The campaign for the election in the seventh state Duma has called one of the most boring in history, despite the fact that taking part in the elections 14 parties, and 50% of the seats drawn in the districts. The party refrained from bright and showy steps, but lack of money forces candidates to resort to extreme budget campaign methods. The opposition is allowed to participate in elections, but contrary to expectations, it is almost no different. Experts say that the situation was affected by the events of recent years — the annexation of Crimea, war in Donbass, the total polarization of the society by the relentless attempts of the authorities to mobilize. As a result, many just tired. Sign.som decided to perform it will be remembered for the election campaign of 2016.
Not without Putin
“United Russia” all last year tried to convey to the masses the main message is that the party has taken into account past mistakes and wants to change. This may 22, United Russia held a large-scale primaries among the candidates for places in the list and the nomination in single-mandate constituencies. The main result was a clear demonstration of lack of internal unity: it came to accusing party colleagues of fraud and other loud bangs the door of those who pre-vote lost.
The leadership of the party instructed the comrades in the regions to go to people, hold more meetings, which need to “speak with voters and hear them. Some members of the party the call was heard, but most have relied on more familiar tactics of private meetings with state employees and the repetition of the mantra about “the party of the President.” To do without Putin’s party, whose list is headed by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, failed. The voice of Putin appeared in the campaign video, his quotes adorn the party billboards. However, in spite of promises the ruling party could not do without even the governors of steam engines.
The ruling party are unable to resist the temptation to highlight President Putin, leaving a secondary role to their leader – Prime Minister Medvedev
With Medvedev, everything was difficult. First, he confessed Crimean pensioners that the money of the government, asked to “hold” and wished them “good mood”. Then offered to teachers, dissatisfied with his salary, to go into business. In both cases, the Prime Minister said, I believe, absolutely sincerely, but in Russia are not used to hearing the naked truth with such a level of power, and the audience responded to the words of Medvedev exceptionally evil irony. A petition for his resignation on Change.Org quickly gained 250 thousand signatures, despite the summer season. Sources Znak.com close to the presidential administration, believe that without an administrative resource it is impossible, and hinted at a new conflict in Putin’s entourage.
At the point of attack were members of the government. Alexei Navalny this summer published an investigation, according to which Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov carries on a rented plane dogs. And two weeks before the end of the campaign, Deputy Prime Minister Olga Golodets said about the freezing of the cumulative part of the pension for a further three years and that the government will not impose a moratorium on raising the retirement age.
Politics – the art of the possible, and the “United Russia” acts as a mirror of the General situation, the head of the Political expert group Konstantin Kalachev. “It is impossible to live in society and be free from society. Because the reset has taken place partially. The primaries themselves justify the upgrade was, but only to the extent to which this under the circumstances, and not the one waiting for criticism of the EP. Medvedev as the leader of the list of electoral locomotive was not originally. This is all perfectly understood. Because the campaign started and ended with positioning EP as party President,” says Kalachev.
System inefficiency
The Communist party, “Fair Russia” and LDPR in the state Duma of the fall no doubt: back in the spring, these parties have agreed with the “United Russia” that without a fight will give them a few constituencies and did not put forward their candidates. For the liberal democratic party released three counties. About the same number of free from the United Russia party and the districts have agreed to the Communist party, and not to the superfluous will remind that the Communists until the last publicly denied the fact of negotiations with the ruling party. A just Russia, whose leader Sergei Mironov was the only figure in the Federal part of the party election list, agreed to exchange a greater number of districts to seven.
The parliamentary opposition is expected to focus on criticism of the government Dmitry Medvedev, in a more or less rigid form demanding his resignation. The SR urges the government “to do or go,” the Communist party explicitly requires the change of the Cabinet and the nationalization of several industries. Vladimir Zhirinovsky in pre-election rollers in a manner peculiar to himself was in favour of execution for corrupt officials and reproduce abstracts of their old brochures “Russian soul” and “Russian statehood” – about how damned the West brought rich peasant country, Russia, to poverty.
The Duma elders during the campaign was not able to earn points even on those topics with which has consistently worked more than one year
We should also mention the campaign of the Communist party in Moscow, which is a state Duma Deputy Valery Rashkin, critics of the Moscow authorities for the waste. He always writes requests to law enforcement agencies, requiring verification of costs, in particular, on urban gardening – city hall plans to spend more than a billion rubles.
