Speech portrait of a politician and administrative resource factor: problem of interconnection (on the example of speeches by Valentin O. Konovalov, Governor of the RF Republic of Khakassia)

Statement of the problem. In 2018, as a result of a difficult political struggle, V.O. Konovalov, legal adviser to the newspaper Pravda Khakassia, leader of the regional branch of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, took over the post of the Governor of the Republic of Khakassia. His main competitor in the election race was the current head of the region, V.M. Zimin, who had a powerful administrative resource. Owing to his agreement with the head of Abakan, N.G. Bulakin, the municipal and regional media of the region launched a large-scale campaign to cover the work of V.M. Zimin. The opportunity for V.O. Konovalov to enter the information field and attract the attention of the electorate was his public appearance on TV debates, which are guaranteed to all participants in the election campaign by the federal legislation. In this article, we will consider the influence of the administrative resource factor on the linguistic portrait of a particular person V.O. Konovalov, participant in the election campaign of 2018 and 2023 in the Republic of Khakassia. The purpose of the article is to identify the influence of the administrative resource factor on the components of V.O. Konovalov’s speech portrait in two options – in the absence of access to the administrative resource and, conversely, when it is possible to use it. Methodology (materials and methods). The research materials are public speeches by V.O. Konovalov, a candidate from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation for the post of the Head of Khakassia. In the course of the work, seven editions of television debates that were broadcast on Rossiya 1 and RTS TV channels in the summer and autumn of 2018 and 2023 were analysed. The following methods are used in the work: descriptive, typological, comparative, text interpretation. Research results. In August and September of 2018, during the elections for the Head of the Republic of Khakassia, the main competition unfolded between two candidates – V.O. Konovalov and V.M. Zimin. Having no access to an administrative resource and, consequently, having no information about the true state of affairs in the region, V.O. Konovalov filled his public speeches with calls to come to the polling stations and not ignore the elections. His speech, against the general background of simplicity and clarity [Bashkova, 2011], was characterized by the frequent use of metaphors, comparisons and epithets, was filled with sayings, proverbs, phraseological units, moreover, substandard vocabulary. Also, the young communist constantly emphasized his oppositional attitude, actively using the juxtaposition ‘people’s candidate’ – ‘power’. Combined with other factors, this led to the desired results: V.O. Konovalov won the political race. In the recent history of Russia, a unique situation has developed: by the Single Voting Day, he remained the only contender for the post of the governor of the Siberian region, having received 57,57 % of the votes from the total number of voters who came to the polling stations. In 2023, on the eve of the Single Voting Day, the situation for V.O. Konovalov was radically different from the situation he was in in 2018. Being already the current governor, V.O. Konovalov had full access to administrative resources in the struggle for a second term. During his five years as the Head of the Region, the young politician’s speech was enriched with professional phrases and terms [Chudinov, 2001, p. 210], became more meaningful due to official information, specific data on the budget and economy of the Republic, and at the same time did not avoid the penetration of bureaucratic cliches into it. In fact, his public appearances turned into reports on the work done. On the one hand, the updated political vocabulary used by V.O. Konovalov at that time became a marker of his social status as a high-level authority figure; on the other hand, vernacular words and colloquial style, partially preserved in his public texts, still testified to his commitment to democracy. We should especially note that the concept of ‘power’, having lost negative associations for V.O. Konovalov, ceased to be actively discussed, and the corresponding lexeme left his active vocabulary. In 2023, with the support of the administrative resource, the young governor used well-established phraseological phrases and simple metaphors, as well as hyperbolization techniques. On the election day, September 9, 2023, V.O. Konovalov improved his own result from five years ago and received 63.14 % of the votes of the residents of Khakassia who took part in the voting.