104 candidates out of 172 nominated were able to register / Kirill Kukhmar / TASS

Maintaining the course towards holding non-competitive elections of heads of Russian regions has led to the development of a paradoxical situation: the largest parties are effectively abandoning the real struggle in those regions where they have the highest chances of winning, and the authorities are testing new technologies for mobilizing voters. This is stated in the analytical report "Voices", which summarizes the results of the nomination and registration of candidates for the elections of September 9, 2018. One of the main instruments of manipulative elimination of candidates, the authors of the report note, remains the municipal filter: using administrative pressure, the authorities conduct a mass collection of signatures of local deputies in favor of the current head of the region and his "technical" rivals. Also, a significant limitation of passive electoral rights is the lack of the opportunity for self-nomination (in the current elections, it was only in three regions - Moscow, Kemerovo and Omsk regions). As a result, another, party filter was created.

In the elections of 22 heads of the subjects of the Russian Federation on September 9, 2018, 172 candidates from 35 parties were nominated, according to the calculations of analysts from Golos. The LDPR nominated the most representatives – 21 people. United Russia nominated candidates in 19 regions. In Moscow, one of the party leaders, the city mayor Sergei Sobyanin, is running as an independent candidate. The ruling party also did not have candidates in the Oryol Region, where communist Andrei Klychkov is running in the elections as acting governor, and in the Omsk Region, where United Russia supported acting governor Aleksandr Burkov, a member of the Socialist Revolutionary Party.

"A Just Russia" has nominated itself in 20 regions. The SRs were formally left out in Omsk and Pskov regions, although Burkov, who is running as an independent candidate, is one of the most prominent members of "A Just Russia".

The CPRF nominated itself in only 18 regions. At the same time, the party refused to participate in the elections in those regions where it had the greatest chance of success, the authors of the report note: in the presidential elections, the CPRF candidate Pavel Grudinin showed above-average results in the Altai Territory (23.7%), Omsk Region (20.4%), Novosibirsk Region (16.4%), and Krasnoyarsk Territory (12.8%). At the same time, Novosibirsk and Omsk Regions were among the three regions where the party could overcome the municipal filter on its own. This makes one suspect the existence of a political agreement between the federal leadership of the CPRF and the authorities regarding the party's non-participation in elections in regions that are problematic for United Russia, the report notes.

Regional campaigns came under federal influence

Politics / Power

104 candidates out of 172 nominated were able to register. Candidates from United Russia overcame the municipal filter everywhere, the only region where the CPRF candidate failed to register due to scandal was Vladimir Oblast. Journalist Maxim Shevchenko was refused registration there. The LDPR failed to register a candidate in Khakassia. A Just Russia failed to register in Magadan Oblast. Of the non-parliamentary parties, the Party of Growth will have candidates in six regions, and Patriots of Russia – in four. Rodina, Communists of Russia, and Pensioners of Russia registered two candidates each, and Yabloko failed to cope with the municipal filter in any of the five nomination regions.

State Duma deputy from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Pavel Obukhov says that external signs may indicate some trend, but in fact each specific region had its own reasons for refusing to participate in the elections. In Novosibirsk, for example, they had to choose between keeping the current mayor Anatoly Lokot and a potential post of governor. In Altai, it was a protest against the imposed rules of the game, and in Omsk, an attempt to build a coalition.

The minimal presence of the opposition in these elections is a deliberate strategy of the authorities, political scientist Abbas Gallyamov is sure. In this way, the Kremlin solves the tactical problem of minimizing agitation against raising the retirement age. For any oppositionist, this topic is a real gift, so it is better that the opposition is not "in the fields". If people feel that there are politicians in the country who are capable of leading the protest, then the autumn will be hot.

A party filter has been added to the municipal filter for gubernatorial elections