REGIONAL ELECTIONS: COMMUNISTS BENEFIT FROM

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 MOSCOW 001067 SIPDIS SIPDIS SENSITIVE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV KDEM PHUM PINR RS SUBJECT: REGIONAL ELECTIONS: COMMUNISTS BENEFIT FROM UNITED RUSSIA - JUST RUSSIA STAND-OFF REF: A. MOSCOW 1023 ¶B. ST. PETERSBURG 57 MOSCOW 00001067 001.2 OF 003 ¶1. (SBU) Summary: Although final results are not yet in, the big news of the elections which took place in fourteen regions March 11 appears to be the strong showing by the Communist Party, which overcame an attempt to steal its thunder by the Kremlin-fostered For A Just Russia party to win more votes in most regions than it had in 2003. While Vladimir Zhirinovskiy's LDPR tallies were less than its results in 2003, March 11 demonstrated that the one-man LDPR still has legs. Union of Right Forces (SPS) Chairman Nikita Belykh pegged his party's electoral successes to a campaign that stressed the "social aspects." His critics disagreed, and traced strong showings by SPS in as many as five regions to a Kremlin boost, financing by UES Chairman Anatoliy Chubais, and the party's new-found populism. End summary. -------------- Communist Party Bounces -------------- ¶2. (SBU) Although final results are not in as of March 13, the outlines of the March 11 elections in fourteen regions (ref a) are becoming clearer. The Communist Party of the Russian Federation (KPRF) seems to have strengthened its position in a number of regions. Observers and the KPRF itself traced the party's improved positions in ten of the fourteen contests (St. Petersburg, Tomsk, Stavropol, Pskov, Omsk, Murmansk, Moscow, Leningrad, Volograd, Komi) to a combination of a protest vote by an electorate tired of pre-packaged parties, the KPRF's ability to defend its interests in the regions, and an election that had Kremlin-fostered parties United Russia and For A Just Russia too preoccupied with one another to focus on their competitors. ¶3. (SBU) Fund for Effective Politics Chairman Gleb Pavlovskiy termed the KPRF's performance one of the surprises of the campaign, and he saw it as evidence that For A Just Russia had failed in its mission to subtract votes from the left. Pavlovskiy thought that For A Just Russia had gotten on the scoreboard at the expense of United Russia. (In fact, if the 2003 Duma elections are used as a baseline, United Russia improved its take in ten of the fourteen regions this time around.) Center for Political Technologies Director Aleksey Makarkin March 13 played down the significance of the KPRF gains, while conceding their status as the only "real" political party in Russia. Makarkin stressed that regional parliamentary elections, with generally lower voter turnouts, play to the KPRF's strength, its loyal and disciplined voters. ¶4. (SBU) A major surprise for observers was the KPRF's tally in St. Petersburg, where it garnered over sixteen percent on March 11, as opposed to 7.9 percent in 2003. The party's improved results may indeed indicate that St. Petersburg is becoming more like the rest of Russia or, as Yabloko's Political Section Chief Galina Mikheeva suggested in a March 13 conversation with Embassy, KPRF St. Petersburg may have benefited from votes cast by those tired of the GOR's efforts to manage their democracy. In the wake of the KPRF's success, Pavlovskiy excluded the possibility of a December Duma race alliance with For A Just Russia as "not in the interests" of the surging Communists. Makarkin suggested that the KPRF and For A Just Russia, not SPS, had benefited from the Yabloko protest vote because of the bitter rivalry between the two "liberal" parties in St. Petersburg. -------------- Serious Violations in Dagestan Alleged -------------- ¶5. (SBU) In a March 13 press conference, Chairman Gennadiy Zyuganov alleged that violations in Dagestan had been so serious that he would ask the Duma March 14 to investigate and, possibly, have elections there invalidated. -------------- LDPR Sags Slightly -------------- ¶6. (SBU) Vladimir Zhirinovskiy's LDPR crossed the threshold to representation in thirteen of fourteen elections, but saw its numbers drop in eleven regions. Still, observers predict that it, along with United Russia, For A Just Russia, and KPRF remained strong enough cross the threshold to Duma MOSCOW 00001067 002.2 OF 003 representation in December. In a March 12 conversation, LDPR Duma Deputy Aleksey Mitrofanov