Translated material
Thing in itself
"United Russia" switches to contractual relations with regional branches of the party and governors
United Russia is actively involved in the struggle for seats in the next Duma. One of the areas of the party’s election strategy will be social programs in the regions. General Secretary of United Russia, Vice Speaker of the State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin said at a press conference in Voronezh at the end of last week that in the near future the party will begin concluding tripartite cooperation agreements with the leaders of specific regions and local branches of the party.The logic of the agreements is simple. Thanks to the lobbying efforts of the leadership of the party in power, additional funds will be pumped into the region for social needs, and the governors, as a sign of gratitude, will have to try to ensure the victory of United Russia in the Duma elections.
“We will sign such agreements with regions that turn to United Russia with similar requests. We plan to sign one of the first agreements with the Voronezh branch. First of all, the agreements will be of a socially oriented nature in order to really and concretely resolve issues,” Mr. Volodin explained to Vremya Novostei.
“The need to conclude the Voronezh agreement was first discussed a year and a half ago, but now additional conditions have appeared for this. On March 20, elections to the regional Duma were held, and United Russia won a crushing victory,” Vladimir Kolobov, deputy head of the Voronezh regional branch of United Russia, told Vremya Novostey. -- The elections went well in the region as a whole, but in a number of cities, including Voronezh itself, United Russia lost, and Rodina took first place. The regional branch of the party must work in such a way that the city does not lose out in the 2007 elections. The party has chosen several strategic directions in which it will support the Voronezh region.” Thus, according to Mr. Kolobov, voters will be able to evaluate the work of parties based on specific cases, and not on election promises.
As Mr. Kolobov said, on behalf of the leader of United Russia, Boris Gryzlov, the issue of providing financial assistance to the Voronezh region will be considered at the next meeting of the faction. We are talking, firstly, about gasification. After all, historically, the region has long been among the outsiders in gasification. The second direction is the rise of the Voronezh Joint-Stock Aircraft Manufacturing Company. And finally, thirdly, the construction of housing for young people.
During a conversation with representatives of the regional branch of the party in Voronezh, Mr. Volodin explained in detail where the state could find funds to help the region. According to him, in the near future the Russian government will submit amendments to the State Duma on the distribution of additional funds generated as a result of the work of the country’s national economic complex in the first quarter of this year. For its part, the Duma faction of United Russia is going to defend the interests of the Voronezh region. Specific figures were also named: from 100 to 150 million rubles. on the recommendation of United Russia, it can be used to gasify the region, in addition to the funds allocated for these purposes in the budget.
According to Mr. Kolobov, the conclusion of a tripartite agreement will make it possible to prescribe the responsibilities of all its participants in the implementation of the social program. It is not yet known whether the party will conclude similar agreements with regional leaders who do not have a United Russia party card. Leading positions in the Voronezh region are occupied by United Russia members. Moreover, at a conference of the local branch of the party held last Friday, the governor and first vice-governor of the Voronezh region, Vladimir Kulakov, and the first vice-governor, Sergei Naumov, were elected members of the political council of United Russia.
“So far, only the mayor of Voronezh is in opposition to us and is a member of the Party of Life, but it seems to me that this matter can be corrected,” Vladimir Kolobov told Vremya Novostei.