Opposition in the Siberian

In Novosibirsk, critics of power before the election united against the Union of United Russia and the Communist Party

Novosibirsk is the only city of Russia in which opposition candidates on the eve of a single vote day united in the coalition to oppose the current government. The Novosibirsk 2020 coalition was created in February this year, one of its leaders was the head of Navalny’s headquarters Sergey Boyko, a rather famous politician in the city. In the election of the mayor of Novosibirsk in 2019, Boyko took second place, losing to the Communist Party candidate Anatoly Loku.

According to the coalition participants themselves, it was created in order to confront the "United Russia" and the Communist Party of the City Council in the election of deputies of the city council.

“The most dynamically developing in the twentieth century the metropolis risks becoming an ordinary provincial hole. We, representatives of independent social movements and organizations, are calling for the creation of a wide public coalition to struggle for the prosperity of our city, ”the Novosibirsk 2020 memorandum says.

According to political scientist Alexander Kynev, the main feature of Novosibirsk is that there are two parties of power:

"United Russia", led by Governor Travnikov and the Communist Party, led by the mayor of Anatoly Loktem.

“They entered into an agreement several years ago. As part of this agreement, the Communist Party did not participate in the election of the governor, supporting the candidate from United Russia, and United Russia did not participate in the mayor’s elections, supporting the candidate from the Communist Party. That is, the parties of the authorities are two, and there is a request for some third force. In the city, the coalition “Novosibirsk 2020”, although not only it, acts as a third force. The LDPR also claims the status of the third force, and there are other players, such as the New People party, for example, talks about how the Alliance of two parties, Alexander Kynev, built in Novosibirsk.

In total, 31 opposition candidate has currently joined the coalition. However, in eight months of existence, its composition has changed repeatedly. So, the famous Novosibirsk social activist and head of the Civil Patrol organization Rostislav Antonov came out of it.

“The questions have been accumulated for a long time both with me and my colleagues, and therefore a verified joint decision was made to keep a social distance,” Antonov commented on his exit from the coalition.

The Novosibirsk 2020 coalition is only in the districts, so its members will be represented in one of the three ballots that the inhabitants of Novosibirsk will receive. The political scientist explains that because of this, the coalition as the third force will act only in the city elections, and in elections on a scale of the region the role of the third force will be played either by the LDPR or the “new people”.

“The LDPR leads its strong campaign, she is an independent player. This happens precisely because if in other regions the main battery of protest votes is the Communist Party, then in Novosibirsk the Communist Party cannot be a battery of protest votes, since it is power itself. Therefore, the LDPR plays this role, ”the political scientist explains the alignment of political forces in the city.

To the question of whether Navalny’s poisoning will affect how the inhabitants of Novosibirsk will vote, Alexander Kynev replied that this can only be assumed: “Perhaps, as an informational occasion, this will contribute to the mobilization of the protest electorate. Perhaps this will be an additional incentive to show activity. That is, maybe a person would engage in something of his own, and [Navalny's poisoning] will become an additional factor reminiscent that the personal one should postpone and go vote, commit a symbolic act. But this is only a hypothesis. "

The pre -election Novosibirsk is continuous campaign cubes and billboards. If you go from the local airport in Tolmachevo to the city center, you can see that every 500 meters there are advertising shields with information about parties and candidates. Almost everyone found their place under the sun: from “United Russia” to the Party of Pensioners. And the external campaign of the New People party, registered in March 2020, almost more than agitations of EP. It is noteworthy that in such a variety it is difficult to find billboards of the Novosibirsk 2020 coalition.

As the new "candidate for deputies for the 7th district, Peter Manyakhin, told the absence of advertising shields with coalition agitation is due to the fact that advertising agencies refuse to sell her places on billboards. So, on September 7, it became known that the agitation of Sergei Boyko, which was put up on one of the largest screens of the city, stopped showing two days after the conclusion of the contract. The advertising agency refused to continue to cooperate with Boyko. The coalition leader himself connects this with pressure from the leadership of the city.

“My video on the screen near the chapel lasted exactly two days, and the agency now returns all the money, is sad and twists its phone. Anatoly Lokot is hysterical. City chief of advertising Dmitry Lobynya in hysteria. If they are such sophisticated natures, maybe it was more simpler to find work?

And then how to rub the money with suitcases on urban advertising, so the nerves allow, but like a muzzle briskly on a 30-meter screen-so immediately a hysteria, ”-

Sergei Boyko commented on this situation.

This is not the only case when coalitions did not allow campaigning. For the installation of campaign cubes and for a meeting with potential voters, the Novosibirsk court twice fined Boyko for 20 thousand rubles.

Also, three candidates from the coalition were removed from the elections. One of those who were not allowed to participate in them is Daniil Markelov, who passed through the 36th constituency, where his main opponent was to be a deputy of the City Council and one of the largest developers of Novosibirsk, Alexei Dzhulay. According to Markelov, they tried to interfere with all the time that he was conducting an election campaign.

“The entire election campaign was accompanied by attacks on Cuba.

People came with knives, cut a cube really and ran away. For each we left seven or eight statements [in the police], ” -

He told the "new" former candidate for municipal deputies of Novosibirsk.

According to Daniil Markelov, to all attacks and the obstacle to the election campaign, Aleksey Julai deputy is directly related.

Unknown attacked the headquarters of Novosibirsk 2020, which is located in the city center. As Olga Guseva, an employee of the FBK, said on September 8, a mask man ran into the coalition office and broke a bottle of chemical fluid in it. At this time, a lecture was held there, which was attended by about 50 people. Sergei Boyko then said that there were two attackers: one held the door, the other ran into the office and broke a bottle of unknown chemical fluid. Then the three members of the headquarters were taken away on an ambulance with poisoning.

“When they were brought, the doctors already knew that they were from Navalny’s headquarters, and wrote that they had overwork.

That is, three so immediately overdoed and went to the hospital. The police opened an administrative case under the article “Minor Hooliganism”. Information about the attackers is not provided to us. Recently, operatives came, interviewed what the attackers looked like, ”says Peter Manyakhin, a member of the coalition.

Recall that on September 13, elections of the heads of subjects will be held in 20 regions of the country, elections of deputies of legislative bodies of state power were appointed in 11 regions. In Novosibirsk, the elections of deputies of the City Council and the regional parliament will be held. At the moment, the city council has 33 mandates at United Russia, 12 mandates at the Communist Party of the Communist Party, two for the LDPR, one for Fair Russia, and two mandates for independent deputies.