The campaign for the parliamentary opposition in this year was built by a strange and, as it turns out now, not a very efficient model, says political analyst Maksim Zharov. “At the Federal level, the Communist party and “Fair Russia” has spent a lot of time and effort to make it to the Duma (and even after the work of the convocation!) a large number of bills that got a key role in their electoral programs. Benefit from such a massive legislative spam, as seen now in the last week of the campaign, turned a little, and ratings of Communists and the socialist-revolutionaries did not demonstrate positive dynamics, even with the hard work of candidates in the districts,” – said Zharov.
Another blow struck the Kremlin, where the same was followed by an unofficial ban on the discussion of the theme of Medvedev resignation of the government and individual Ministers. In the beginning of the campaign the Communists and “revolutionaries” clearly relied on that kind of personal attack, and it brought them tangible electoral points. In the end, the parliamentary opposition was not able to get almost any dividends on the resignation of Dmitry Livanov, although a small fraction more than other sought it.
Overall, the campaign of the Communist party and CP in the final of the race can be assessed as lethargic and uninteresting to voters. The campaign of the liberal democratic party seem to not even pretend to it, not revealing anything new for Vladimir Zhirinovsky’s party ideas. However, in contrast to Communists and “socialist”, the liberal democratic party initially made a bid to increase its recognition, and by September, the recognition of the party began to increase its electoral rating even in the absence of loud declarations of its leader. “Bet the liberal democratic party on recognition in the absence of novelty of ideas, oddly enough, may be the secret to the success of the liberal democratic party in the campaign in 2016” – does not preclude Zharov.
Non-parliamentary nomination
The liberal wing non-parliamentary opposition comes to the date of the election in the worst condition possible. Almost daily in social networks occur new public showdown and debate whether to go at all on elections. The so-called “Democratic coalition” collapsed in the months before the election. In December 2015, the participants agreed that the list will be headed by Mikhail Kasyanov. In addition, the agreement stipulated that three seats in the Federal part of the list to distribute political Council “Parnassus”, three more in the head part and first place in the regional groups will go to the winners of the primaries.
Vyacheslav Maltsev – the main opening of the election campaign – was solely due to the call to impeach the President, which hasn’t been heard in Federal television
But the agreement fell apart with the primaries frankly has not worked, and of the participants in the failed coalition in the end run now on the list of “Yabloko”. But in the Federal part of the “Parnassus” Shine nationalist from Saratov Vyacheslav Maltsev who at the Federal debates demanded the impeachment of President Vladimir Putin and reminded that in Russia the negligent officials impaled. Perhaps this was the most memorable performance culminating in campaign.
The sides Znak.com in “Parnassus” say they understand that the chances of the party to overcome the 5% barrier, that would say the same Maltsev, frankly small. There are already busy preparing for pontyberem Congress. It is likely that it will try to expel from the party “splitters” headed by Ilya Yashin. In addition, Kasyanov will cease to be the sole leader of the organization and may even not just leave the party and politics in General. Meanwhile, “Parnassus” most actively campaigning in St. Petersburg, where together with the state Duma elections in city legislative Assembly.
Yabloko to the Congress prepared no less dramatic, taking advantage of the misfortune “sworn friends” from the democratic camp and to draw the maximum well-known pieces, which were not included in the “Democratic coalition”. From the “Apple” candidate, state Duma Deputy Dmitry Gudkov, former state Duma Deputy Vladimir Ryzhkov, one of the founders of the project “Discerned” Andrew Sakin and even people from the FCO and the Party of Progress Alexei Navalny. It is known that the leader of Yabloko Grigory Yavlinsky to the latest fluctuated on the part of the Federal part of the list, but in the end went to meet expectations and have formed the broadest possible first “ten”. There, besides himself, entered the said Ryzhkov, hooters, a favorite of the intelligentsia from Pskov, Lev Schlossberg, Chairman of the party Emilia Slabunov, ex-mayor of Petrozavodsk Galina Shirshina, and others.
