The Voronezh Morty Duma did not allow the townspeople to hold a conference on the return of direct elections of the mayor

Deputies of the Voronezh City Duma refused the activists to hold a conference at which it was proposed to discuss the return of the mayor’s elections. The officials doubted the reliability of the signatures, ”RIA Voronezh reported on September 14.

In support of the conference, the initiative group collected 526 signatures with the necessary 500. However, as stated in the official note addressed to the speaker Vladimir Khodyrev , officials “conducted a selective signature check”: they sent supposedly 50 randomly selected citizens asking them to confirm their decision. 32 people answered, 30 of whom were withdrawn their signatures. As a result, 496 signatures were recognized as valid.

The reason for the audit was the statement of one of the signatures that he was allegedly “misleading” those who collected signatures, and he thought that he supported one of the candidates on the benefits.

Activists themselves insist that they acted honestly, and doubt that the townspeople withdrew signatures of their own free will. According to the leader of the initiative group Konstantin Kvasov , each signed personal data with his own hands: the last name, name and patronymic, series and passport number, place of residence - and on the signature sheets themselves, it was indicated for which the initiative group spoke for.

- In my opinion, this is motivated by risks to admit that the deputies did not make a decision in the interests of the townspeople, although they are obliged to act in their interests. The rationale for the refusal is the legal mistake of the deputies. As follows from the explanation of the Duma, the doubts that all signatures were delivered by the citizens themselves did not arise, and there were no comments on their design. This means that the requirements for signature sheets and their number are observed. The situation does not provide for the review of signatures. There is no such grounds for recognizing the signature for nomination of the candidate or in support of the initiative of the referendum, as “a citizen changed his mind after submitting documents,” and therefore, in the case of support for the initiative to conduct a citizen’s conference, there cannot be a basis for refusing. And if a citizen writes tomorrow that he changed his mind and asks to again attach his signatures? What are we going to do? And then he changed his mind again, and each time he writes letters. We do not need such “hockey”, ”Konstantin Kvasov commented.

In December 2016, Voronezh deputies voted for the abolition of direct elections of the mayor. The initiative was explained by saving budget funds. 27 parliamentarians spoke out for, only six voted against. The Communist Party deputy Konstantin Ashifin called the decision a mistake: the Duma took away the right to choose the mayor from the townspeople.

The head of the city , Alexander Gusev and the governor of the region , Alexei Gordeev, supported the initiative.