The deputy is again fighting for leadership over the Social Revolutionaries

State Duma deputy Viktor Pokhmelkin is not giving up his attempt to head the Kama branch of A Just Russia (SR) and even intends to oversee the party’s election campaign at the regional level. This goes against the informal agreements between the regional administration of the Kama region and the federal leader of the Social Revolutionaries Sergei Mironov, according to which the head of the Federation Council promised not to nominate a deputy opposed to the regional authorities in exchange for a senatorial post. Yesterday, Viktor Pokhmelkin, a member of the Rodina faction in the State Duma, said that he was going to take “the most direct part” in the election campaign of the Kama region’s “A Just Russia” in the upcoming State Duma elections. According to the deputy, SR has a chance of winning when it has the opportunity to resist administrative resources. As an example, he cited the recent regional elections in Stavropol, St. Petersburg, Komi - “precisely where people with serious electoral potential stood against the governor.” “Therefore, here we need to form a regional branch capable of resisting the regional authorities,” the deputy said. At the same time, he did not disclose in what form such a plan would be implemented—as party chairman or leader of the Perm party list of “Socialist Revolutionaries.” However, he confirmed that he still does not exclude the possibility of heading the Prikamsk branch of the Just Russians.

Let us recall that the State Duma deputy, chairman of the Perm “Rodina” Valentina Savostyanova and the Perm City Duma deputy, leader of the regional “pensioners” Alexey Gribanov initially applied for the post of chairman of the Perm SR. At the same time, the regional authorities are actively opposing the arrival of Mr. Pokhmelkin at the head of the Prikamsky branch of the SR. Since 2004, Viktor Pokhmelkin has gone into strong opposition to the provincial administration. The regional administration relied specifically on the Pensioners Party, which was loyal to the authorities.

At the beginning of 2007, the federal leadership of A Just Russia reneged on the agreements on the Kama region - unexpectedly for the Perm political elite, the federal leader of the party, Speaker of the Federation Council Sergei Mironov, placed his bet on State Duma deputy Viktor Pokhmelkin. In February, Mr. Pokhmelkin joined the Rodina faction in the Duma and announced his desire to lead the Perm Social Revolutionaries. The regional administration explained such a step as a kind of bargaining between the Kama region authorities and Mr. Mironov for the post of senator from the regional legislative assembly, who was trying to push through his comrade-in-arms in the Party of Life, Hovhannes Ohanyan. As a result, United Russia, which has a majority of votes in parliament, did not appoint their fellow party member Viktor Dobrosotsky to this position, electing Mr. Ohanyan instead.

The leadership of local “pensioners” were extremely surprised by Viktor Pokhmelkin’s statements. “I only heard this from Mr. Pokhmelkin,” Alexey Lukanin, leader of the “pensioners” faction in the Legislative Assembly, told Kommersant. According to him, the federal bureau of the SR appointed Senator Hovhannes Ohanyan responsible for the unification process: “I don’t know any other leaders.” Mr. Lukanin noted that Mr. Ohanyan was tasked with holding negotiations on the unification of the three parties, as well as establishing a dialogue with the political leadership of the Kama region. Mr. Lukanin refused to name the supposed leader. He did not rule out that various options for confirming the leader could be adopted.

The regional administration doubts the effectiveness of such pressure from Mr. Pokhmelkin: “Rather, it was the voicing of certain thoughts.” A high-ranking official told Kommersant that “it is the right of every person to maintain the hope of becoming a party leader.” The interlocutor noted that Mr. Pokhmelkin is a federal-level politician and, in principle, he has the opportunity to “apply for this or that post.” “But we have not held any meetings on this matter and are not going to change our plans,” the Kommersant source added.

A Kommersant source close to Mr. Pokhmelkin, on the contrary, believes that the deputy has very real intentions. According to him, there was never any bargaining between Sergei Mironov and Oleg Chirkunov, according to which Oganes Ohanyan becomes a senator from parliament, and the leader of the local Socialist Republic is a representative of the regional Party of Pensioners, loyal to the provincial government. According to the source, between the heads of the Federation Council and the subject of the Russian Federation there was only an agreement on the approval of Tatyana Popova as a senator from the regional administration. “She became a senator, like Mr. Ohanyan, the agreement was fulfilled. Why can’t Viktor Pokhmelkin lead the Kama region “A Just Russia”? — Kommersant’s interlocutor is perplexed.
Artem Voronenko

Kommersant (Perm) No. 44 from 03/20/2007

Viktor Pokhmelkin remained in service