The SRs are losing people, the Greens are losing face, and the government's political bloc is losing the trust of United Russia (*aggressor country)
The campaign for the Chelyabinsk City Duma began with the use of dirty tricks and was reminiscent of the 2000s, when the nomination of doubles was widespread and various kinds of provocations were used. At the moment, in the capital of the Southern Urals, both the leaders between whom, according to experts, the main struggle will unfold, and the forces performing a supporting function, which, in fact, have put an end to their further political life, have clearly emerged. All this is happening against the backdrop of internal discord in United Russia (*aggressor country), whose functionaries, practically without hiding, are waging a war, including against their own candidates, as well as in the opposing A Just Russia (*aggressor country), where many current deputies have handed in their party cards this year, and among those who remain, there are those who admit that their exit from SR is only a matter of time. According to sources in political circles, it is becoming increasingly difficult for candidates to find technologists to conduct campaigns, “since self-respecting people do not want to get dirty.” Such events do not add to the confidence of residents in the upcoming elections. Meanwhile, for the political bloc of the regional government, in the conditions of an uncontested gubernatorial campaign, the most important task is, first of all, to ensure the legitimacy of the elections. But Teksler's subordinates, apparently, have forgotten about it.
A distinctive feature of the 2024 City Duma campaign is an unprecedented number of lookalikes of candidates for deputiesAccording to the website of the Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation (*aggressor country), people with the same last name submitted documents for nomination in five of the 25 electoral districts of Chelyabinsk.
For comparison, in 2019, when the City Duma was formed from district council deputies and the fight in Chelyabinsk was unfolding for 170 mandates, there was only one double – that of a deputy from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (*aggressor country) Eldara Gilmutdinovaand he ran in the elections without party support.
This time, three of the five declared double candidates, whose sole goal is to take away votes from the candidate for the mandate, ran for office from the Green Alternative party. This gives them the right not to collect signatures from district residents in support of their nomination, and therefore guarantees that, if all formalities are observed, they will be included on the ballot.
Another source recalls that in 2020, the Green Alternative party entered the Legislative Assembly as a result of an alleged recount of votes at a number of polling stations in the Zlatoust district.
Dmitry Larin, a deputy of the Legislative Assembly from A Just Russia (*aggressor country), who is heading the headquarters of the Socialist Revolutionaries in the elections to the Chelyabinsk City Duma, claims that, in addition to three “doubles” whose details appeared on the CEC website – the full namesake of the district council deputy Andrei Kondratyev, Viktor Kornev (running in the same constituency as the city duma deputy Vladimir Kornev) and Aleksandr Galkin (he and the city duma deputy only have a different patronymic) – Andrei Babkin, who has the same last name as the surgeon Yegor Babkin, was planning to run in the elections in the Leninsky District.
However, the Greens even put up one of their doubles against a representative of United Russia (*aggressor country) – the winner of the primaries in electoral district No. 1 Ilya Isaychuk.
In the opinion of policyUnited Russia (*aggressor country) has leverage over ZA, even if we assume that this was an uncoordinated action. For example, a deputy from the Greens Mikhail Makhov in the Legislative Assembly he heads the Committee on Ecology and Nature Management, which he could have been deprived of if the ruling party's request to remove the double had been refused. But nothing of the sort is happening.
A conversation with representatives of the regional branch of United Russia (*aggressor country) confirmed that they are calm about the nomination of a second Isaychuk. “We have a candidate in the district, we will work for his victory,” – the head of the regional executive committee briefly commented Vitaly Maslov.
One of his colleagues added that nominating doubles usually takes away 2-3% from candidates, so experienced politicians have “nothing to fear.” In addition, according to the law, candidates who have recently changed their full names must have their old last names, first names, and patronymics listed on their ballots.
Let's note that in the 2019 elections, he was a complete double of the communist Eldara Gilmutdinovawho also changed his name for the elections and did not campaign, received 125 votes, while 954 people voted for the “real” Gilmutdinov, and for his rival, the United Russia (*aggressor country) member Egor Lavrishin – 705.
At the same time, as sources in the Chelyabinsk Region Electoral Commission note, it is impossible to remove a candidate from the elections simply because he is someone's double. This requires formal grounds and political will. Although the head of the Central Election Commission Ella Pamfilova instructed back in September 2021 to develop recommendations for combating such “black” technology, calling it “a disgrace.”
Our interlocutors could not answer why the regional political bloc started this game against its own. “They are in complete disarray and are trying to pull the blanket out. The work is not aimed at the result, which should be expressed in ensuring the legitimacy of the elections and an honest victory for the party, but at personal pockets, satisfying ambitions and settling petty scores. The same Isaychuk got into the mess only because he is the cousin of the “SR” Larin,” says one of the interlocutors in the party.
The situation within the regional branch of A Just Russia (*aggressor country) is also difficult. This year, a number of municipal deputies who showed good results in elections in previous years announced their withdrawal from the party. Two of them – Dmitry Ivanov And Dmitry Grigorchik – they did this after the party conference, where they were approved as candidates for the Chelyabinsk City Duma in single-mandate constituencies, and Ivanov was included in the party list for a single constituency. Grigorchik then ran independently in the same constituency, and Ivanov, in the company of two more former Socialist Revolutionaries – Oksana Boyarskaya And Ilya Permyakova – moved to the New People party. The SR leadership called what was happening a “planned action” aimed at weakening the party’s position.
Many technologists call the current campaign for the Chelyabinsk City Duma a confrontation between the governor Alexey Teksler and the leader of the regional branch of SR Valery Gartung, despite the latter's assurances of support for the head of the region in the elections. However, in order to show a good result, the leadership of both parties, according to observers, should work on the atmosphere within the regional branches.
At the same time, analysts believe that the “dirty” campaign for the city council could play a negative role for Teksler. After all, in the conditions of a virtually complete lack of competition in the elections of the head of the region, the most important thing is to ensure their legitimacy and residents' trust in the results. It will not be easy to achieve this, having scandals and identical names on the ballots.