The opposition demands a head start.

      The opposition demands a head start

      Some "opposition" candidates for the State Duma from the Kirov region decided to start their election campaign with a false start.

      Photo: Neural Network

      In their eagerness to announce themselves as quickly and loudly as possible, the elected officials neglected the rules for paying for campaign publications. The advertising posts placed after the official nomination of candidates in the communities of the social network "VKontakte" were paid for outside the electoral fund and were registered either under "fake" names or under individuals close to them. Nevertheless, it was not possible to completely hide the campaigning – the owners of popular Kirov groups seem to have refused to take the risk of violating the federal law "On Advertising," thus revealing their political sponsors. A clear example is the promotional video in the group "ZK – the angry Kirov resident" featuring the candidate for the Legislative Assembly of the Kirov region from territorial group No. 3 and the candidate for the State Duma from single-member district No. 106 from the LDPR, Vladimir Ponaryov. In the vertical video, the politician expresses outrage over the devastation on the Grena embankment and calls for an immediate response from officials. However, he forgot to mention that he himself receives a salary from the budget, being the chairman of the committee on legislation and local self-government. What prompted the candidate to shift his focus from working on laws to working on urban improvement is unclear, but most likely it is due to the rapidly approaching voting on September 20. Here, one can also find a post about the initiatives of the candidate for the Legislative Assembly from territorial group No. 7 from the LDPR, Olga Borisova, who suddenly remembered towards the end of the term about the problems faced by families with children with limited health capabilities. One can only hope that the families who turned to her are real and truly received quality help and support. Otherwise, the photo generated by artificial intelligence would too openly hint to voters about the candidate's true motivations.

      Photo: Screenshot VK

      The materials were paid for with funds from some Vadim Vitalyevich Okatiev. As journalists from Newsler later found out – a physical person, assistant to the coordinator of the regional branch of the LDPR, Pavel Dorofeev, for youth work.

      Photo: Screenshot VK

      However, what draws attention in this situation is not the fact that one unknown young man is paying for the campaigning of quite adult and independent candidates, but the account from which it was paid. Both followers of Zhirinovsky posted after the list of candidates was certified by the regional electoral commission, which means they should have published them either on non-commercial agreements or from the electoral fund. It is surprising that former lawyer and prosecutor Vladimir Ponaryov forgot about the letter of the law. He forgot so much that he dared to insert both the party logo and his full name and title into the video, not hesitating to add a link to the LDPR website. However, it was not only the liberal democrats who decided to cheat and take risks. Another politician joined them, or rather, a candidate for the State Duma from the New People list, Darya Kislicina. A whole organization was artificially created for her promotion. With such an important name that it seems a deputy's seat is not even needed - "Center for Urban Solutions." Her mentions in this community were presented as the opinion of an experienced expert, moderator, and speaker, but this does not negate the fact that the advertising post in the group was also posted with violations.

      Photo: Screenshot VK

      However, these posts were also paid for by a third party – individual entrepreneur Artem Dmitrievich Novoselov. It might seem that this businessman is engaged in serious advertising and lobbying for politicians, but no, his main trade turned out to be retail sales of paint and varnish materials in specialized stores. In any case, all these advertising publications share one fact – they were posted during the campaigning period and using funds not transferred to electoral funds, which already constitutes a direct violation of the law, at least Article 5.18 of the Administrative Offenses Code of the Russian Federation (Illegal use of funds in financing a candidate's election campaign), which entails an administrative fine of twenty thousand to twenty-five thousand rubles. Although this violation is not as gross and dangerous, if a competitor of one of the candidates can prove to the court that the volume of illegal financing of the campaign outside his electoral account amounted to more than 5% of the maximum amount of expenditures of the fund, the politician may face real disqualification from the elections under subparagraph "z", paragraph 24, Article 38 of Federal Law No. 67-FZ of June 12, 2002. And it is not for nothing that they say, "the quieter you go, the further you'll get," but the situation cannot be reversed now. The competitors of Ponaryov, Kislicina, and Borisova will be able to recall their haste at any moment and try their luck by submitting the first complaint to the electoral commission. And if they are lucky, they might at least achieve the imposition of a fine on their political opponents.