termed the results "not bad." He was unhappy only with Moscow region results, where initial announcements that LDPR had crossed the seven percent threshold were followed by a near-final count that put the party under seven percent. The party, Mitrofanov said, is investigating and may protest the results. -------------- SPS Claims Campaign Change Behind Better Results -------------- ¶7. (SBU) Also acquitting itself well on March 11 was the Union of Right Forces (SPS). At a March 13 press conference, SPS Chairman Nikita Belykh traced his party's strong showing to its focus on the "social aspect" in its campaign. (SPS critics say the "social aspect" is really "populism" and argue that the party has strayed from its earlier allegiance to free-market principles.) Belykh justified at length his party's new program, describing it as a logical extension of its free-market ethos. "The welfare of pensioners is part of the capitalist value system," Belykh summed up. ¶8. (SBU) Belykh insisted that SPS had won at least seven percent of the vote in every region where it was registered; a claim that few election observers find credible. He claimed there was concrete evidence that the vote had been manipulated in Omsk, Orel, and the Moscow regions. SPS would contest the results of those contests in court, he said. Poor results in St. Petersburg were the fault of SPS, Belykh said. The party had been too preoccupied with Yabloko's election saga, and had missed a golden opportunity. ¶9. (SBU) The verdict is out on whether SPS can become the fifth party to cross the threshold into the Duma in December. Makarkin noted that a serious launch of "Civilian Power," the re-branded, Kremlin-linked business group with liberal pretensions, could reduce the SPS vote bank by a percentage point or so; just enough to spoil its chances. -------------- Yabloko - SPS Alliance Impossible -------------- ¶10. (SBU) Yabloko's Mikheeva believed that SPS's cordial relations with the Kremlin had paved its way to the March 11 results. She bitterly alleged that SPS campaign manager Anton Bakov's strategy consisted of "buying votes." Yabloko's near failure to get on the election scoreboard March 11 did not mean it would contemplate an alliance with SPS, she said. ¶11. (SBU) Belykh at his press conference agreed that an SPS - Yabloko alliance was impossible. He described the parties' ideologies as too different to allow for cooperation. In a March 12 conversation, IMEMO Director Aleksey Arbatov also dismissed talk of a tactical merger. SPS sponsor Anatoliy Chubais still conjures up memories of 1990s "oligarch capitalism" for too many voters, he said. Arbatov described SPS as the "authorized voice" of the liberals, which has allowed it easy access to Chubais-channeled funding and made a merger with Yabloko unnecessary. Makarkin noted that SPS's aggressive tactics towards Yabloko, including buying off some of its Moscow-region party leaders, had further poisoned relations. -------------- For A Just Russia Gets on the Map -------------- ¶12. (SBU) Although For A Just Russia's solid performance was eclipsed in media reporting by the KPRF's stronger-then-expected showing, the elections in the end put Sergey Mironov's party solidly on the political map. Current results show it finishing second in four of the fourteen regions and above seven percent in every election except Omsk. Makarkin argued that prospects were good for A Just Russia to further consolidate its gains now that wary regional leaders had proof that the Kremlin was prepared to tolerate two ruling parties in regions were For A Just Russia had fared well. -------------- Comment -------------- ¶13. (SBU) Although the results are not final, and plans by MOSCOW 00001067 003.2 OF 003 some to challenge the results in Dagestan, Moscow region, and elsewhere may somewhat change their complexion, observers provisionally agree that the showings of United Russia, For A Just Russia, KPRF, and LDPR on March 11 have paved their way to Duma representation in December. SPS, they believe, will have to further strengthen its hold on the electorate in the eight months remaining until the election if it is to succeed as a faction. The results of single-mandate races were not discussed here. There are rumors throughout the regions that many "independent" deputies elected March 11 are either United Russia or For A Just Russia proxies, or businessmen inclined to cooperate with them. BURNS