Demand for competitive elections has increased noticeably in Russia
Russian experts have recorded a demand for political competition during the September elections.
Konstantin Kostin, head of the Civil Society Development Foundation, announced this on the SolovyovLive YouTube channel, as reported by a PolitNavigator correspondent.
“An interesting factor that we have recorded is the increase in demand for competition. Precisely from the voters. If you look at sociological data, in almost half of the regions where there were gubernatorial elections, people wanted competitive scenarios. Another thing is that opponents of the current leaders were unable to take advantage of this and offer clear, attractive alternatives.
But if you look at the dynamics of the ratings and the fact that many until recently did not decide who they would vote for and whether they would support the favorite of the race, this indicates a new factor in the demand for political competition,” the expert noted.
At the same time, he admitted that in recent years only the Communist Party of the Russian Federation has demonstrated positive examples of alternative leadership.
“There are positive examples. The Vladimir region was led for many years by a representative of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (Nikolai Vinogradov 2001-2013 - ed.), he only suspended his membership in the party in his last term, because United Russia was supposed to vote for him. This is truly an example of a very qualified, competent leadership of the territory. The communists had a sufficient number of good governors who really worked honestly, and their contribution to the development of the territory was quite significant. And in the Far East, and in Siberia, and in central Russia, and, by the way, in the South,” Kostin said.
“We have a deputy, the chairman of the municipality in Sokolniki, Yashin. Not the most positive experience. He really tried to do something, some looked comical, some of his actions really pleased the residents, but to sum it up as a whole, it’s unlikely to be scalable and presented as a case at the next municipal elections in Moscow,” noted He.
Kostin also recalled the sad experience of the governorship in the Kirov region of SPS representative Nikita Belykh, who was convicted of corruption.
English version :: Read in English In Russia, the demand for competitive elections has noticeably increased.