Golos shares information about covert canvassing aimed at increasing voter turnout

Report: RBC

On the eve of September elections, temporary acting governors are actively using local media to keep their activities in the news, and have the regional budgets pay for this, says the report prepared by Golos. Experts point out to covert canvassing and other violations

Publicly-funded canvassing

Golos movement for protection of voters’ rights has produced a report on campaign violations of temporary acting heads of seven regions. The ruling party candidates used regional media to cover their working visits and business trips, says the analytical report “Election canvassing for the single voting day of September 10, 2017” (available here at RBC). The report was prepared by Golos’ leading expert Vitaly Kovin and coordinator of the movement’s network of regional offices Vitaly Averin.

The report is dedicated to the election campaigns of the temporary acting heads of the Mari El and Udmurtia Republics, and of the Kirov, Ryazan, Saratov, Novgorod and Kaliningrad Regions. The report cites examples of regional TV stories that actively covered the ruling candidates’ official duties “promoting their positive image and de facto providing them with free-of-charge, government-financed PR.”

The report claims that participants of gubernatorial elections aren’t the only ones to use regional media in their own interests. The current head of the Penza Region Ivan Belozertsev, who will stand for election to the region’s legislative assembly on September 10, can be regularly seen in the news broadcasts of the local GTRK Penza. In the Leningrad Region, where by-election to the State Duma is taking place, the deputy head of the regional government Sergei Yakhnyuk (RBC reported that he’s the primary contender for the deputy mandate) is regularly seen in the media, which is cofounded by the local administrations. In the Altai Region, where municipal elections will take place in September, covert canvassing paid for with budget money has led to numerous complaints, the report says.

As one of the report’s authors Vitaly Averin told RBC, the characteristic feature of the upcoming gubernatorial elections is the greatly increased ceremonial and “official” activity of the incumbents and temporary acting heads of the regions. The widespread coverage of these activities in the local media controlled by authorities represents the covert election canvassing, points out the expert. Averin said that the special feature of this year’s campaign is the active proliferation of various “stimulating” projects established to increase voter turnout. Such projects operate on the fringes of legality and “seriously discredit” the very institution of elections, believes the expert.

The majority of cases of using administrative leverage discovered by Golos lie “on the border of lawful and unlawful,” says Andrei Buzin, the head of the expert group with the Central Election Commission. The expert says that separation of the notions of canvassing and informing is a “subtle matter,” and it’s often difficult to separate one from another. In each case this is decided by the election commissions and courts, which more often than not take the side of the ruling party candidate, added Buzin. The law says that the state-owned and state-controlled media have to provide equal coverage to all the candidates, but the courts usually say that the canvassing is actually informing the population of the governor’s current activities, says Nikolai Mironov, director of the Center of Economic and Political Reforms. “This problem dates back to the late 1990s. Under Vladimir Putin, this practice with a clear legislative loophole was set in stone,” he told RBC. 

Nevertheless, Averin notes that some of the violations pointed out by Golos don’t have strict legal matches. One of such examples is the participation of public sector employees in election canvassing and the use of premises in state and municipal ownership. Buzin agrees that the use of municipal and state buildings by the candidates can be a direct violation of the law, but only if direct canvassing is taking place there. But if the premises are used for the governor’s meeting with the city residents or to host an event attended by the governor, it’s impossible to prove the violation, says the expert of the Central Election Commission.

Pilaf, straw shoes and Saturday night programming

In their report, the experts divided violations into several larger groups. The most frequent violations are associated with canvassing violations in the media.

In the Kirov Region, the temporary acting governor Igor Vasiliev is often shown by the local TV channel GTRK Vyatka — and regularly in the news stories that have no connection with his professional activities. In one of the stories Vasiliev cooked pilaf, in another — visited the local straw shoe festival. In July alone, the United Russia candidate had eight appearances on the TV channel. Golos discovered similar examples in the Republic of Udmurtia and the Ryazan Region, where temporary acting heads would appear in the local TV news almost daily.

