Dagestani voters pointed out the passivity of candidates before the elections.
Residents of Dagestan complained before the voting on September 18-20 that candidates hardly discuss the pressing issues of housing and communal services, rising prices, and fuel costs. Some residents stated that they do not intend to participate in the voting due to distrust in the candidates and the election results, while a public sector employee complained about the management's demand to support a certain party.
As reported by "Caucasian Knot", elections for deputies of the State Duma and the People's Assembly of the republic will take place in Dagestan on September 18-20. For the elections to the People's Assembly, lists of five parties have been registered, and three single-member districts have been formed for the elections to the State Duma in the republic.
The upcoming elections do not generate interest, a resident of Makhachkala, a student Rasim, told the correspondent of "Caucasian Knot". He stated that he does not intend to participate in the voting.
"I am not interested, I will not go to the elections. It doesn't matter, my vote doesn't change anything, everything has been decided long ago," said Rasim.
Retiree Abdurakhim noted that long-standing communal problems concern him more than the election campaign. According to him, candidates do not try to reach out to residents of problematic areas and offer solutions to their everyday problems.
"They constantly turn off the electricity and water. Has even one candidate come to the residents of the problematic areas of the city, even promised to do something? <...> Now I don't even know who to vote for," he told the correspondent of "Caucasian Knot".
A public sector employee Kamila reported that the management conducted "educational work," obliging employees to vote for representatives of a certain party. However, Kamila herself does not see among the candidates anyone she would like to support.
"I will have to go vote. I would give my vote to a candidate who really works for the people, but I don't see any, just unknown names or those who have sat in a chair for five years and done nothing worthwhile. At least someone should promise to solve the problems of rising prices, the terrible state of housing and communal services," she told the correspondent of "Caucasian Knot".
Entrepreneur Kadi intends to refuse to participate in the elections as a protest against the passivity of the current deputies and new candidates. He is most concerned about the rising fuel prices, which affect his business, but according to him, candidates do not raise this issue.
"None of the current Dagestani deputies has done anything to normalize the situation, and no candidate for the State Duma and the People's Assembly of the republic has voiced the problem and ways to solve it. Why should I vote for them? All the lists have long been approved, and people's opinions do not matter," he told the correspondent of "Caucasian Knot".
Teacher Barijat mentioned that her polling station is located in the school where she works, so she will have to vote. Among the most pressing issues, she named power outages, lack of textbooks, and rising prices.
"There is no use from the deputies. I decided to just vote for some little-known party or for a candidate who has not been a deputy before," she noted to the correspondent of "Caucasian Knot".
The low visibility of the campaigns of some candidates for the State Duma was also noted by the Telegram channel "Ask Rasul". Some candidates have not appeared in the public agenda of the republic since their registration, and their campaigning is limited to billboards, as stated in a publication from September 15.
"No noticeable activity, meetings with voters, public work – only faces with sometimes funny AI slogans on the billboards of the cities. <...> And then it will be quite strange to expect any real help for the republic from such deputies," the post said.
Distrust in the elections was also expressed by a reader of "Chernovik". In his opinion, the results of the voting are essentially predetermined, while the problems of residents remain unresolved, as stated in a publication from the publication on September 14.
"What do we need elections for – without the right to choose? When it has already been decided for you who won and who lost. When the list of primaries was known even before the elections ended? And no one even hides this. Why is there no criterion for evaluating the activities of deputies? What do we want to leave to our children? In what republic will they live? <...> At a time when it is possible and necessary to develop the republic, having such colossal natural resources, unfortunately, a large part of the population does not live, but survives," the reader wrote.
"Caucasian Knot" currently does not have a comment from the Election Commission of Dagestan regarding the statement about the coercion of budget employees to vote for a certain party.
It should be noted that low public activity of election participants was observed in Dagestan during the previous election campaign as well. Thus, on July 22, 2021, the deputy editor-in-chief of "Chernovik" Magomed Magomedov and the editor-in-chief of RIA "Derbent" Milrad Fatullaev stated that there is no expectation of fierce competition for deputy mandates in the republic.
On April 15 of the same year, the author of the Telegram channel "Ask Rasul" Rasul (Asad) Maazov, Magomed Magomedov, and political scientist Eduard Urazaev pointed out that a large-scale pre-election campaign was not conducted in Dagestan, and campaigning activity was noticeable only among certain candidates and parties.