Komi's Central Election Commission. Source: siktivkar.bezformata.ruIn mid-November 2017, the electoral commission of Russia’s northern Komi Republic accepted documents from an advocacy group for a referendum on moving the region’s capital — from Syktyvkar to Ukhta. Ten days later, the referendum was almost unanimously approved by Komi’s regional parliament, and was set to take place on the same day as the Russian presidential election on 18 March. But on New Year’s Eve, Komi’s electoral commission quietly cancelled it. The majority of the republic’s loyal media outlets (which had hotly debated the prospects of changing the capital) remained silent on the matter of the cancellation.
Now Komi, which witnessed consistently high election turnouts under the previous leadership, risks collapsing the turnout for the elections in March 2018.
Apartments, cars and “firewater”
The Komi Republic earned the nickname of Russia’s “Chechnya in the north” after local turnout in the December 2011 legislative elections exceeded 72%, with the ruling United Russia party garnering almost 60% of the votes. Chechnya is known for reaching improbably high turnouts at national elections, with one district in the 2012 presidential run famously reaching 107% turnout.
