Translated material
United and fair
Rodina, the Party of Life and the Party of Pensioners created a reserve party of power
The Party of Life, the Party of Pensioners and Rodina held a unification congress in Moscow last Saturday, at which a new party was born called “A Just Russia: Motherland, Pensioners, Life.”Everything happened as the Chairman of the Party of Life, Speaker of the Federation Council Sergei Mironov promised journalists the day before: the delegates entered the building of the Civil Service Academy, where the congress was held, as members of different parties, and left as members of one. The new political force, according to the plan of its creators, should become the second largest Russian party, but with a leftist bias, and in the future, perhaps, replace United Russia itself.
Rodina and the Party of Life announced their unification in July of this year. Before the leaders of these organizations, Alexander Babakov and Sergei Mironov, made their fateful statement, Russian President Vladimir Putin met with each of them separately. In August, the chairman of the Party of Pensioners, Igor Zotov, announced joining the union. And again, before this statement, he had an audience with the head of state. Deputy head of the presidential administration Vladislav Surkov, who is in charge of party building issues, also managed to talk to members of the Party of Life.
The future united party proved the seriousness of its intentions by performing relatively successfully in the October elections to legislative assemblies of a number of regions. In addition, the Party of Life candidate Viktor Tarkhov won the election for mayor of Samara, ahead of the current mayor, United Russia member Georgy Limansky, in the second round.
Last Saturday, delegates from all three parties first sat separately and then together. The Rodina party met the fastest, meeting in just half an hour. Its leader Alexander Babakov read the president’s greeting to the congress delegates. “Your decision to join forces to strengthen the democratic values and social foundations of our state testifies to the growth of the creative potential of Russian society,” read the greeting. Mr. Babakov then addressed the party members on his own behalf: “That part of the country’s political and economic leadership that opposes the domination of oligarchic groups and a corrupt bureaucracy has received a powerful political ally,” he said, referring to the new united party. And he solemnly promised: “We will not give up any of our ideas for which we fought, even in the united structure.”
Not all Rodina members perceive the unification with enthusiasm, so just in case, the party leadership decided to do without discussions. At the same time, “pensioners” and Zhiznists at parallel congresses voted for the liquidation of their parties and joining “Rodina” - it was on the basis of its charter that the unification took place from a technical point of view. The participants in the unification process made this decision because Rodina is the only one of all the uniting parties that has its own faction in the State Duma.
Sergei Mironov was elected chairman of the united party. He was the first to be accepted into the ranks of the new party and received a membership card number 1. As Igor Zotov noted, the election of Mr. Mironov as chairman was quite natural: “It would be strange if someone else headed the party, since Sergei Mikhailovich Mironov is the third person in the state according to the Russian Constitution.”
So that no one would be offended, Alexander Babakov and Igor Zotov also received high positions. The first became secretary of the presidium of the new party, and the second became secretary of the central council. The distribution of posts took place in advance, as Mr. Zotov noted, “on the basis of complete mutual understanding.”
Sergei Mironov, as usual, promised to work for the benefit of Russians as leader of the new party. “I promise you that in my post I will honestly serve Russia, honestly work for the benefit of Russians, and I will also do my best to ensure that our party wins. I am confident that our party will take concrete steps to make life in the country truly fair,” Mr. Mironov emphasized. He also said a few words about the situation in Russian society: “It is an unacceptable situation when we have the working poor, pensioners who are on the verge of poverty, when there are billionaires who made their fortune at the expense of the wealth of the country and its people.”
Once again, the speaker of the Federation Council announced that the new party will compete with United Russia. “Let United Russia wait and tremble, and hence the nervous reaction on the part of United Russia to our unification, but we will fight on equal terms,” he threatened. Sergei Mironov also expressed confidence that in the near future the number of A Just Russia will exceed half a million people. In turn, Alexander Babakov noted that the new party must do everything to get a majority in the State Duma elections in December 2007.
In general, the party plans to take part in elections at all levels. Only for president, as it turned out, Mr. Mironov, who took last place in the last presidential campaign, does not want to run again. “Today I have no such intention and no such desire,” he told reporters. And he emphasized that the party will fully support the course of the current head of state. “We will not allow anyone to deviate from this course after 2008,” Mr. Mironov said. Apparently, even to Putin’s successor.