Elections to the State Duma: In Sevastopol they share the skin of a “killed bear”
“PolitNavigator” found out how the resignation of Sevastopol Governor Sergei Menyailo will affect the election fight in the Sevastopol constituency, where the main contenders for victory are candidates from United Russia, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation and the Party of Growth.
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Party of Growth: early victory as loss
Last Thursday, residents of Sevastopol nervously waved away signature collectors for the resignation of Sergei Menyailo. They continued to hand out leaflets to passers-by with step-by-step instructions on how to get the governor to resign. “So he’s already retired,” the townspeople reasonably remarked, but, apparently, the women in the tent were paid for the number of pieces of paper distributed and they insisted, looking for those who did not watch the news and did not yet know about the presidential decree.
In Sevastopol they joke that Menyailo’s departure ruined the election campaign of the opposition candidate from the Party of Growth, Oleg Nikolaev. It was entirely based on the fight with the governor.
It was not easy for Nikolaev to fight for the electorate. His image of a consistent oppositionist who almost lost his business due to a conflict with the governor spoils the direction of this business. Nikolaev is the owner of the Ostrov restaurant, good but expensive. In a city where officially the average salary approaches 30 thousand, but actually fluctuates between 13-15, expensive establishments cannot but irritate. But wealthy townspeople were in no hurry to support the opposition restaurateur. The special “Sevastopol mentality” is that they love military men and industrialists in defiance of all kinds of bourgeoisie, whose heyday occurred in the Ukrainian period.
The situation for Nikolaev improved significantly when ex-speaker Alexey Chaly began to support him. This recognized leader of Sevastopol's sympathies first took part in the Stolypin Readings, chaired by the leader of the Growth Party, Boris Titov. Then the NTS television channel owned by Chaly made Nikolaev the host of the program. The first guest of the journalist-businessman was Chaly himself, who called for a referendum and re-election of the governor.
The ex-speaker can now rightfully celebrate his victory, because the fight with Menyailo was a “personal vendetta” for him, as he himself put it. But what about Nikolaev, for whom the process was more important than the result during the election campaign? Having lost the negative driver, the businessman was left with the liberal-bourgeois program of the Party of Growth, which, as we remember, is alien to the “special mentality of Sevastopol,” and even with such fellow party members as Irina Khakamada.
United Russia is a stranger among its own
But United Russia emerged from the blow, against which many of Menyailo’s non-fans were going to vote. Now votes against Edr will be interpreted as votes against the president, “who heard the people of Sevastopol and changed the governor.” The new leader, Dmitry Ovsyannikov, simply will not have time to make mistakes before September 18, especially since Chaly’s media holding is still forced to work for him in order to write and talk about the political victory of their boss.
The Nikolaev media are now also caught in this wake, trying to present the change of governor as a result of their collection of signatures. But this resignation happened too early; by September 18, the “victory” will already be forgotten. Thus, a significant segment of the city media, which previously criticized the party in power, is now indirectly working for it.
Despite the overall improvement in the situation for Edra, the position of her candidate in the majoritarian district cannot be considered strong. Dmitry Belik, like the portrait of Khrushchev by Ernst Neizvestny, is black and white.
On the one hand, this man, who was a member of the City Council for many years, earned the love of his district. Belik did not distribute buckwheat, but tried to really help his voters in solving their various problems. During his Ukrainian years, he supported a lot of humanitarian projects aimed at preserving the Russian language and culture.
During the days of the Russian Spring, Belik headed the administration of Sevastopol as a kind of Ukrainian official. This put his business and freedom at real risk in the event of a possible defeat of the uprising. It was Belik who warned Chaly about the impending arrest on February 24, and it was he who read out the historic decisions of the City Council on the referendum in front of a jubilant crowd from the steps of the City Council.
Will they remember this now, two years later, when the euphoria has subsided? It’s unlikely, because the city calmly accepted the departure of this hero of the Russian Spring from the government shortly after the referendum. The Russian authorities said goodbye to Belik because of his bad karma, earned when he was chairman of the land committee of the City Council back in the XNUMXs. In each of Belik’s election campaigns, information about dubious fraud comes to light. There have been no criminal cases, but many believe in compromising evidence.
Already in the Russian period, Belik’s “land” merits were supplemented by accusations of falsification of the Edra primaries. “Chaly’s team” was the first to talk about this in 2014. Then, despite a confident victory in the intra-party vote, Belik was not given a place either on the list or in the district.
The situation repeated itself two years later. The current leadership of the Sevastopol United Russia maintains outward decency, but in informal conversations accuses its candidate of buying votes. The party’s internal administrative resources worked for cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov during the primaries, but he lost to an allegedly “dishonest” competitor. Under these conditions, support for Belik from his native party will not be as sincere and active as he would like.
Apparently, this is why candidate Edra could not resist and joined the opposition rejoicing over Menyailo’s resignation. He did this very carefully. They say that the city was waiting for changes, and they came. Belik stepped on shaky ground. No matter how much anyone loved Menyailo, the president nominated him, and the president did not remove him due to the scandal, but promoted him. Nevertheless, candidate Edra did not avoid the temptation to kick the outgoing governor, but this will certainly not give him additional points, since the main city oppositionist Nikolaev is not winning.
Another Admiral
Standing apart among the three main fighters for the Sevastopol mandate is the candidate from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, Admiral Vladimir Komoyedov. He did not win back Menyailo’s resignation. This position will appeal to many voters in Sevastopol, tired of the governor’s war with the legislative assembly.
In addition, Komoyedov fits perfectly into the so-called “Sevastopol mentality.” He commanded the Black Sea Fleet during the tense years of confrontation with Ukraine. It is known that Komoedov had a personal conflict with the then commander-in-chief Felix Gromov, who in Sevastopol is considered the destroyer of the Soviet fleet.
Komoyedov’s confidant is Yuri Luzhkov, who left a very good memory of himself in Sevastopol. In the years when Russia seemed to have completely forgotten about its sacred city, the mayor of Moscow developed active activities here: he built houses, schools, kindergartens, and helped veterans. It was Luzhkov who opened a branch of Moscow State University in Sevastopol, and it was he who first spoke about the need to build the Kerch Bridge.
Many have not forgotten about this. To “refresh his memory,” Komoedov appealed to the legislative assembly to award Luzhkov the title of honorary citizen. There has been no answer yet, but the admiral, you can be sure, will remember this throughout the election campaign, playing against the Chaly-Nikolaev media on a platform advantageous to himself (that is, without remembering the departed governor).
For now, the admiral is exploiting the topic of security, in which he, as the head of the relevant Duma committee, is strong. You can be sure that in this way he will win the sympathy of Sevastopol retirees and pensioners, for whom the revival of the former power of the state is very important.
It is important that Komoyedov comes from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation. This party has the second rating in Sevastopol (one can only make wild guesses as to why the Communists lost to the LDPR in 2014 in local elections). The admiral cannot do without social slogans, which will be in demand in modern conditions. But will he find a common language not only with his age category, although it makes up a third of voters? Will he be able to enter the fields of businessmen Belik and Nikolaev, who will appeal to the economically active electorate?
In any case, the election campaign in Sevastopol promises to be one of the most interesting in the country.
State Duma Elections : Sevastopol Is Dividing the Skin of the "Killed Bear"