United Russia wants control in Nenets AO

Despite pressure from the United Russia Party and the Central Election Commission, the regional parliament in the small and oil-rich Nenets Autonomous Okrug does not want to amend its regional election law in line with federal standards. Regional parliament elections are due March next year.

The regional parliament argues that the amendments called upon by the Central Election Commission will not benefit the regional population, but rather be in the interests of the powerful United Russia party, newspaper Kommersant reports. The government-loyal party is not content with its level of political influence in the region, and is eager to win higher representation in the upcoming March elections. The party positions are supported by the Central Election Commission and the Northwest Russian federal district administration. In a recent official letter to the Nenets regional assembly, the two federal authorities argue that the party representation barrier should not be lowered from seven to three percent, as proposed by regional deputies. The letter also calls for the application of the socalled Imperiale method in the election, a model which gives the biggest party a major representation bonus. The regional parliamentarians say that the letter from the federal authorities do not meet the interests of the regional population, but rather the interests of the United Russia Party, which intends to secure a higher level of control over the regional parliament. Today, the parliament has three representatives from both the United Russia and the Communist Party. The party “For Our Region” has two representatives, while the Liberal Democratic Party and the Pensioners’ Party both have one. In last November’s State Duma elections, the Nenets AO was the region with the lowest level of support for United Russia in the country. The party then won 49 percent of the votes in the region.

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