In the Novgorod Region, the campaign office of the temporary acting governor Andrei Nikitin distributed the report entitled “Dialogue. Development. Prosperity. Five-step strategy.” The article, which wasn’t marked as a campaign material, was published by 19 state-owned, one municipal and one private print media. In the next month, using the electoral fund resources Nikitin commissioned an identical, but this time official campaign material with the same name. The Novgorod Region Election Commission dismissed opposition’s complaint, saying that the acting head’s publication was a news story.

Starting on July 1, the cable TV channel in the Saratov Region, began a regular Saturday show called “A week with the governor” featuring the temporary acting head Valery Radaev. If the TV program is to be believed, the next episode of the program is scheduled for September 9, the “day of silence,” when all canvassing is forbidden.

Representatives of the temporary acting heads of Udmurtia, Kirov, Ryazan and Saratov regions did not respond to RBC’s requests for information regarding officials’ use of administrative leverage.

Political consultant Dmitry Orlov, who is working on the election campaign of the temporary acting governor of the Novgorod Region, told RBC that provisions of the law on canvassing are being observed in the region, and that all canvassing is financed by the electoral fund. Orlov believes that keeping the public informed about the acting head’s working trips cannot be considered canvassing.

Valeria Rodina, press secretary of the Kaliningrad Region’s head told RBC that Alikhanov’s activities as the temporary acting governor and the candidate for this position “should be kept separate.” She explained that the candidate for the governor always took vacation days to meet the voters and that these activities were not covered in the media, while “all the trips and meetings were organized by Alikhanov’s campaign office.” Rodina explained the media’s interest in the candidate by the fact that it’s always interested in the work of the regional head.

Alexander Kuznetsov, coordinator of the public support office of the candidate Alexander Evstifeev, who is also the temporary acting head of the Mari El Republic, told RBC that Evstifeev’s campaign in the region “runs in strict accordance with the law, with no violations registered, and there have been no complaints to the election commission.” Kuznetsov added that Golos’ experts “are practically calling on the temporary acting head to violate the Law “On Media” by preventing the journalists from covering his activities as the acting head of the region.” This is “not just illegal, it contradicts common sense and the interests of Mari El residents,” said the agency’s source.

Friendship with Volodin and administrative leverage

The report’s authors believe that another type of violations is the way the acting regional heads use federal programs for election purposes. The report points out, for example, that campaign materials of the Perm Region governor Maxim Reshetnikov contain numerous mentions of road repair and courtyard beautification projects that were financed from the state budget.

In some of the regions, the working visits of high-level federal officials were a part of election campaigns of the acting regional heads. The report’s authors believe that the Kremlin demonstrated its loyalty to the heads of Udmurtia, Mari El, Mordovia, Saratov, Kaliningrad and Kirov Regions. For example, in August Udmurtia alone was visited by the State Duma chairman Vyacheslav Volodin, Russian Minister of Health Veronika Skvortsova, Minister of Communications Nikolai Nikifirov, first deputy prime minister Igor Shuvalov and heads of four Duma committees.

Golos’ experts also point out that the acting regional heads use the subjects of their administrative leverage to organize campaign offices. In one of the Kaliningrad Region towns, Alikhanov’s campaign office was established in the town library, and in the Novgorod Region, the campaign materials of the temporary acting governor Nikitin were found in the building of the village administration.

In some of the regions, local administrations apply pressure to the representatives of political parties that compete with United Russia, Golos says. The most frequent victims of administrative pressure were the Communist Party candidates. In the Kirov and Penza Regions, for example, the party activists were detained, and their campaign materials confiscated. In the Ryazan and Tomsk Regions, representatives of local administrations prevented the activists from distributing LDPR campaign materials, the experts also added.

Written by: Evgenia Kuznetsova, Dmitry Levin

With help from: Vladimir Dergachev, Maria Istomina, Lyubov Altukhova