Mazur about elections in Moscow: Wodete instead of compromises

In Moscow, a criminal case was opened on the obstruction of the work of election commissions (Article 141 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) due to protests near the Moscow City Work committee. The searches took place with the candidates for deputies who refused to register, administrative arrests began in parallel. Against this background in Novosibirsk, an independent candidate for mayor Sergei Boyko was registered.

The head of the analytical department of Taiga.info Alexei Mazur discusses the tightening of the position of the authorities and the role of Novosibirsk history in the situation with the elections.

About Moscow

“Generals are always preparing for the past war” (Winston Churchill).

Now we are observing this in Moscow. Alexei Navalny at a agreed rally for registering independent candidates on Sakharov Avenue called on everyone to come to the Moscow City Subscribes on July 27, if the candidates are not registered.

The authorities decided to show firmness and not only declared a protest planned for Saturday with an inconsistent event (which is quite expected), but also opened the case of obstructing the work of the election commission. Detention and searches began, and the news about them resembles reports from the front.

From the telegram channel of the head of the Human Rights Organization "Agora" Pavel Chikov:
“For yesterday, July 24 (already 00:02 July 25):
Alexey Navalny - 30 days
Mark Halperin - 30 days
Konstantin Kotov - 10 days
Alexander Archagov - 10 days
Oleg Stepanov - 8 days
Dmitry Gudkov - Search
Ivan Zhdanov - search
Alexander Soloviev - Search
Nikolai Balandin - Search
Gennady Gudkov - call for interrogation
Julia Galyamina - a call for interrogation. "
Later, Chikov also published a copy of the agenda addressed to Lyubov Sobol.

Let me remind you that the conflict has flared up after the election commission refused to register almost all the “non -systemic” opposition to the Moscow City Duma elections, while pro -government, as well as very strange and unknown technical candidates of the collection of signatures and their subsequent recognition of the election committees were not recognized.

The agreed rally on Sakharov turned out to be “unexpectedly” mass.

The stiffness of the clash on the issue of registration/not registering candidates seems unreasonably high. But in reality, this is almost a key question of Russian political life. You probably yourself noticed that in Russia some elections are not very sharp and not very substantial, and little is being decided on them?

147633nas is deprived of a choice

There is a reason for him, and I already wrote about it. The authorities for a long time and carefully built a mechanism for control over the composition of the participants participating in the elections. The ability to let or not let candidates for elections is almost a key tool for managed democracy.

And so protesters are trying to “break” this tool that has been lined up for 20 years. The government rests on the fact that the “law is the law”, leaving the absurdity and casuism of its requirements behind brackets.

Oppositionists insist that even under this law, independent candidates should register, and refusal is arbitrariness (in some cases it is very similar).

Since the authorities have been preparing for the “Maidan” for 15 years, in this case all the accumulated tools turned on - from ideological to police officers. At the same time, the authorities forgets that the “Maidan” leads the impossibility of citizens to realize their rights and interests by participating in elections and “systemic” politics. And in this case, this is exactly what happens.

You can relate to Navalny and his supporters in different ways, but this is a political force that took second place in the elections of the mayor of Moscow and collected the largest rallies over the past years. If the law is written in such a way that it is this political force that cannot participate in the elections, it is obvious that the law is unfair and undemocratic. If Supporters of Navalny are not allowed “by lawlessness”, then the criminal case is indeed appropriate, but not against protesters, but against employees of the election commission and those who recognized real signatures inaccurate.

But the authorities hid behind the armor of sparkling legalism and threatens criminal cases with a sparkling sword and have not yet tested in the case of water bodies.

Both sides understand that the upcoming protests on July 27 threaten escalation and mutual damage. But this is how Russian politics is arranged - they agree only with those who are able to damage. If it was not possible to destroy them.

About Novosibirsk

At the same time, a precedent occurred in Novosibirsk - the signatures of the candidate for mayor Sergei Boyko, who headed the local headquarters of Navalny, was recognized as valid (and in theory, they should now register).

How to perceive the registration of briskly? Local "thaw", failure in the system or cunning move?

Firstly, so we will not recognize this right away. Secondly, perhaps there was a combination of all these factors. Thirdly, the recognition of signatures does not mean reliable yet the final registration (and they can remove at any time).

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The situation in Novosibirsk is somewhat different from Moscow. Elections in Novosibirsk are municipal, and in Moscow “subject”, and more signatures are needed on “subject”.

Sergey Boyko collected almost all the signatures either at the headquarters or on stationary “cubes”, where most voters not only subscribed, but also handed up copies of passports and agreed to the video. This significantly complicates the possibilities for refusal by lawlessness. But in this way you can “pull out” only highly motivated supporters. Boyko succeeded in “back”. And in Moscow, the percentage of voters, who should leave signatures, needed an order of magnitude more, so it was unrealistic to bring so many supporters to the headquarters - they collected "in the entrances". This does not mean that the signatures are worse, it means that it is more difficult to protect them.

The Novosibirsk Izbirok issued its signature verdict after the mass rally in Moscow. It is likely that they decided to do without excesses in Novosibirsk. Well, and, of course, the Novosibirsk Precedent is already used by propaganda: “Look - in Novosibirsk I collected a boycie's good signatures and record it!”

It is especially ridiculous that it is written exactly the same telegrams-channels that the day before wrote "Boyko collected bad signatures." The skill in time to change your mind in the air will be required to propagandists more and more often.

The mayor’s election will be held on September 8, 2019. Documents in Gorizbirk were submitted by a self-nominee, coordinator of the local headquarters of Alexei Navalny Sergey Boyko, the current mayor Anatoly Lokot (Communist Party), deputy of the City Council Natalya Pinus (Russian National Union), former Vice Mayor Daniyar Safiullin (Rodina), general director (Party of Renaissance of Russia), Head of the peasant farm, Alexei Yuzhanin (Party of Social Reforms), deputy of the Legislative Assembly Daria Ukrainian (Green), Deputy Director of MKU Civil Protection of the City of Berdsk, Alexander Troshakin (Party "Great Fatherland"), Samo-Movishenian pensioner Anatoly Babaev, self-nominee Andrei Vesener, self-nominee City Council deputy Yevgeny Lebedev (LDPR), former deputy governor Viktor Kozoda (Fair Russia), businessman Sergey Pronichev (Growth Party), TV presenter Julia Sapina (Civil Platform), public activist Oleg Viktorovich (Party of Case), Dmitry Kholyavchenko (Yabloko), Andrey Tokarev (native party), Dmitry Kholyavchenko, Andrey Tokarev), Alexei Kostnianov (Agrarian Party of Russia), general director of Imperial Stroy LLC Muhammad-Ali Hayurin (Vostorniye Party) and the head of the regionalist of the Communists of Russia Sergey Loskutov.