Moscow Mayor's Office decided not to allow opposition candidates to City Duma elections and to conduct the campaign quietly
15.07.2024
This publication is a translation of an article published by Verstka. The original text in Russian is available here.
The Moscow parliament should be ‘maximally cleared’ of opposition candidates, with representatives from Sobyanin's list taking their place in the Moscow City Duma. The election campaign itself should not attract unnecessary attention. According to sources of the Verstka media, these are the objectives set by the Moscow mayor's office for the upcoming parliamentary elections on 8 September.
OPPOSITION CANDIDATES ARE WITHDRAWING FROM THE ELECTIONS
Opposition candidates in the Moscow City Duma elections are primarily members of the UED-2024 (Unified Election Day) coalition of former presidential candidate Boris Nadezhdin, which includes 25 people. Many of them have already given up and refused to collect signatures (each of them needs at least 5,000), as it’s been said to Verstka by a representative of one of the opposition headquarters participating in the Moscow City Duma.
According to him, after the recent decision of the Moscow City Election Commission to abandon paper ballots, the struggle of opposition politicians for votes has become almost meaningless.
"We will, of course, still participate and promote our peaceful agenda, but firstly, the candidates understand that any result can be fabricated with the remote electronic voting system. Secondly, it's hard to mobilize opposition-minded voters; they don't believe in such elections", he said.
At the same time, as reported by Novaya Gazeta, two members of the Yabloko party Maxim Kruglov and Kirill Goncharov as well as independent left-wing candidate Gleb Babich, still hope to gather the necessary number of signatures. However, they are unlikely to make it into the new Moscow City Duma. According to a source in the mayor's office who spoke to Verstka, "remote e-voting does not play any role here, they simply will not collect [the signatures]".
THE AUTHORITIES PERSECUTE OPPOSITION CANDIDATES
The authorities have also begun persecuting opposition candidates — several of them have been fined and arrested under administrative protocols for extremist symbolism, which disqualifies them from participating in elections for a year. Those targeted include candidates from the Communist Party (CPRF) Dmitry Saraev and Igor Sukhanov, Vladimir Kalinin from Yabloko and municipal deputy Dmitry Shuvalov.
This has also affected some of the acting deputies of the Moscow City Duma. One of them, Dmitry Loktev, was fined under a protocol for extremist symbolism. Mikhail Timonov, member of the Just Russia faction, and Evgeny Stupin, representative of the Communist Party (later expelled from the party), were declared foreign agents. According to a law signed by Vladimir Putin in May, they are prohibited from participating in elections.
CANDIDATES SUPPORTED BY SOBYANIN MUST GET INTO THE MOSCOW CITY DUMA
Just like in 2019, representatives of the so-called "Sobyanin's list" will likely enter the Moscow City Duma instead of opposition candidates. These individuals are openly supported by Moscow's mayor Sergey Sobyanin. According to several sources, pre-coordinated representatives of parliamentary parties will win in several districts as usual.
In particular, in the 44th district (Zamoskvorechye, Tagansky, Khamovniki, Yakimanka), a co-founder of the New People party, business partner of Alexei Nechayev and uncle of the party's former presidential candidate Alexander Davankov is expected to win. In District 20 (Kosino-Ukhtomsky, Nekrasovka, Novokosino, part of the Veshnyaki district), Leonid Zyuganov, grandson of the CPRF party chair, is expected to come first.
The Moscow City Hall has decided not to attract unnecessary attention to the upcoming election campaign for the Moscow City Duma. A political technologist working with one of the parliamentary parties participating in the elections told Verstka that the city hall is not interested in active media coverage.
The desire of the mayor's office to conduct the campaign quietly is due to the fact that the previous elections to the Moscow City Duma in 2019 resulted in protests and mass rallies. Today the capital authorities believe that "it is crucial not to give a chance to sharp political battles in the capital during the period of SMO (Special military operation)", according to a source cited by Verstka.
MOSCOW CITY DUMA ELECTIONS WILL BE HELD PREDOMINANTLY IN ELECTRONIC FORMAT
Earlier, the Moscow City Election Commission (Mosgorizbirkom) approved a new voting procedure for the elections. According to it, voters will be able to cast their votes using a paper ballot only after submitting a corresponding application through mos.ru electronic portal or through their territorial electoral commission. Therefore, the primary method of participation in the 2024 Moscow City Duma elections will be remote electronic voting.
Electronic voting has been repeatedly criticized for its lack of transparency. The Central Election Commission (CEC) supported the decision to abandon paper ballots and explained it by the need to save trees. It will also be possible to vote via e-voting machines installed at polling stations. According to Nikolai Bulaev, deputy chair of the CEC, paper ballots without prior request will be available only in pre-trial detention centers and hospitals.
In 2019, mass protests took place in Moscow where people demanded the admission of independent candidates Lyubov Sobol, Dmitry Gudkov, Ilya Yashin and others to the Moscow City Duma elections. At least 250 people were detained during these protests. Subsequently, the so-called "Moscow case" on mass riots was initiated, with 32 individuals as defendants in it.
Nevertheless, several real opposition candidates did manage to get elected in the Moscow City Duma. In total, 20 of the 45 seats in the Moscow City Duma were taken by candidates who were not on the “Sobyanin's list” - 13 from the CPRF, four from Yabloko and three from Just Russia. They were supported by Alexei Navalny's Smart Voting initiative.
As earlier reported by Verstka, in June the Moscow City Election Commission proposed to the Central Election Commission (CEC) to consider the possibility of holding elections to the Moscow City Duma on 6-8 September entirely in electronic format, that is, without paper ballots.
