POLITICS

United Russia must exceed the last State Duma election results and win 65 percent of the vote on Dec. 4. This is the task set for the ruling party by the presidential administration, several officials told Vedomosti on Thursday.

The presidential administration bases its election targets on the party’s own prognosis of up to 60 percent, official Kremlin representative told the daily.

Three types of regions

Sources close to presidential administration say all the nation’s regions were divided into three categories: weak regions have to get at least 50 percent, medium – 55-60 percent, and strong – 65 percent of the votes.

St. Petersburg is among the weak regions (United Russia won 50 percent there in 2007), but the list is now headed by Deputy PM Dmitry Kozak and it could have a positive effect on the vote.

United Russia will be hoping for 80 percent of the vote in Tatarstan, Tula – 65 percent, Sverdlovsk region – 63 percent, Primorye, where Deputy PM Igor Shuvalov is head of the list, expects 60-62 percent, and the same result is hoped for in St. Petersburg.

Overall the ruling party must repeat the last election results, when in 2007 it won 64.3 percent of the votes.

The Kremlin officials started consulting with governors in August, sources said. The governors are being instructed by internal policy department employees, headed by first deputy head of the administration Vladislav Surkov.

Moscow as a battleground

Strong regions are Moscow, Caucasus Republics and the Volga region. Under Mayor Yury Luzhkov Moscow’s United Russia won 55 percent, and now his successor Sergei Sobyanin will attempt to improve on that, a Kremlin source said. United Russia won 66.25 percent at Moscow City Duma election in 2009.

Sergei Sobyanin is the leader of the ruling party in Moscow and the first name on the list.

Moscow’s prefectures have also received their instructions to secure 65 percent of the votes for United Russia, or heads of prefectures could lose their jobs, two City Hall employees told Vedomosti on condition of anonymity.

They now are now organizing meeting sessions with the population and making promises.

Experts estimated that if all state employees in Moscow came to the election and voted United Russia, a 40 percent turnout will provide 60 percent of the votes for United Russia, said Moscow City Duma deputy from the communist party Andrei Klychkov.

Head of Yabloko Sergei Mitrokhin is sure that the only way United Russia can win 60-65 percent is through falsification.

United Russia denies setting such targets, and it only cares about “voters’ trust, and not percentages,” the party spokesman Sergei Neverov told Interfax.