On September 9, the elections of heads of 22 regions, heads of four regional centers, deputies of legislative bodies of 16 constituent entities of the Ryssian Federation took place. In seven single-member districts, additional elections to the State Duma of the Russian Federation were held. Elections were also held in the representative bodies of administrative centers, etc. A total of about five thousand election campaigns of different levels took place.
Nothing special, as in the previous elections, happened at these elections. The results of the elections are quite as expected.
The ruling party “United Russia”, using the support of the President of the Russian Federation, retained “leading” positions in most regions of the country, slightly lowering its rating (which is already low with even lower voter turnout in these elections) against the background of popular discontent initiated by the Russian government the so-called "Pension reform" (conducted at the direction of the International Monetary Fund). On the other hand, the socially-democratized Communist Party of the Russian Federation and other parliamentary “opposition” parties (LDPR and SR) somewhat strengthened their positions, using the workers' discontent with the liberal reforms of the Russian government.
In other words, a certain “traditional” redistribution of local income seats among the bourgeois parties took place within the framework of the “multi-party” political system formed in Russia with the “leading” positions of the ruling party.
In elections to regional parliaments, the most seats went to United Russia - 472 seats, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation - 160, LDPR - 73, "Fair Russia" - 50, "Communists of Russia" - 6, "Patriots of Russia" - 4, "Civic Platform" - 4, the Party of Pensioners - 3, other parties received 1 mandate each - the CPSU, the Pensioners Party of Russia, the Party of Growth, the Delo party and the Greens party. Another 10 mandates were self-nominated. Total replaced mandates - 788.
In the elections of governors only in 4 out of 26 the second round of elections will take place (September 23). In 16 regions, the governors and representatives of the ruling party successfully "won". They are Moscow Mayor Sobyanin and Moscow Region Governor Vorobyov, Acting Governors of Yakutia, Altai and Krasnoyarsk Territories, Amur, Voronezh, Ivanovo, Kemerovo, Magadan, Nizhny Novgorod, Novosibirsk, Omsk, Orel (candidate from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation), Pskov, Samara and Tyumen regions, and also the governor of the Chukotka Autonomous Region.
The second round of gubernatorial elections should be held in the Khabarovsk and Primorsky Territories, Khakassia and the Vladimir Region.
Of the four regional centers in three (in the capital of Khakassia, Abakan, in Tomsk and in Khabarovsk), United Russia wins, in Yakutsk, United Russia was won over by a candidate from the Russian Revival Party.
The single-mandate candidates from United Russia are winning the by-election to the State Duma of the Russian Federation in five of the seven single-member districts - that is, all where the ruling party has nominated its candidates. The candidate from the Liberal Democratic Party "wins" in the Amur District, from the Communist Party - in Saratov.
The leader of United Russia, Prime Minister D. Medvedev reiterates that "the outcome of the elections for the party is quite worthy, the party has acted stably and retains leadership." “The results of the past elections demonstrate a resource of public confidence,” said Russian President V.V. Putin
Chairman of the "ER" B. Gryzlov is even more categorical: "Voters see their party in United Russia, they trust the party" (!).
Is it so?
Bourgeois elections are, although unreliable, but a barometer of the political moods of the population.
In most regions, “ER” (United Russia) received a significantly lower percentage than in similar elections to regional parliaments in 2013. So, in the elections to the parliament of Bashkiria in 2013, “ER” received 76.09%, and in these elections (2018) - 58, 31%, Khakassia - 46.32 and 25.46, Transbaikalia - 43.09 and 28.3, Arkhangelsk Oblast - 40.69 and 31.59, Vladimir Region - 44.33 and 29.57, Ivanovo Region - 55.77 and 34.14, Irkutsk Region - 42.36 and 27.83, the Kemerovo Region the regions - 86.21 and 64.40, the Ulyanovsk region - 57.62 and 33.96, etc.
The number of United Russia's deputies in 16 regional parliaments decreased from 616 (2013) to 472 (2018).
If we take the results of the vote, taking into account the voter turnout, then the ruling party has practically no support. Two thirds of the population simply ignored the elections to regional parliaments. Therefore, the head of the CEC of the Russian Federation, E. Pamfilova, cynically declared: “The most important thing, no matter WHAT THE FAITH WILL BE, is that it should be adequately be reflected in the protocols ...”.
For example, voter turnout in the elections to the Legislative Assembly of the Irkutsk Region was 27%, of which number took part in the voting for the "ER" 27.83% of voters cast their ballots. Thus, the “ER” is supported by only 7.5% of the population, in other words, a little more than 7 out of 100 voters. A similar situation is observed in other regions. Turnout ranges from 35 to 25%, with the exception of a number of national regions (40 to 50%) and Kemerovo region (66%).
