The reactions of those candidates who lost the election are always special. This time there's a lot of mixed feelings, from "it was a good experience" to "the voter was wrong." The only thing everybody agreed with is that Putin won. What took place at the campaign offices? What was on the minds and in the hearts of the candidates?
Here's Alexander Balitsky.
Gennady Zyuganov, CPRF leader: "Let's welcome him with applause".
This encouraging phrase about the candidate from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation was actually preceded by a difficult statement.
Pavel Grudinin, CPRF candidate: "I am sure that the incumbent president has won. I'm absolutely sure it was his victory".
Pavel Grudinin and his political mentor Gennady Zyuganov spent the campaign together as well as the night when the votes were counted.
Pavel Grudinin: "It depends on Gennady Andreevich's decision".
Obviously, Zyuganov's decision is absolutely necessary for another, almost political issue. Before the election, in an interview, Grudinin promised to shave his mustache if he scored less than 15%, which he was reminded of today. After all, everyone expected him to appear at the press conference without the mustache. But he was with it and tried to evade his promise.
Pavel Grudinin: "As for the mustache…"
Gennady Zyuganov, CPRF leader: "Pavel Nikolaevich, given that you scored 55 at one station and 66 at another, you can even have a beard now".
Zyuganov meant 55% and 66% the left candidate scored at 2 polling stations located on the territory of his farm, which is named after Lenin. Of course, the remaining 97 thousand stations showed a worse result. While reporters besieged the CPRF headquarters, as always, they stated that the votes of their candidate had been stolen.
Gennady Zyuganov: "They lowered our result to 12-14%, which was a low-blow".
Pavel Grudinin: "Unfortunately for the CEC, we have an alternative system for counting votes. but it's clear that our elections are not perfect".
The Communists have to admit that they have shown a far worse result in comparison with the 2012 elections. The all-Russian figure is 11.77%, which is significantly less than when Zyuganov ran for the presidency himself.
- Gennady Andreevich, do you regret not running?
- On the contrary, I'm glad we have the strongest candidate in the elections.
The 6th attempt to take the presidency brought a worse result to Vladimir Zhirinovsky, leader of the Liberal Democratic Party. He secured 3rd place and scored 1% less than in 2012. Only in 2 regions did Zhirinovsky manage to approach the 10% threshold — in Transbaikal and Komi. In Dagestan, he even lost to the newcomer in the presidential campaign, Suraykin.
Vladimir Zhirinovsky: I don't like the voter's logic. When will our people evaluate a candidate? Two candidates are Putin and me, but when it comes to making a choice, according to the voter's logic, it's not an election if we vote for the same person.
- You never blamed the voters. You always felt them, reached out to them. And now you're saying the same as the liberals — the problem is in the people.
The candidates' observers are preparing reports and complaints about violations revealed during the election. For example, the CEC annulled the results of votes in Lyubertsy (the Moscow region) and Artem (Primorye). But it wouldn't have affected the overall result anyway.
Ella Pamfilova, CEC head: "No serious complaints have been detected. Compared to 2012, if you look at the so-called map of violations, half as many violations have been reported as in 2012".
Ksenia Sobchak, Civil Initiative candidate: "We must admit that the government changed tactics in this election. Legally speaking, it made it more transparent than the one during which I, for one, was an observer".
Ksenia Sobchak considers her participation in the election as the central event of the whole presidential campaign. In Moscow and St. Petersburg, Sobchak even passed the 4% threshold. In her native northern capital, she took 3rd place. But this is an exception. Now she is going to create a full-fledged political party and run in regional elections.
Ksenia Sobchak: "First of all, I'm glad that I scored more than the other candidates who share the same views. It's a possible platform to unite. Progress has always been made by the minority".
Grigory Yavlinsky, another political old-timer along with the LDPR leader, barely passed the 1% threshold. As expected, he showed his best results in the megacities, but they were still lower than in the 90s. Yavlinsky admits he knew what he was signing up for but really wanted to talk.
Grigory Yavlinsky, Yabloko candidate: "We talked to people directly. we discussed the problems which preoccupy them mostly because all of us are actually concerned about their lives".
According to the preliminary results, Boris Titov, Maxim Suraykin, and Sergei Baburin scored less than 1%. All the 7 minority candidates account for about 22%. They have different opinions on their results. In any case, participation in the election introduced their programs to Russians. Vladimir Putin suggested working with them to implement some of them.
Alexander Balitsky, Dmitry Melnikov, and Pavel Alekseev for Vesti.