About Grigory Yavlinsky referred to as a policy, have committed little feat: under him for the first time at the Federal level, there has been something resembling the democratic coalition
From the participants of the negotiations, the correspondent Sign.som knows what offers to run in single-mandate constituencies received and the nearest supporters of Navalny, for example, Love Sable. But the leader of the FBC and the “Party of Progress to accept the offer they were not allowed. In the end, Navalny focused on a critique of all campaign participants (especially of the party “Yabloko”) and statements that his own unregistered “Progress Party” does much more than everyone else.
Special mention deserve two single-mandate district in Moscow: Central and Tushino. In the Central district at the same time running two opposition candidates — Professor Andrei Zubov (he is also in the first “three” “Parnassus”) and head of the human rights direction of the “Open Russia” Maria Baronova (goes on elections as the independent candidate collected in support of 15 thousand signatures). According to the initial agreements, the candidates the liberals had to disperse peacefully in the districts, but in the end it proved to be quite symptomatic – from two Democrats are pushing in the same newsletter against a very strong opponent, which is the state Duma Deputy Nikolai Gonchar.
In Tushino the constituency represented by state Duma Deputy Dmitry Gudkov, against which “United Russia” has put forward the former chief sanitary doctor of Russia Gennady Onishchenko. Also he opposed the candidate from the party “Rodina”, a military expert on a Patriotic talk show, Igor Korotchenko, writer Eduard Bagirov and others. Hooters have relied on daily meetings with voters, took to his chief of staff of the municipal Deputy Maxim Kats and had a very bright campaign. On Wednesday, Katz and Gudkov said that with the active phase it is necessary to finish two days early — they simply ran out of money, and the final push was not enough for about 3 million rubles.
The project “Open elections” Mikhail Khodorkovsky supports a number of other candidates in the regions. Probably one of the most interesting candidates was the journalist Yulia Yuzik, which stands from “Parnassus” in Dagestan. Local willing to go in contact with her, pointing out that it has nothing to do with any of the Republican clan and is the only woman candidate in single-mandate constituencies in the Republic, which also puts on meetings with voters very specific questions.
Player shareware-wing opposition has become a “Party of Growth” of the business Ombudsman Boris Titov. The party is remembered, in particular, is not quite politically correct videos on the Internet that “the old politics” and tandem journalists Lesya Ryabtseva and Ksenia Sokolova (the first headed by the staff of the second) in the long-suffering Central district. A major struggle in St. Petersburg, the Deputy of the state Duma of all convocations Oksana Dmitrieva, whose associated task is to form a party group after the elections in city legislative Assembly.
About the performance of the Federal business Ombudsman Boris Titov as a party leader, running for election to Parliament, the experts initially did not hide their skepticism
Two non-parliamentary party Patriotic sense in any case will be submitted to the state Duma with single-seat districts — for them, United Russia did not nominate candidates in two districts. The ruling party does not nominate a candidate in Anna district No. 89 in the Voronezh region — where “homeland” is the Deputy of the state Duma Alexey Zhuravlev, who in the sixth convocation was elected from the “United Russia”. In addition, there is no candidate from United Russia in Neftekamsk district No. 6 of Bashkortostan, where he stated the current leader of the “Civic platform” Rifat Shaikhutdinov.
Small parties have become hostages of a situation when on the one hand they want to criticize the government, and on the other they are afraid to do it, analyzes the political scientist Abbas Gallyamov. “The result is something not very convincing. Besides, small batches big problem with sponsorship money, they have nothing to campaign. The third problem is the lack of interest in the elections among the population. The result is that smaller parties no audience, no clear message, no way to deliver them to voters. Most of them do not Shine” – sums up Gallyamov.
With the exception, however, might be “the Party of pensioners,” which, according to experts, the gain of a few percent only due to its name, and “Apple” – at the expense of attraction to your list of prominent figures and creating visibility of the consolidation of democracy, which inspired the liberal voter.
Legitimate, as usual
For the legitimacy of the elections meets the head of the Central election Commission, Ella Pamfilova, who promised to strictly suppress all attempts of falsifications. But the fact that they will, no doubt, the only question is scale. In social networks already there are reports that people at work are forced to take absentee ballots for the organization of compulsory voting. Efficient technologies confront no.