And if you take into account ballot box stuffing? "... There were a lot of violations - absolutely wild and inexplicable, which do not fit into any logic of behavior of the district commissions," admitted A. Klyukin, member of the CEC of the Russian Federation. And the administrative resource? People are forced to join United Russia and are driven to polling stations, for example, they force all employees of Housing Management Companies to “join” ER (using the example of Novosibirsk).
A similar situation develops in the "election" of governors, although turnout, for quite understandable reasons (sometimes governors appointed by the president of the Russian Federation, a more powerful administrative resource is involved) is somewhat higher than in regional parliaments.
But in these elections turnout is low in many regions. For example, in the Novosibirsk region - 29.52%, the Krasnoyarsk Territory - 28.91%, the Pskov Region - 36.89, the Amur Region - 31.24, the Moscow Region - 38.51, the city of Moscow - 30.9%. In the elections in the Novosibirsk region, interim governor Travnikov scored 64.52%. So, about 20% of the population voted for him, that is, 4/5 of the population does not support him. A similar situation is in Moscow, where the mayor SS was elected in the same way (70.17%). Sobyanin with a turnout of 30.9%.
An even lower turnout is characteristic of the by-election to the State Duma of the Russian Federation in single-mandate constituencies. For example, according to the Zavolzhsky single-mandate district, the candidate from the "ER" won, receiving 36.21% with the turnout of 24.3%. Thus, “ER” was “popularly” supported by about nine out of 100 voters (8.8% of eligible voters).
Elections to the parliament of the Irkutsk region, as well as in the Altai Territory, were held with a large number of spoiled ballots: 21,759 with 464,778 valid.
Other parties, primarily parliamentary - the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia and the SR, strengthened their positions. Thus, in 16 regional parliaments, the CPRF increased its representation from 72 to 160 mandates (including single-mandate ones from 13 to 60), the LDPR from 33 to 82, and the SR from 29 to 50 mandates.
In three regions, the Communist Party ranked the EP by the number of votes. Thus, in the elections to the regional parliament of the Ulyanovsk region, the CPRF gained 36.3% (2.5 times better than in the similar elections in 2013), "ER" - 34%, in the Irkutsk region, the Communist Party gained 34% (15 % higher than in 2013), "ER" - 28%, in the Republic of Khakassia, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation - 31% (17% more than in 2013), "ER" - 25.5%.
The last time the Communist Party of the Russian Federation won the elections to the regional parliament was only in 2005.
In seven regions in the elections to the parliaments of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation increased the percentage of votes compared with 2013. For example, in the Ivanovo region - from 14.5 to 26.9%, the Republic of Buryatia - from 19.3 to 25.7%, in the Trans-Baikal Territory - from 14.1 to 24.6, in the Yaroslavl region - from 11 to 24 , in the Nenets Autonomous District from 19.2 to 23.8, in the Vladimir region - from 13.5 to 23.7, in the Smolensk region - from 15 to 23.
In the Oryol region, the candidate of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation A.E. Klychkov, gaining 83.55% (the highest percentage among other acting governors) with a high turnout of 57.76%.
In Khakassia, the candidate for governors from the Communist Party passed the candidate from the EP and went to the second round (45% against 32.4% of the governor from the "ER"), in Primorsky Krai the candidate from the Communist Party also went to the second round.
In the Vladimir Oblast and the Khabarovsk Territory, candidates from the Liberal Democratic Party reached the second round (with the current governors).
In the by-election to the State Duma, one candidate from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (45%), one candidate from the LDPR passed.
The CPRF has strengthened its position in the parliaments of the administrative centers. In the Duma of Novgorod the Great, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation beat “ER”, receiving 30.6% of the vote. In eight more cities, it ranked second, gaining from 20 to 25% in six capitals (Belgorod, Abakan and Maykop, Yekaterinburg, Yakutsk, Ryazan). In general, for the 12 capitals where the elections took place, the CPRF used to have 2 mandates, now - 22.
On September 10, the Communist Party leader G. Zyuganov said at a press conference at the Interfax news agency: “The elections were really milestone. We have entered a new political era. " Member of the Presidium of the Central Committee, Secretary of the Central Committee S.P. Obukhov did "unravel his lip": "on the basis of the results of the elections, the possibility of creating a two-party system in the person of United Russia and the Communist Party of the Russian Federation was built" (!).
Are the elections really "boundary"?
"As for the results of the elections, the best figures among the governors are from the Communist Party representative A. Klychkov in the Orel region," Zyuganov said.
Zyuganov is silent that the candidate of the Communist Party A. Klychkov was appointed in October 2017. Acting Governor of the Russian President Vladimir V. Putin and he was supported by the PARTY OF POWER.
That's all in FOCUS.
“In the Ulyanovsk region we scored 36.3%, and United Russia was about 34%. Our percentage is almost two times better than in the State Duma elections in 2016! ”, Said I. Melnikov, first deputy chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation and head of the Central Staff of the Communist Party for the elections.
Is it so?
