| The first stage of the governor's election campaign in
St Petersburg is completed. Thursday was the last day for the contenders
to submit electoral signatures to the local electoral commission or to
pay an election deposit in order to be officially registered as candidates.
Of 32 people, who had voiced their intention to run for the post, only
14 met the deadline. As a result, at the forthcoming elections
in St. Petersburg the presidential envoy for northwestern Russia Valentina
Matviyenko will vie with six lawmakers, four entrepreneurs, an incumbent
vice-governor, a steward and a porn film producer.
The morning of the last day for the submission of voter's signatures
to the city election commission was filled with anxiety. A day earlier
only two of the 32 candidates who had voiced their intent to run for the
governor's post in the northern capital - the presidential envoy to the
North-West Federal District Valentina Matviyenko and the deputy of the
city legislature Alexander Gabitov - had submitted their lists of signatures.
Moreover, the preliminary check of the list of signatures submitted
by Alexander Gabitov revealed "certain problems", an electoral
official said on Thursday.
A scandal loomed - the authorities realized that if by 18-00 on Thursday
nobody else submitted a signature list or made a financial pledge, the
elections would have to be postponed for an uncertain period of time.
The existence of an alternative is the fundamental principle for elections:
for voting to be declared valid at least two candidates must take
part in the race.
The misgivings of the local electoral authority and the federal centre
began to dispel by 15-00 on Thursday, when the vice-governor of St Petersburg
Anna Markova, the State Duma deputy Pyotr Shelishch and the director general
of Petrolakt company Gennady Vassilenko submitted their signature lists.
Hours later such lists were submitted by Viktor Yefimov, the director
of a local pasta factory, and Konstantin Sukhenko, a deputy of the city
legislature.
Sukhenko's move drew special attention of the media, as last week Sukhenko
was dismissed from the post of chairman of the city branch of United Russia
for failing to maintain discipline and obey the order from above to withdraw
from the race and support Matviyenko in her
campaign.
Sukhenko, to all intents and appearances, decided not to give in, and
supplied the city's electoral commission not only with the required number
of signatures in his support, but also, to be on the safe side, paid an
election deposit, in case of disqualification if some of the signatures
on his list were declared invalid following a police check.
Valentina Matviyenko, too, has paid the election deposit of 7.5 million
rubles. The overcautious presidential envoy, apparently, decided to play
safe: the number of signatures she submitted is over 100,000 - three times
higher than the required minimum.
As regards the financial pledge, Matviyenko's press service explained
that as the presidential plenipotentiary "understands her responsibility
before her supporters, she believes she has no right to take even the
slightest risk connected with the legal consequences of possible
provocations against her during the collection of signatures". The
authenticity of the signatures submitted by all candidates will be checked
by the city police.
In any case, if all signatures submitted by Matviyenko, as well as
by her rival Sukhenko, prove authentic the 7.5 million rubles contributed
by each of them as a financial pledge would be returned to their accounts.
Nonetheless, the payment of the deposit by Matvieynko enabled the electoral
commission to officially register the presidential envoy as the first
candidate to the post of city governor and issue a corresponding certificate
in her name.
The last to submit signatures were Mikhail
Amosov, head of the Yabloko faction in the St. Petersburg Legislative
Assembly, Sergey Pryanishnikov, a porn director and producer, Sergey Belyayev,
president of the "Regional Programmes" international union of
public associations and former general director of Sheremetyevo airport,
Legislative Assembly
deputies Alexei Timofeyev and Vadim Voytanovsky, an entrepreneur Rashid
Dzhabarov, and Oleg Titov, a senior air steward at the Pulkovo airline.
Of these, Vadim Volitanovsky also decided to play safe and paid the
7.5 million ruble deposit.
St. Petersburg parliamentarian Yuri Shutov, who is currently receiving
medical treatment in a prison hospital, has officially notified the electoral
authorities of his refusal to run for the governor's post. Shutov said
that he could not lead a campaign during the "full and dead
blockade", caused by his detention. Shutov said that owing to his
decision not to run for the post the 39,000 signatures collected by his
aides would not be submitted to the electoral commission.
By law, the electoral authorities have five days to check the signatures
submitted by applicants. The check will be carried out by the city's main
police directorate. Applicants will be denied official registration if
over10 per cent of the signatures submitted by them prove invalid.
The results of the check will be published on August 6. The governor's
election in St Petersburg will take place on September 21.
See also:
Gubernatorial
elections in St.Petersburg 2003
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