| The opposition in the Duma fought for power On Wednesday, deputies immediately began the first meeting of the State Duma after a week-long break with political struggle. By the lunch break, the political struggle ended with the broken nose of Rodina deputy Andrei Savelyev and the deprivation of the LDPR leader, Deputy Speaker of the Duma Vladimir Zhirinovsky of the right to vote for a month. At first, the deputies wanted to completely take away the post of vice-speaker from Mr. Zhirinovsky, but after collectively viewing the video of the political struggle, they decided not to rush.
The reason for the first scuffle in the history of the State Duma of the current convocation was the elections to the legislative assembly of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug. Vladimir Zhirinovsky said that his party, expressing dissatisfaction with the recent elections in the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, “demands the resignation of the district governor Neelova, and also demands that the election results in this region not be recognized and that its electoral commission be dissolved.” According to preliminary data, United Russia won the elections in the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug. She received a record 61% of the vote. In second place is the candidate “against everyone” with 15%, the Rodina party received 14% of the votes, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation - 7%. Thirty-six candidates competed for eight more seats in single-member constituencies.
Having declared that the LDPR faction was leaving the hall in protest against gross violations of the law during the elections in the Yamalo-Nenets district, Deputy Speaker Zhirinovsky headed for the exit. According to Andrei Savelyev, deputy Ivan Viktorov from Rodina, who was sitting next to him, asked: “Vladimir Volfovich, why didn’t you speak out when there were violations in the Voronezh region?” The question made such an impression on the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party that he began to scream, “spraying drool.” After which Deputy Zhirinovsky turned to face Mr. Savelyev and promised to “break his face.” Mr. Savelyev suggested that the vice speaker try to fulfill his promise, and Mr. Zhirinovsky took a mouthful of saliva and spat. Mr. Savelyev dodged the spit and “rewarded the LDPR leader with a slap in the face.” And then a group of deputies, who were leaving the hall with Zhirinovsky, attacked Savelyev.
At this time, Duma monitors showed the public the imperturbable face of Speaker Boris Gryzlov, who persuaded the deputies “not to be like other parliaments.” “Men, I’ll ask you... Men, I’ll ask you to cool down in the hall... Vladimir Volfovich, please leave the hall.”
But Vladimir Zhirinovsky could not ignore such a hot episode of the political struggle - he ran along the backs of the chairs and threw himself on top of Savelyev. But the karate-skilled native of Rodin intercepted the vice-speaker on the fly and pinned him to the floor. “I caught him in my hands, threw him at my feet and rewarded him with everything that could be awarded to him,” Andrei Savelyev proudly declared later. After which he complained to Dmitry Rogozin, who was not present in the hall, about the insult from the LDPR. After viewing the film recording the fight, the leader of Rodina said that he would raise the issue of depriving Zhirinovsky of the post of vice-speaker, temporarily depriving the LDPR faction of its vote, and initiating a criminal case under the article “Hooliganism.”
Speaker Boris Gryzlov supported the righteous anger of the Rodinians. He said that the State Duma will contact the Prosecutor General's Office and ask it to assess today's incident in the plenary session hall. Video recordings of the fight will be presented to the prosecutor's office.
A group of deputies, which included representatives of the Communist Party faction and the chairman of the Committee on Regulations and Organization of Work of the State Duma Oleg Kovalev, immediately prepared the text of the draft resolution “On the release of deputy Vladimir Zhirinovsky from the post of deputy chairman of the State Duma.” The basis for such a decision may be the “misbehavior” of the deputy. But yesterday the State Duma did not consider the draft resolution on Zhirinovsky’s removal. Oleg Kovalev explained to Vremya Novostei that the resolution was discussed during a short break, when the deputies did not even have a complete transcript of the meeting at their disposal: “And when I studied the transcript in detail and watched the video recording, I had serious doubts about the adequacy of such a punishment. It was Savelyev who hit first, not Zhirinovsky! We will be unfair if we punish only Zhirinovsky. That’s why I proposed not to consider the resolution today, to give it time to sort it out.”
Whatever the outcome of the case, the quota for the post of deputy speaker of the Duma will remain with the LDPR faction. Even if United Russia supports the demand to remove Vladimir Zhirinovsky from the post of vice-speaker, according to the LDPR plan, this place will be taken by his son Igor Lebedev. And Mr. Zhirinovsky himself in this case will become the leader of the faction. No Duma can remove him from this post.
The best parliamentary fights of the 21st century
In mid-March 2005, a huge massacre took place in the Somali parliament. Deputies of this body, forced to sit in Kenya, staged a massive brawl, beating each other with fists and chairs. The parliamentarians who lost the vote smashed the ballot box and boldly attacked the representatives of the majority.
In July 2004, a massive brawl broke out in the Sri Lankan parliament. The country's President Chandrika Kumaratungu said that the Minister of Commerce accused her of attempting to assassinate the Prime Minister. After this, the opposition called for the resignation of the trade minister, a fight broke out, and the parliamentary session had to be interrupted for an hour.
On March 12, 2004, the South Korean Parliament discussed the impeachment of the country's President Roh Moo-hyun. Supporters of the head of state from among the deputies tried to prevent discussion of this issue, but the security service threw the brawlers out of the meeting room.
On October 31, 2001, about 20 members of the Indonesian parliament fought. A group of people's representatives demanded the right to organize their own faction, but the speaker of parliament rejected the request. Then, after throwing hole punches a little and swearing at their opponents, the two opposing deputy groups grappled with each other.
In April 2000, there was a mass brawl in the Nigerian parliament. The scandal began when the country's President Obasanjo was accused of bribing deputies. Money allegedly intended for bribery was laid out on the table in the meeting room. When the president's supporters decided to prove their leader right with their fists, banknotes scattered throughout the room. Daria GUSEVA |
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