UNITED RUSSIA STUMBLES ON REGIONAL LEGISLATION

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 MOSCOW 012557

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/21/2016
TAGS: PINR KDEM PGOV RS
SUBJECT: UNITED RUSSIA STUMBLES ON REGIONAL LEGISLATION

Classified By: Ambassador William J. Burns: 1.4(d)


1. (C) SUMMARY: United Russia is far from united on the
direct election of mayors. United Russia Duma members
introduced legislation to eliminate the direct election of
mayors, in what may have been a misguided attempt to
implement Putin's call to transfer more authority to the
regions. Predictable public opposition surfaced, and the
Kremlin has distanced itself from the proposal. That said,
the legislation is not dead and bears watching. END SUMMARY


2. (U) On October 31, three United Russia Duma Deputies
announced that they were introducing legislation that would
effectively change mayors of provincial capitals from elected
to appointed officials. The legislation was drafted by the
Chairman of the Local Government Committee, Vladimir Mokriy,
who insisted that this legislation actually promoted
democracy because it would make mayors more accountable.
"Currently, mayors often attempt to stifle criticism by
simply saying, 'I was elected and may do what I please.'
This new legislation will make mayors accountable, because
they will now know that they can be replaced if they do not
take care of their people." The proposal drew harsh
criticism from the media, and the legislation was pulled back
by the committee the day before it was to be introduced.
Mokriy gave no explanation for the delay, and the spokesman
for United Russia's Duma faction said only that they wished
to consult with the mayors before proceeding.

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United Russia Changes Course on Appointing Mayors
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3. (U) At the Russian Local Self-Government Council held in
Moscow on November 13-15, United Russia Chairman Boris
Gryzlov opposed the elimination of mayoral elections. He did
not completely dismiss the legislation, however, saying that
it had been introduced by "respectable deputies" and merited
serious consideration.


4. (C) Gryzlov spoke about the pressing need for regional
reform, because the success of national priority projects in
health care and education was dependent upon successful local
implementation. He cited poor municipal statistics, which
make it difficult either to gauge local needs or to measure
the government's success in addressing them. Gryzlov also
said that there were too many federal employees at the local
level and that resources should be transferred from the
federal budget to local budgets, while the number of federal
employees in the regions should be cut. The draft legislation
reportedly contains provisions to reduce the number of
federal employees working on the regional level. Leonid
Goryainov, Head of United Russia's Information Directorate,
told us on November 15 that the legislation was a work in
progress, and that United Russia's goal was to implement
President Putin's directive to transfer more power to the
regions. He said that this topic and the legislation will be
discussed at length at the United Russia party conference in
Yekaterinburg on December 2.

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Kremlin Opposed to Mayoral Appointments
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5. (U) Presidential Assistant Igor Shuvalov, speaking to the
Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe
(coincidentally also held in Moscow during the week of
November 13),publicly embarrassed the Governor of Altay Kray
while expressing the Kremlin's opposition to the legislation.
Shuvalov quizzed Governor Karlin via video link in front of
the congress, asking him if appointed mayors would be a good
thing for Russia. Karlin (apparently not knowing the "right"
answer) said "if given the opportunity, I would make good use
of it." Shuvalov then rebuked him, saying that regional
authority should be "balanced" and not a "top-down
construction like the army."

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Echoes from Samara
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6. (C) According to Public Chamber member Vyachislav
Glazychev, an expert on regional politics, United Russia's
opposition to this legislation has much less to do with
preserving local democracy than it does with avoiding
uncontrollable groundswells of public discontent. He noted
that this summer in Samara, the city council attempted to
pass a new city charter that would have eliminated the direct
election of the mayor by making him appointed by the council.
The public responded with protests and a petition drive that
collected more than 420,000 signatures. "Money can't buy
that," said Glazychev "Maybe you could buy 20,000 signatures,

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but nearly half a million people means that they had tapped
into a live wire of public emotion, and that scares them. And
if it could happen in Samara, it could certainly happen in
Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, and Nizhniy Novgorod."


7. (U) The mayors at the Russian Local Self-Government
Council were either United Russia members or unaffiliated
with any party. According to Glazychev, they were very
concerned that their fate would be the same as Samara Mayor
Georgiy Limanskiy who, ironically, was voted out of office by
the same groundswell that he had used to fight his city
council. While worried about losing their jobs, they were
also concerned that United Russia was weakening its support
among the people just when it needed to compete with the new
"A Just Russia" party. Yekaterinburg Mayor Arkadiy
Chernetskiy, who will play host to the United Russia
conference in December, told the press that trying to
eliminate mayoral elections would lead to great losses at the
polls for United Russia.

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United Russia's Misstep Explained
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8. (C) Goryainov explained away the public dispute as a
natural by-product of democracy. This was not really a
dispute over the ends, but simply a difference of opinion on
methods. "On the whole, United Russia supports the
legislation; there are only small parts that are
objectionable." Glazychev explained it differently: "United
Russia is not really a party. It is too big, and too loose a
structure. And now, because they are not the only party with
a direct link to the Kremlin, they must naturally
occasionally be out of step." Glazychev dismissed Gryzlov's
purported aim of eliminating large numbers of federal
bureaucrats from regional centers as "rhetoric," noting thatQsince I was young
boy, under Stalin, the Kremlin has been
calling for reducing the numbers of bureaucrats. And every
year, the number increases."

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Comment
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9. (C) Clearly, the introduction of this legislation was not
well-coordinated or thought through within United Russia
prior to Mokriy's October 31 news conference. The party,
possibly reacting to the sting of its first electoral loss --
the Samara mayoral race -- rushed legislation that would
prevent a recurrence. The Kremlin then used that miscue to
distance itself from an unpopular measure, and in the
process, bolstered the second Kremlin-sponsored party "A Just
Russia." The bill to eliminate the direct election of mayors,
however, is not dead and bears watching.
BURNS