Vladimir Plotnikov re-elected leader of the APR

congress

The Agrarian Party of Russia (APR) intends to create its own faction in the State Duma following the results of the next elections. This goal was set for the party at the 13th Congress, which met last weekend. But first, the APR must solve the problem of leadership. The agrarians opposed to the re-elected party chairman Vladimir Plotnikov have already declared the last congress outlawed and are now preparing to prove it in court.

There was no sharp criticism of Vladimir Plotnikov, a member of the United Russia Duma faction, at the congress. True, the leader of the Vladimir branch, Gennady Churkin, who was expelled from the APR last fall, tried to start a campaign to change the leader: Deputy Plotnikov, according to Mr. Churkin, is doing everything so that the APR will dissolve into United Russia closer to the Duma elections. But the oppositionists from 14 regional branches failed to find an alternative candidate for leadership.

Nevertheless, the leadership of the APR showed vigilance: only delegates and official guests were allowed into the heavily guarded conference room of the Moscow Izmailovo Hotel. The Vladimir delegation was not allowed to attend the congress, because, as Mr. Plotnikov explained, “Churkin is not a member of our party and not a guest of the congress.” In addition, as the leader of the APR told Kommersant, the party leadership received two messages from the Ministry of Justice that the conference of the Vladimir regional branch cannot be considered legal. “If we had allowed this delegation in, then the congress would have been illegal,” Mr. Plotnikov emphasized.

Vladimir Plotnikov based his report on the fact that the APR, following the results of a single voting day on March 12, became the third party (after United Russia and the Communist Party of the Russian Federation) in terms of the number of deputies promoted to regional parliaments and representative bodies of local self-government. In this regard, the leader called on his comrades-in-arms to do everything so that “in the next Duma the Agrarian Party has its own faction.” In other words, in the 2007 elections the APR must receive at least 7% of the votes.

On the sidelines of the congress there was talk that the Kremlin had already promised the farmers 7% if they retained Vladimir Plotnikov as their leader. But in official speeches, the delegates invariably touched upon the topic of their leader being a member of the United Russia faction. Mr. Plotnikov explained the forced necessity of this by saying that “all laws are baked in this faction.” At the same time, he assured Kommersant that the main competitor of the farmers in the fight for the votes of rural voters in 2007 would be United Russia.

However, none of the delegates talked about changing the leader. Even the representative of the Voronezh branch, Alexey Efentyev, who immediately admitted that he “is a representative of that very opposition,” suggested only that he should abstain from electing a leader in order to first hold an internal party discussion. But the delegates did not discuss this proposal, limiting themselves to a recommendation to Mr. Plotnikov to leave the United Russia faction at the moment when remaining in it no longer coincides with the interests of the party. Under these conditions, Vladimir Plotnikov retained the post of chairman of the central council of the APR: in a secret ballot, he was supported by 231 delegates with 55 votes against.

However, the inner-party opposition does not intend to give up. Yesterday, the initiative group of Gennady Churkin outlawed the last congress, distributing a statement signed by representatives of 36 of 74 regional branches. The press service of the Kommersant group explained that the congress was held with numerous violations of the charter, as evidenced by documents and a video recording of the congress, the results of which will be challenged in court. The claim will be filed after the holidays. In turn, Vladimir Plotnikov assured Kommersant that he was not afraid of trial, since the congress was held in accordance with the law and the APR charter, as proof of which the party leadership was also ready to present a transcript, audio and video recordings.

VIKTOR Kommersant-Khamraev

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