I recently read Schwarzenegger’s book. It’s a good one — I recommend it to everyone. It has been translated into Russian and is available in bookstores.
There’s a lot in it that’s interesting, but in the context of the Moscow City Duma elections and the ongoing (now wrapping up) signature collection, one episode seems downright fantastical.
As is well known, A.S. served two terms as governor of California; the first time, he was elected in a special recall election (the previous governor had been removed from office).
Do you know how many signatures he had to collect to qualify for that special gubernatorial election? 65 (sixty-five)!
Sixty-five signatures in support of his candidacy and a $3,500 filing fee. To run for governor of the state of California! California’s gross regional product was $2.2 trillion in 2013. That is more than the nominal GDP of all of Russia.
The most populous state in the U.S. — 37 million people. And sixty-five signatures.
Compare that with the 5,000–6,000 signatures that candidates for the Moscow City Duma (a body stripped of all real powers) have to collect in twenty days in order to run in a district with 160,000 voters.
Yes, a low threshold means that a bunch of cranks and publicity-seekers end up running; Schwarzenegger describes a ballot with 135 names on it, including porn models, big-game hunters, and all sorts of senile freaks. But universal suffrage and democracy correct and smooth all that out, and in the end California got a successful governor who was re-elected in the next election.
And here, it seems they barely let anyone onto the ballot, yet the end result is still that porn models and senile freaks end up sitting in legislative assemblies at every level. Normal people can’t break through.