Candidate "Against all"

Political scientists - about the nomination of Sobchak to the President of Russia

TV presenter Ksenia Sobchak announced his candidacy for the 2018 presidential election. This step was expected for a long time: on October 14, information appeared about the meeting of Sobchak with President Vladimir Putin, and the nomination was preceded by a tough polemic between Sobchak and oppositionist Alexei Navalny along with his supporters. It was also reported that the political strategist Vitaly Shklyarov and the co -owner of Vedomosti Demyan Kudryavtsev will help. Sobchak herself in her first election video entitles her campaign, in fact, as a “candidate“ against all ”.

The fact that the role of just such a candidate is assigned to Sobchak was told by the “new” and some political scientists surveyed by the editors. In addition, they expressed doubt about its prospects to reach the election if the Rating of Sobchak begins to grow, and also explained why she needed it, and what result can be expected from such a nomination.

Grigory Golosov

Professor of the European University in St. Petersburg

As for candidates like Sobchak, international politics has such a concept as “frivolous” candidates. The role of such candidates is to delay the voices of opponents. Sobchak goes to these elections in itself. And the question whose voices she will delay. There are about 20% of the opposition electorate-maybe one of them will vote for it. Perhaps young people will vote about thirty-who remembers her at home-2. She can gain six to seven percent, but on a Russian scale it is millions of votes.

In general, Sobchak will give as many votes as they want. In the field, the counting of votes can depend on the amateur attachments of the governors, she can receive some part of the votes from the campaign in the media (of course, everything will depend on how much the opportunity to use this resource will be).

I must say that such a pre -election farce is rather annoying. Such a candidate will not add legitimacy to the elections at all, then people will then be even more angry that they were conducted. The image of honest elections - it is needed for apolitical people who would have gone to the polls to vote for Putin. For them, an illusion is created that there are many different candidates.

Kirill Rogov

political scientist

Ksenia Sobchak-of course, is a candidal candidate, but not Putin, but Navalny, which is probably the most important thing in this story. The nomination was agreed by the Presidential Administration, and Sobchak should resist Navalny's team. She may be accumulated by the attention of young people, but if Navalny gathers dissatisfied youth under his banners, then young people more pleased with the current state of affairs should vote for Sobchak.

There is a task of becoming a young generation’s mouthpiece, but it is very likely that Sobchak will withdraw his candidacy from the elections, especially if she suddenly begins to grow a rating. I think this option has already been calculated and spoke in the presidential administration.

It seems to me that 15% of the vote for it is the limit to which the candidacy will not be removed. But a lot will depend on other layouts: attendance to the polls, the list of other candidates. All the same, it is necessary that Putin has a great advantage, and Sobchak in this sense is a convenient candidate.

Rostislav Turovsky

Head of the Department of Regional Studies of the Center for Political Technology

In essence, Sobchak has no electoral base at the moment. She was not a politician and party activist. We are talking about the nomination of not a political player, but a media person, and the question arises what role it can play in this campaign. I believe that the vote will be very limited, even if promotion. This will be a kind of vote “against all” for those who are not for Putin and not for candidates from the parliamentary opposition.

This is a nomination, of course, an agreed step with the authorities. It was accepted not without Putin’s participation, but, perhaps, with his direct participation. In this regard, it is unlikely to be expected to be on Sobchak (unless this is done specially as part of the campaign). The moment of the nomination was also chosen by chance - in such a way as to speak the day before Putin’s appeal to Valdai. Since this is happening here and now, it is obvious that it will be registered as a candidate (they will help her with the collection of signatures). However, if Putin’s campaign is successful, she does not even have any chances as a candidate “against all”.

Sobchak is waiting for a very sharp criticism of other political players. Within the framework of the campaign itself, if Yavlinsky participates, the polemic between him and Sobchak becomes inevitable. Obviously, the ongoing polemic with Navalny. The very internal field of liberal politicians is inevitably conflict. But in this sense, Sobchak is a candidate convenient in all respects: she is not terrible, she knows how to answer them - and apparently she will have to do this.