the couch; Radical terror by the forces of idealist fanatics or the ability to forget about disagreements for the sake of honest elections, regular change of power, independent courts, influential civil society during the transition period. ” And adds: "I made my choice."

What are we waiting for

So, we expect new people from the elections, and primarily thanks to the return of single -mandate. For the sake of this, the United Russia is starting their primaries, the opposition are concerned about this. “Yabloko”, for example, has already stated that one of the candidates from the party in Moscow could be businessman Alexander Vinokurov, the owner of the Rain television channel. Vinokurov himself, however, told NT that he did not comment on this information (“Yabloko” already offered Vinokurov to participate in the elections to the Moscow City Duma in 2014, but then the parties did not agree on the conditions). We are waiting for bright and possibly dirty campaigns in the regions, especially where there are more than one constituency. And - a chance of appearing in the Duma, in addition to the gleaming and, apparently, inevitable heroes of Russian politics, regional businessmen, as well as real opposition, and more than one.

Photo: Alexander Miridonov/Kommersant, vk.com/mihalckova, YouTube.com, Facebook.com-yuliayuzik, vybory.openrussia.org