Ivan Nikashin: Boundless joy
The abolition of direct elections of mayors is a very original gift to people in the year of the anniversary of local self-government, when the zemstvo reform of Alexander the Second turns one and a half centuries old. It’s like coming to a birthday party with a bottle, drinking it yourself, and even eating the cake alone, and sending the hosts away.
From the point of view of ordinary, human logic, there is no sign of any strengthening of democracy and democracy here, although local deputies spread on the pages of “independent” districts that this is exactly the case. But the blurring of responsibility is obvious.
For example, I voted for Deputy Ivanov, who is a really respected person “in the area,” but power will ultimately go to a certain collective Sidorov, who will also hire Petrov. And what is the distance from me to Petrov?
Even now it is not easy for city residents to protect themselves from high-rise buildings, shopping centers and other illegal logging, and in the new situation there will be only one option left - petitioning the governor.
What is typical: the new election procedure is being implemented in the summer, when people try to relax, improve their health with natural vitamins and sea air. Those who are forced to relax in the company of TV see only the events in Ukraine and everything connected with it (football is football, it’s kind of outside of politics!). I am sure that for many, after the resort, harvesting and sending their children to school, the current elections will be a surprise. “Where to vote for the mayor?” - “But nowhere!”
Let me remind you that the situation with the abolition of direct mayoral elections also affected the new/old region of the country - Crimea, which pleased the apologists of the Kyiv junta, who received a new topic to savor. Naturally, they will omit the delicate moment of the beam in their own eye (Maidan, after all, brought true freedom, and the oligarchs are temporary), but they will go over the Horde zombie vertical properly.
Honestly speaking, the explanations of the Crimean comrades regarding the need to strengthen, strengthen control and deepen the democratic foundations, etc. look unconvincing because (see above) they are not based on human logic, but on political necessity. Expediency can be found in everything, even in the introduction of a curfew or, for example, public executions, therefore I will use the last argument: Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin publicly expressed his disagreement with this approach to local government reform. But, as often happens with us, while the chef is talking, Vaska is calmly eating. Now in Crimea, either the communities will strengthen control over the actions of local authorities, or the ruling party. Whoever needs it will be there.
I don’t know how it is on the peninsula, but in the Moscow region, control over the mayors of the “Gromov wave” is actually carried out quite simply: we talked with the new governor privately, and now the mayor writes a voluntary letter of resignation. This is understandable, we have two or three terms under our belt, and we have already accumulated some, so to speak, materials that allow us to make a quick and correct choice between a pension and bunks.
But it can be done differently. People I knew in Germany told me that residents of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, where there are two burgomasters, somehow opposed the organization of the Winter Olympics in their small cozy town: they say, thank you, we already had one in ’36 - it was very noisy and dirty! And what? And so: they live, receive tourists, but without fanaticism. They wanted it that way, and the burgomasters wiped themselves off, although the games would probably have made them a little richer. That is, maybe the people themselves, without the governor and other Public Chamber.
I can quote myself from what I wrote during a period of intense joy at the return of the prodigal peninsula to the arms of the Motherland: “Yes, friends, this immense joy will definitely give way to everyday life. The regionals, who today are fussily signing up for United Russia, will try to cut it. Their older comrades will teach them how to saw on an Olympic scale. Representatives of fraternal peoples, who are not usually mentioned in criminal chronicles, will be drawn to explore new spaces. It’s possible that prices for red port, housing and communal services tariffs and recreation in general will increase.”
The cancellation of elections is just one of a series of gray everyday life. However, the rules of the election game in Russia change more often than the rules of the game of football and the leaders of their native state. The deputies will play enough with clock hands and smoking, and they will return everything back. Especially if people urgently ask - life has become much more fun lately.
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