RBC and Kommersant: in Russia, direct elections of governors can be canceled

On April 27, at a meeting of the Council of Legislators with the participation of Russian President Vladimir Putin, the abolition of direct elections of governors may be announced. This was reported by Kommersant and RBC with reference to sources.

According to the interlocutors of RBC, at a meeting of the Council, which includes the chairmen of both chambers of the Russian parliament, their deputies, the heads of the State Duma and the Federation Council Committee and the Leaders of the Legislative Assembly of the Regions, can discuss in which format the elections should be held on a single voting day in September, and whether they should be held at all. At the same time, as one of the sources of the publication said, we can talk about the cancellation of direct elections of the governor only this year, and not about the complete rejection of this procedure.

Sources of the RKB do not exclude that the governors will formally offer the issue of the issue of the election scheme at their discretion, but informally recommend withdrawing the campaign.

Sources of Kommersant also reported that the issue of canceling direct elections of governors can be considered on April 27. Back in March, several governors asked the Kremlin to consider the possibility of their election by legislative meetings of the regions. The final decision will have to be made by Putin.

The possible reason for the abolition of direct elections is the fears of the authorities, that by September, when a single voting day takes place in Russia, citizens can feel the effect of sanctions more, two sources of RBC said. Currently, authorities are high, but it is difficult to predict what will happen by the fall, one of them noted. According to another source, the abolition of direct elections of governors will help save money that would go to the campaign.

Direct governor elections were already canceled in Russia in 2004 after a terrorist attack with the capture of hostages at the Beslan school. Then a new model appeared: on the proposal of the president, the candidacy of the head of the region was approved by deputies of the Legislative Assembly. In 2012, after protests, direct elections were returned.

• The elections of the heads of regions are scheduled for September in the Vladimir, Tambov, Yaroslavl, Kaliningrad, Kirov, Novgorod, Ryazan, Tomsk, Saratov and Sverdlovsk regions, as well as in the republics of Karelia, Buryatia, Udmurtia and Mari El.
• On February 24, the Russian army entered the territory of Ukraine. This happened immediately after Vladimir Putin announced that he had decided to start the “special operation” in the Donbass after the request of the so -called “DPR” and “LPR”.
• Many countries and large international companies have imposed sanctions against Moscow, turning around the programs of cooperation with Russia.