Minus two

Former Duma deputy Gennady Gudkov and still a Duma deputy, his son Dmitry Gudkov, both members of the Coordination Council of the Opposition, were expelled not only from the governing bodies of A Just Russia, but also from the party itself. Gudkov Jr. wrote about this on Twitter. He told RIA Novosti that neither he nor his father were ready for such an outcome: “Honestly, we thought and were ready that we would be expelled from the leadership.” The reason is their refusal to resign from the Constitutional Court. Previously, the party delivered an ultimatum to Gudkov, as well as Oleg Shein: either the Constitutional Court or her. Shein chose a party, the Gudkovs decided to remain in the Coordination Council. The same ultimatum was given to Ilya Ponomarev regarding the leadership structures of the Left Front, he chose the party.

The leader of A Just Russia, Sergei Mironov, proposed expelling the Gudkovs from the party in connection with their activities in the Constitutional Court. On the same day, the formal chairman of the party, Nikolai Levichev, accused Gudkov Sr. of supporting not the party candidate Sergei Knyshov, but Igor Novikov from the “Civic Platform” in the elections for mayor of Zhukovsky, and even tried to persuade Knyshov to withdraw his candidacy.

Ilya Ponomarev considers the party’s decision to expel the Gudkovs “a mistake that could become fatal.” He wrote about this on Twitter.

A day later, the Gudkovs and Ponomarev held a press conference at the Rosbalt news agency. Dmitry Gudkov said that he and his father’s membership in the Constitutional Court, as well as his trip to the USA, which caused a strong reaction from his colleagues in the Duma, is just an excuse - the reason for the decision to expel them from the party is that they take an active position in the protest movement. Gennady Gudkov announced his intention to create a new Social Democratic Party. Work on the formation of a new structure can begin, according to him, today, but everything will be finally decided at the A Just Russia congress, which will take place only in October. At the congress, the Gudkovs intend to raise the question of the possibility of revising the decision to expel them, as well as reforming the party: they believe that, first of all, the leadership must change (they are not satisfied with Levichev, first of all) and the method of decision-making. Ilya Ponomarev said that he was suspending party activities before the congress, but was not leaving the party yet. However, if the congress agrees with the decision of the presidium bureau to expel the Gudkovs and does not demonstrate the party’s readiness for changes, he will apparently leave the party. In the meantime, he intends to focus on forming an inter-factional group in the Duma, in which he would like to see representatives of all factions, even United Russia, who are ready for constructive work and can make a decision different from the one being pushed from above.