| The executive branch has created an ideal parliament for itself The pro-presidential alliance yesterday turned the Duma to the right, removing representatives of the communists and their allies from almost all leading posts. The left actually only retained the chair of the chairman of the lower house. And then, perhaps, not for long. Having completed the procedure for changing the chairmen of ten Duma committees, Gennady Seleznev said that he would “think” about resigning. Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov is confident in his party member: “Seleznev is a responsible man, and he will make a courageous decision.”
The speaker, meanwhile, needed a meeting with the president before making this decision. Even the day before, Mr. Seleznev suggested that the leaders of all Duma factions not rush into redistribution and gather together with the president at a round table to “discuss the situation.” But the head of state’s plenipotentiary representative in the Duma, Alexander Kotenkov, said that the distribution of powers and the election of the speaker is an “internal Duma matter.” Nevertheless, the meeting between the speaker and the president took place yesterday - both were at an official reception in honor of Silvio Berlusconi. But regardless of its outcome, the main result of the parliamentary intrigue of recent days will not change. The Duma now has a completely new face and a new political status. And this concerns not only those who inhabit the building on Okhotny Ryad.
From now on, the executive and legislative branches of government do not have the slightest reason for political disputes and lobbying conflicts. Their mutual favor reached the highest level - only Boris Yeltsin had such parliamentary support and only immediately after the August 1991 putsch. Then the good relationship was short-lived. However, the Duma is not the Supreme Council of Ruslan Khasbulatov, and the negotiable United Russia members are not the rebellious democrats of the first wave.
“The reign is over—we need to work constructively,” said the leader of the Unity faction, Vladimir Pekhtin, following the results of the redistribution. And the leader of the OVR faction, Vyacheslav Volodin, emphasized that the communists will no longer be able to sabotage presidential laws with their own alternative bills.
It is quite possible that government bills, in the absence of alternatives and perhaps debate, will rush through parliament even faster than in the last two years, although the speed was already high. Having gained full control over the legislative and political process in the lower house, pro-presidential associations took full responsibility for every document adopted. And at the same time, they deprived the executive branch of the excuse that had worked well for the last ten years: “Parliament passes laws that do not provide the opportunity to do anything useful.” Now those who write the laws (the executive branch) and those who pass them have no room for error. Because every mistake will be used by the left for deafening criticism.
The communists, deprived of their posts, calling the emerging center-right coalition “the Kremlin’s six” (based on the number of factions and groups included), went into “hard opposition” to the president. For every “step of power” Gennady Zyuganov promises “alternative ways to solve all problems.” The leader of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation also mentioned the “shadow government” that the left and their allies will definitely create. These actions of the communists will lead to an increase in the “rating of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation,” says Federation Council Speaker Sergei Mironov. If Mr. Seleznev’s resignation takes place, then this, according to the speaker of the upper house, “will further increase the rating of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation.”
In fact, the communists were returned to their usual state - opposing the authorities. In Yeltsin’s times, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation was an absolutely reactive formation: if the president said “A”, Gennady Zyuganov immediately answered “B” - and this suited his voters quite well. And the Kremlin was not against it. The whole difference with Yeltsin’s times is that now the left will not be able to rely on the material and information capabilities of the Duma, and their lobbying potential will also decrease.
How much the left will gain or lose from yesterday's Duma redistribution will only be finally clear based on the results of the next parliamentary elections. Until that time, the pro-presidential alliance will undoubtedly control the chamber. The left is almost punished, and the right (SPS and Yabloko) have no opportunity and, most importantly, desire to change anything.
The SPS faction, which has a social committee and an economic policy committee at its disposal, is ready to help the government pass laws necessary for Russia's accession to the WTO. The Yabloko faction, which received the education committee, decided to promote its own ideas for school reform. The right will certainly have the opportunity to work in the directions they want. Unless, of course, there is a need for a “new turn” and the positions occupied by representatives of the Union of Right Forces and Yabloko need to be cleared for comrades who are more needed in this place. Victor KHAMRAEV, Leonid PETROV |
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