In addition, the campaign showed discrepancy among different power groups, just damaging legitimacy. Ella Pamfilova as head of the CEC, have embarked on establishing contacts with all stakeholders of the process and even repeatedly accused of all sins of “the Voice.” Pamfilova has adopted his famous “Map of violations”, which the conservatives branded as part of plan to undermine stability in Russia from abroad. Now messages with a “Map of violations” coming soon to the CEC, and they try as much to respond to signals to stop the violations. Pamfilova also said that Moscow transport, which will carry the ballots to the election commissions, partially equipped by system GLONASS to track their movements. In large cities, polling stations equipped with video cameras.
The new Chairman of the CEC of the Russian Federation Ella Pamfilova represents the Declaration of the Supreme power of her desire for honest, open and legitimate election process in Russia
This did not prevent parallel to the public channels continue to stigmatize and “the Voice” and the opposition, increasing the degree of hysteria and insanity as you get closer to the day of voting. The more that life gives much food for production of new subjects, which remains the only well-fed audience. Of the last options horror stories about Maidan in Russia is that he was preparing the money of the arrested Colonel Zakharchenko, who to date has found 30 billion annual budget of Ekaterinburg!
All this creates a background that threatens the legitimacy of the elections is more serious than any criticism of the government from the opposition. Executive Director of the Movement in protection of the rights of voters “the Voice” Gregory Melkonyants said Sign.som that “Map of violations” in the absolute value signal is now fed less than in 2011. But this, in his opinion, due to the fact that the number of active citizens, ready to engage in civic control over the election preparations, the absolute value decreased twice.
“Many of the violations were perceived as a given: for example, the dominance of candidates from the government in the media, official events with a clearly propaganda purposes, etc. Tolerance to such violations has grown. The administrative resource works, as in 2011, no less. We recently did a study on district Newspapers of Moscow, which are funded by the local authority. There’s a huge bias in favor of candidates from “United Russia”, and on the chief editors of these media need to start administrative proceedings. But for the systematic identification of such practices need enormous resources, which we have, and we fix only the most egregious cases,” said Melkonyants.
According to him, are signals about mobilizing people for compulsory voting. Well-known enterprises, where Sunday 18 September, suddenly made a work day, and those who work there, forced to take absentee ballots. “On the day of voting with the detection of violations will be a problem, as a good little trained observers,” said Mr. Melkonyants.
Boring as all
Campaign looks boring at the Federal level, in the field are all pretty dramatic, according to experts and participants of the elections. In St. Petersburg Oksana Dmitrieva, for example, received in his constituency two candidates-doubles. Both, or rather both, they play into the hands of Russia Mikhail Romanov. In the Astrakhan region the candidate from “Fair Russia”, the charismatic socialist Oleg Shein fights with United Russia Leonid Ogolem. In the Sverdlovsk region “SR” Alexander Burkov opposed to United Russia Alexei Balyberdina. And in Sevastopol, a businessman from the team of Alexey Chaly, Oleg Nikolaev gives a battle on two fronts: the candidate from the Communist party, Admiral Vladimir Komoedov and United Russia Dmitry Belik.
The candidate from the Party of Growth Oksana Dmitrieva election campaign in 2016 is hardly boring: against it in the district opponents fielded two candidates-doubles
According to various estimates, heated political battles are 15-20% of the total number of districts, says political analyst Dmitry Gusev. At the same time from Moscow that a sharp struggle was not always visible. “As for the parties, then there is a bright campaign came out for a number of reasons. KPRF, LDPR, MS in 2014, supported Putin’s annexation of Crimea, and eventually are trapped: they now criticize the government can not criticize do not know, and bright new ideas they have. Small party held a dim campaign as it tried to behave like an enterprise, not having the resources and experience,” says Gusev. Thus, according to him, if to compare with the way elections are in the leading Western democracies, we get what we are all about the same as theirs. There is a national campaign not too often, colourful event next to.
Political analyst Gleb Kuznetsov and does believe that it is never dull or boring political campaigns. “Every campaign is the result of the environment in which it occurs, and the state of society in which it develops. Today, at the Federal level was not bright, global agenda, but we saw dozens of interesting campaigns in the regions, where single-seat districts themselves set the agenda, and this agenda was discussed. When I say campaign, they say, boring, I don’t know what it meant. It’s about how to say “boring summer” or “autumn is boring.” This is a phenomenon that can not be otherwise in this environment and in these conditions,” concluded Kuznetsov.
