Governor Poltavchenko, known to everyone by the code name "Governor Cheapskate," is setting new St. Petersburg records for the "honesty and transparency" of elections—impressive even to people who have seen it all.
Since municipal elections do not yet have the signature-collection barrier that, as in Moscow, shuts practically everyone out, the crooks from Smolny (St. Petersburg city administration) are actively using an astonishingly effective tactic: they simply do not let candidates into the election commission office.
I understand that this is hard to believe, but it really is true. A candidate shows up with the paperwork, and the election commission is closed. Or it is guarded by some private security company physically preventing anyone from entering. Or there is a line so long you have to stand in it for three days.
Svetlanovskoye Municipal District. The turf of Sergei Andenko, deputy speaker of the St. Petersburg Legislative Assembly, greeted potential candidates with incredible adventures: they were refused registration eight times, then attacked, and more than once, and in the end a private security company was simply posted there and no one was allowed in except the right people. Among those who still failed to register were candidates from Rodina, the Great Fatherland Party, Yabloko, RPR-PARNAS, and several independents.
Parnas Municipal District distinguished itself in this election by refusing to register even United Russia candidates. First, candidates spent several days unable to find the election commission: the doors of the local administration were locked, and by phone they were told that the municipal election commission was located at a different address (without, of course, saying which one). On top of that, prospective candidates were not told the date the election had been called or when the information was published. Needless to say, pointless lines outside locked doors led nowhere—none of the parliamentary party representatives were ever registered, unlike the self-nominated candidates.
The municipal election commission went missing in both Semyonovsky and Municipal District No. 15, where candidates spent two full days looking for the election commission ~~with pitchforks and a flashlight~~ and still could not find it. In some municipalities, they decided to get rid of unwanted candidates in the simplest, most Russian way—by calling in burly toughs, who guarded the municipality from outsiders. In some places this strategy turned into actual brawls: for example, in Kolomyagi Municipal District, where those caught up in the scandal included Olympic champion Natalya Vorobyeva and Zenit legend Vladimir Kazachyonok, both running for Rodina.
As wild as it may sound (this is supposed to be Russia's cultural capital, after all), fights have become routine in St. Petersburg's municipalities. They were not uncommon in Shuvalovo-Ozerki Municipal District and Severny Municipal District as well. In Morskie Vorota Municipal District, municipal employees began threatening residents who had signed for the "fascist oppositionists." In Yuntolovo Municipal District, similar actions took place, and it all ended in a small local Maidan (a protest-style standoff, referring to Kyiv's Maidan).
Municipal officials in Porokhovye Municipal District also got involved in the fist-waving. There, Dmitry Sukharev, head of the St. Petersburg branch of ACF (Anti-Corruption Foundation), found himself on the receiving end of the local administration chief's temper; the official was clearly rattled by the influx of people trying to vote him out of office. Sukharev, incidentally, was never registered as a candidate, and is now taking the matter to court.
Some municipalities took the path of least resistance—they simply decided to treat everyone around them like idiots. Zvyozdnoye Municipal District, for example. With the straightest faces imaginable, they declared that the election had never even been announced(!), while quietly registering the candidates they wanted.
As I wrote above, the most popular method of neutralizing candidates was artificial lines. That is what happened in Moskovskaya Zastava, Okkervil Municipal District, Knyazhevo, Kupchino, Sampsoniyevskoye, Vvedensky, and Kroneverskoye: first there was an artificial line, and then the sewer system SUDDENLY burst.
So these are the elections taking place in the city of St. Petersburg. Go on, tell me more about the amazingly high approval ratings of the authorities, who after Crimea can supposedly win anywhere, while no one supports the opposition.
To all the St. Petersburg candidates currently standing in line outside election commissions and trying to get registered: greetings and rays of support.