A hearing in the Russian city of Voronezh to discuss whether direct election of the mayor should be overturned drew about 30 citizens, most of whom opposed abolishing the elections. Those who supported terminating the elections cited poor voter turnout that has put non-professional ‘clowns’ in office
The cure for the ills of democracy is more democracy. Doing away with mayoral elections because of poor voter turnout is political lunacy. A better move would be to implement compulsory voting to cure political indifference among Russian citizens. Registration should close at least six months before election day, giving citizens half a year’s time to ask questions of candidates. The state should set up electronic voting and make the elections free of charge to candidates while prohibiting various organs or individuals from influencing elections. For details see the Charter for Permanent Peace and Development.
