Deputies of municipal authorities were elected in 4 districts of the region. Why didn’t they wait for a single day of voting, understood TELMENEWS.RU
From May 12 to 14, deputies of district councils were elected in Primorye. Elections were held in 4 municipal districts of Primorsky Krai, 65 deputies were elected.
But the main result was the almost unconditional victory of United Russia. According to the official version, this allowed the ruling party to significantly strengthen its positions.
It is noteworthy that not only representatives of all political parties took part in local, but also “self-appointed” plebiscites, and the latter were quite successful. Obviously, it was not in vain that the self-nominated candidates were canceled in the gubernatorial elections – the regional parliament adopted the corresponding amendments to the electoral legislation of the region. If the Primorye legislators had not done this, then, while maintaining the emerging trend, the upcoming campaign could be quite complicated. By the way, these initiatives were introduced on the eve of the election of Governor Oleg Kozhemyako in 2018. And also on short notice.
The Primorye government noted that no particular violations affecting the voting results were recorded in the last elections. These were perhaps the quietest elections in the province.
But what is the reason for such a rush, why did you decide not to wait for the day of the general election?
As commented to the publication in the government of Primorsky Krai:
“During the period from December 2022 to January 2023, CP laws were adopted on the transformation of settlements into Partizansky, Chernigov, Shkotovsky and Yakovlevsky municipal districts. For the formation of the local self-government bodies of the newly formed municipalities, the election dates were fixed on the basis of the shortened deadlines provided for by the electoral legislation (60 days).
The legislation provides standards that allow, if necessary, not to wait for the day of the single vote to call an election.
The elections were scheduled for May 14, 2023, respecting all the deadlines necessary for the implementation of the electoral processes.
However, it is not entirely clear what the above need is related to. Taking into account that, for example, the Yakovlevsky district became a district in November 2022 and was run without new deputies for six months, while the other three districts changed their status 3 months ago.
Obviously, in this way, most likely, they decided to form the most loyal group of deputies and strengthen the position of United Russia in the region, which, according to the head of the Center for the Development of Regional Policy , Ilya Grashchenkov, leaves much to be desired.
This, in turn, ensures that a potential gubernatorial rival will not even be able, in theory, to collect the necessary signatures from city deputies.
Most likely, such a maneuver can only protect against real candidates aimed at achieving political goals. At the same time, the electoral history of Russia and, in particular, Primorye has vivid examples where unsatisfied public demand not only resulted in voting for the “wrong” candidate – votes were given to Outright “spoilers” just for representing the opposition. . At the same time, if in Primorye in 2018 the problem was solved by a political reshuffle, as a result of which Oleg Kozhemyako became governor, then in a number of regions absolutely “uncoordinated” representatives of the Communist Party of the Federation of Russia and the Liberal Democratic Party came to the leadership.
In the current election cycle in Primorye, obviously, for the time being they decided to focus on the administrative preparation for the elections, and left the development of the so-called “public demand” “for later”. The effectiveness of this position, only time will tell.
Meanwhile, the internal political bloc of the regional government assessed the intermediate result obtained as “an important indicator on the eve of a great electoral cycle”. The attention given to it is truly unprecedented. CEC head Ella Pamfilova during a recent visit to Primorye said that the September elections should become the basis for the main campaign – the March 2024 presidential elections.
Probably, the head of the CEC personally visited Primorye to make sure that the region would not bring surprises, as in 2018, and personally met with the chairmen of the territorial election commissions of Primorye and the heads of municipalities.
This visit showed that the Kremlin still regards Primorye as a very difficult region. And it should be noted. Which is not unreasonable: municipal elections for the past five years have almost never been without scandals – Arseniev, Dalnegorsk, Ussuriysk, Nadezhdinsky district, Vladivostok. The results of the State Duma and Legislative Assembly elections in the region in 2021 were also not encouraging, turning into a triumph for the Communist Party.
Now, of course, they decided to eat the elephant in pieces – without waiting for the EDG, in order to minimize the risks.
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