In the elections to the State Duma of the Russian Federation in the Ulyanovsk region in 2016, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation really got two times fewer votes (19.16%) than in the elections of September 9, 2018 to the Legislative Assembly of the Ulyanovsk region (36.24%). But if in the elections to the State Duma of the Russian Federation in 2016, turnout was 52.3%, then in the elections of September 9, 2018 - only 27.0%. Thus, in the elections of September 9, 2018, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation supported approximately 10% of voters eligible to vote, as much as in 2016.
The question is, is it possible, at such a low turnout as in these elections, to talk about public support?
For example, in the Saratov single-member constituency for the additional elections to the State Duma of the Russian Federation, a candidate from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation passed, receiving as much as 45.35% of the votes. BUT: voter turnout of only 16.05%. Hence, the candidate from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation cast their votes to 7.3% of voters eligible to vote.
“It was of fundamental importance for us that a strong team go to the Legislative Assembly of the Irkutsk Region,” Zyuganov said at a briefing on September 9.
In the elections to the Legislative Assembly of the Irkutsk Region, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation obtained a good result and outperformed “ER” in the number of votes and mandates. From the Communist Party in the Legislative Assembly passed 9 single-mandate and 9 on the list. But who are they? Mainly representatives of big business went to the Legislative Assembly.
In the Legislative Assembly of the Irkutsk region from the Communist Party passed: V.I. Kondrashov - a native of the construction complex, the former mayor of Irkutsk and a member of the "ER", since October 2015, Deputy Prime Minister of the regional government; P. Sumarokov - representative of the agrarian business, deputy. gene. Director of Usolsky Pig Complex (with a turnover of billions of rubles); A.S. Belov - General Director of AgroBaikal LLC (with a turnover of billions of rubles); Shershnev D.P. - The General Director and the sole founder of Baikal Svyaz Energostroy LLC, the company occupies the 8th place in the Russian market for the construction of communication networks in terms of revenue and 4 in the length of the line; A.S. Levchenko is the general director of Stalkonstruktsiya (the son of Governor SG Levchenko), the company is a co-founder of several other companies in the field of metal structures; E.S. Sarsenbayev, the general director of Sarsenbayev LLC, had a criminal record under Part 3 of Art. 89 “Theft of state or public property committed by theft” of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR; and etc.
In the Irkutsk region, the high rating of the Communist Party is due to the formation of influential local business elites around the governor of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation S.G. Levchenko. It is known that the Communist Party of the Russian Federation has long resorted to the practice of selling mandates, in fact, like other bourgeois political parties.
In some regions, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation openly supported the henchmen of the ruling regime. For example, in the Novosibirsk region, the first secretary of the Novosibirsk Regional Committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, the mayor of Novosibirsk, Lokot, withdrew his candidacy in favor of the acting governor Travnikov and supported him in the elections for the support of the mayoral elections in 2019. Novosibirsk Regional Committee of the Communist Party kept silent.
In these elections, the KPRF skillfully used the protest potential of workers against the so-called government initiative of the Russian Federation. "Pension reform", releasing a couple of popular discontent, leading the workers from the class struggle towards the ballot box. It is no coincidence that the All-Russian protest actions initiated by the Communist Party of the Russian Federation against the pension robbery of workers took place after the adoption of the bill in the first reading and right before the elections - July 28 and September 2. Along with this - the sale of the CPRF mandates to representatives of capital and agreements with the bourgeois authorities both at the federal and regional levels.
The Communist Party of the Russian Federation, is communist in name only; in its class essence, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation is a bourgeois party that advocates social reforms within the framework of the preservation of the capitalist system, seeking for itself the status of one of the ruling parties in a two-party bourgeois system.
The results of the elections show that the working population is increasingly disappointed in the bourgeois elections and does not trust deputies of any color. The fall of the ER rating, an increase in the percentage of votes for the Communist Party of the Russian Federation shows that the population does not accept the liberal course of the Russian government and turns to the socialist alternative to the development of the country.
Whoever becomes mayor or governor, no matter how many representatives of the Social Democrats from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation in local representative bodies, experience shows that all of them will express the interests of big capital, “because coexistence in such states (bourgeois - approx.) authorities and relatively "democratic" local institutions, municipal governments, etc. it is explained solely, exclusively by the fact that these local institutions are engaged in “tin-washing of sinks” harmless for the bourgeois state, water supply, electric trams, etc. events that are not capable of undermining the foundations of what is called the “existing social order” (VI Lenin. PSS, vol. 12, p. 262-263).
The bourgeois liberal reforms, which are destructive for the country, can and should be stopped not by elections according to the rules of the financial oligarchy, not by conciliation with the bourgeois authorities, but by unfolding the class struggle for the vital interests and rights of the working people, explaining to the working masses the need to revive socialism, accomplish the socialist revolution, destroy the power of capital, the revolutionary transition of power to the working people.
A.V. Denisyuk
