Signature test

Almost all self-nominated candidates failed to collect the signatures required for nomination to the Duma

Regional election commissions are starting to sum up the results of the collection of signatures by self-nominated candidates. Several well-known candidates have already learned that a lot of defects have been found in their signature lists. Journalist Maxim Shevchenko, former mayor of Volgograd Yevgeny Ishchenko and children's ombudsman of the Yaroslavl region Mikhail Krupin may be denied registration. Of the 300 self-nominees who collected signatures, only five have been registered so far. Novaya Gazeta found out who did and did not cope with the collection of signatures - a barrier that can become insurmountable even for well-known politicians.

Journalist Maksim Shevchenko, who was nominated in the Southern District of Dagestan, told Novaya Gazeta that after checking by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, 266 signatures were rejected - this is about 7% of the sample, that is, more than is allowed for registration. True, according to Shevchenko, the security forces' claims arose not with the authenticity of the signatures, but with the dates inaccurately indicated on the sheets. The candidate connects claims to signatures in his support with a direct indication of the Minister of Internal Affairs of Dagestan, with whom he has a conflict.

“I accused the Minister of the Interior of violating human rights and called him a criminal. I believe that the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Dagestan violates human rights, exposes people to terror without trial or investigation, and for some reason this organization should allow me to participate in the elections, - I wrote a letter about this to Ella Alexandrovna Pamfilova and yesterday handed it over to the CEC, - says Shevchenko. - I know for sure that the minister gave a personal order not to let me in. In the evening, the expert says: 93 mistakes, and in the morning he comes and says - 266. And I know that at night he was called to the leadership and they say: either shoulder straps on the table, or stop Shevchenko.

According to the CEC, until August 10, only six self-nominated candidates were successfully registered: Boris Evloev, chief specialist of the OFAS for the Republic of Ingushetia (13th district, Republic of Ingushetia), Salekhard official Mikhail Ushakov (225th district, Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug), businessmen Valery Borisovsky (76th district, Belgorod region), Mikhail Zernov (118th district, Moscow region) and Ivan Prokhodtsev (220th district, JAO).

Ivan Prokhodtsev is a well-known personality in the political field of the Jewish Autonomous Region. In early 2015, he gathered a rally in Birobidzhan demanding the resignation of Governor Alexander Vinnikov. Vinnikov resigned on February 24, 2015, one of the reasons is the scandals surrounding the funds that were allocated to flood victims in 2013. LLC "Delta" Ivan Prokhodtsev built a house for the victims in the village of Priamursky, but, according to him, the government did not fully pay for the work. After the change of governor, Prokhodtsev continues to organize rallies for various reasons: against the arbitrariness of officials, for the development of sports.

On the evening of August 10, the headquarters of candidate Maria Baronova, an employee of Open Russia, who is running in the Central District of Moscow, reported that about 15,000 signatures submitted by Baronova were successfully verified: only 2.5% were invalidated.

The Circassian politician and businessman Aliy Totorkulov, the head of the Russian Congress of the Peoples of the Caucasus (RCNC) loyal to the Russian authorities, who unexpectedly came into conflict with the regional leadership in the spring, successfully handed over his signatures. On August 4, the candidate’s headquarters handed over 9,704 signatures to the election commission (the politician himself claims that he collected 50,000, which is five times more than necessary), and on August 9, Totorkulov’s supporters published a photo of the final protocol of the verification: only seven signatures were invalidated. However, there is no decision of the CEC on registration yet.

In the spring, Totorkulov tried to participate in the primaries of United Russia, but was removed from the "preliminary vote" by the decision of the regional organizing committee for "actions that discredit the Party" and damage its political interests. What exactly actions are not explained, but Totorkulov already had conflicts with the authorities. In 2014, he was excluded from participation in the elections to the new composition of the Public Chamber under the President of the Russian Federation. In February 2016, Totorkulov proposed introducing criminal penalties for justifying the Stalinist deportation of peoples.

One way or another, the politician in the region has impressive support. In early June, 305 elders of Karachaevsk and the Karachaevsky district signed an appeal to the head of the republic, Rashid Temrezov, with a request not to use administrative resources against Totorkulov in the State Duma elections. And in early August, 87 representatives of Caucasian public organizations signed a letter with similar demands addressed to the President of the Russian Federation. On August 8, the day before the protocol was published, Totorkulov's supporters announced a rally in his support in the center of Cherkessk for 15,000 participants (the population of Cherkessk is less than 23,000 people). On the Web, Totorkulov's supporters complain about administrative pressure and intimidation of activists. The rally is scheduled for August 20, and so far these plans have not been cancelled.

Outgoing Duma deputy, Righteous Russian Roman Vanchugov (coming from the Kostroma region) announced a possible provocation during the collection of signatures: after submitting signature sheets to the election commission, it turned out that 27 out of almost 900 collectors are members of election commissions who are prohibited by law from participating in the collection of signatures . Each of them signed an agreement, which stated: “The collector is not a member of any election commission,” Vanchugov’s headquarters say.

“The Regional Electoral Committee pointed out to us that these people hold various positions in the election commissions, the majority are voting members, but there were also several secretaries and deputy chairmen. According to the law, most likely, all these signatures will be declared invalid - there are about 1,500 of them, that is, about 10% of those that we provided to the election commission. How many of them in the sample are being counted now. In total, about 16,700 signatures had to be collected,” Vanchugov press secretary Karina Tepanyan told Novaya Gazeta.

Vanchugov sent a deputy's request to the chairman of the Central Election Commission Ella Pamfilova and a statement to the Prosecutor General's Office, the headquarters said.

In the Volgograd region, ex-mayor Yevgeny Ishchenko was denied registration. According to the regional election commission, 22.73% of “toxic” signatures were found on Ishchenko - according to Kommersant, about half were rejected by experts and at least 1.5 thousand signatures did not correspond to the FMS data (with a minimum of 700). Another self-nominated person in the Volgograd region, businessman Yuri Kochetov, had all 100% of the verified signatures declared invalid - he was also denied registration. Both Ishchenko and Kochetov have previous convictions. There are no final decisions of the CEC on them yet.

The former vice-governor, and now the children's ombudsman of the Yaroslavl region, Mikhail Krupin, was also denied registration (he is running in the Rostov single-mandate district): the election commission rejected 25% of signatures, and it turned out that, as in the case of Totorkulov, some of the collectors were members of election commissions writes Kommersant.