Rostov political analysts state absence of intrigue at election of governor

The political experts, interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot", believe that Vasily Golubev, the current acting head of the region, is the undisputed leader at the upcoming election for governor of the Rostov Region.

The election of the governor is scheduled for September 13 – the Russia's single voting day. To date, the election commission of the Rostov Region has accepted nomination papers from four candidates for the governor.

The opposition will not be able to fight for the victory at the election, said Dmitry Abrosimov, a candidate of political sciences and Associate Professor of the Institute of Philosophy and Social and Political Sciences of the Southern Federal University.

"The current acting governor Vasily Golubev is an undisputed leader. However, other candidates cannot be treated just conditional, as they pursue their own goals. Firstly, the goal is to raise the awareness of their own ratings before the next year's elections to the Russian State Duma in single-mandate constituencies… But de facto, they can't fight for the victory for the post of the governor," Abrosimov told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

"Oppositional candidates can only create some problems for the current acting governor, but not a real rivalry," Roman Bazikov, political scientist and the director of the Fund for Development of Democratic Institutions, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

"To win, a candidate for the governor has to collect over 50 percent of the votes, cast by the appearing voters. I don't believe that any opponent of the current acting governor is able to collect that number of votes," said Roman Bazikov. However, he did not rule out that the candidates from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF) and the "Spravedlivaya Rossiya" (Fair Russia) Party may gain enough votes to make the second round of the election possible.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.