Direct gubernatorial elections in Russia may be postponed or even canceled due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, several media outlets simultaneously reported on Tuesday night. BBC asked the participants of the meeting, which is expected to discuss this topic, what they think about the possible abandonment of the gubernatorial elections.

According to sources of the three publications, the issue may be considered on Wednesday, April 27, at a council of legislators with the participation of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The council includes chairmen of the State Duma and the Federation Council, their deputies, heads of committees of both chambers of parliament, as well as speakers of legislative assemblies of the regions.

At the meeting, they can discuss the format in which the elections should be held in September this year and whether they should be held at all, and Putin can express his opinion on this matter, writes RBC.

It is highly likely that direct gubernatorial elections may be canceled, and the regions will be able to switch to elections through legislative assemblies, the sources said. “There is no final decision yet. We are waiting for Wednesday,” a Kommersant source said . “Everyone is waiting for his [Putin’s] public position and will be guided precisely by it,” the Vedomosti source added .

At the same time, the word “Ukraine” appears only once in the Vedomosti article, while it does not appear at all in the Kommersant and RBC articles. Later, the possible cancellation or postponement of direct elections in the regions with Ukraine was connected by a federal official in a conversation with Interfax.

“The topic of canceling or postponing direct elections of governors is indeed being actively discussed in the authorities,” the agency’s interlocutor said on condition of anonymity. “The situation in the country is non-standard due to a special operation and harsh sanctions. It is not advisable to spend energy and money on an election campaign – and it is just around the corner,” he explained the Kremlin’s logic.

An Interfax source in parliament specified that “initially, it was about the abolition of direct elections in the eastern and southern, primarily border regions.” They decided to consider the option of canceling elections for all Russian regions in order to “put them in an equal position,” he said.

If Putin chooses the option of postponing, rather than canceling, the gubernatorial elections, then they can take place either in 2023 or in 2024, when presidential elections are scheduled in Russia, RBC’s interlocutors told RBC. Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine on February 24.

The BBC asked the heads of State Duma committees who will attend a council of lawmakers with Putin’s participation how they feel about the possible cancellation or postponement of the elections.

“The question is ambiguous,” said Vladimir Gutenev (United Russia), head of the committee on industry and trade. It’s okay. But in general, I’m in favor of direct elections of heads of regions.”

The head of the committee on agrarian issues, Vladimir Kashin (KPRF), supports the idea of not holding direct elections of governors this year.

“Now, while the special operation is going on and our governors in the Kursk, Bryansk, Belgorod regions, Krasnodar Territory are immersed in all this, what kind of campaign will it be? There will be chaos. We don’t need chaos. Therefore, we will postpone this year’s elections to next year – to March or September 2023,” the communist believes.

The head of the committee on labor and social policy, Yaroslav Nilov (LDPR), recalled the existence of a municipal filter that makes it difficult to nominate candidates from outside the government, and suggested, taking into account the “situation in the world,” not to spend money on election campaigns. “We can return to the practice of appointing heads of regions, which was before 2012, when the candidacies of the heads of subjects were approved by deputies of legislative assemblies,” he said. Nilov believes that it is possible to cancel the gubernatorial elections both for five years (“until the situation stabilizes”), and forever.

The gubernatorial elections in Russia were already canceled in 2004 after the tragedy in Beslan. They were returned by Dmitry Medvedev in 2012 shortly before he left the presidency of the country.

“I would like the elections to be direct, because competition is always good. I admit that in emergency, paramilitary situations it may not be up to the elections, but we do not have such a situation yet,” the head of the BBC told the BBC. Financial Market Committee Anatoly Aksakov (“Fair Russia”).

Direct gubernatorial elections on a single voting day in September 2022 are scheduled in 14 regions – Vladimir, Tambov, Yaroslavl, Kaliningrad, Kirov, Novgorod, Ryazan, Tomsk, Saratov and Sverdlovsk regions, as well as in Karelia, Buryatia, Udmurtia and Mari El.

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