Alexander Gurov wants to leave the FN primaries in the Tambov region

In the Tambov region, the first conflict in the Black Earth Region arose related to the primaries of United Russia, which it conducts jointly with the All-Russian Popular Front (ONF). One of the founders of the party in power, State Duma deputy from the region Alexander Gurov, told Kommersant about his intention to refuse to participate in the vote, which “does not fully reflect the interests of the population,” in which he will have to compete with “outsider to the region,” senator from the Amur region, Amir Gallyamov. Observers believe that Mr. Gallyamov “tried to find a negative angle” in order to calmly receive a deputy mandate, but he miscalculated, and his prospects for election depend on the “reliability of agreements” with the federal leadership of United Russia.

Such a sharp reaction from Alexander Gurov was caused by the approved version of the regional list for the ONF primaries in the Tambov region, published yesterday, which included 55 people. Together with Lieutenant General Gurov and Alexei Plakhotnikov, who was elected to the current parliament from the region, the speaker of the regional Duma Alexander Nikitin and the head of Tambov Alexei Kondratyev, there were two well-known “Varangians” in it. The regional branch of United Russia nominated in the primaries State Duma deputy from Mordovia Viktor Kidyaev, who oversaw all major elections in the region for the last two years from the federal party leadership. And the movement for modernization “Forward Russia!” unexpectedly delegated Amir Gallyamov to the primaries. His nomination caused the indignation of Mr. Gurov. “I most likely will not go to the primaries, because I don’t see the point in it,” the deputy told Kommersant. – It is obvious to me that this oligarch will become a deputy from the region, who, after being elected, can immediately forget about Tambov. I don’t see the need to waste time and energy fighting millionaires.”

Mr. Gallyamov has not hidden for a long time that he is looking for a place for re-election outside the Amur region, with the head of which Oleg Kozhemyako he is in conflict. The contradictions between them resulted in scandals. Thus, in April 2009, the senator tried to return an armored Mercedes Benz S600 worth $800 thousand from the regional property to his personal property, but subsequently abandoned his demands. He recently stated that he disagrees with Mr. Kozhemyako on a number of issues regarding the development of the region and will look for another subject of the Russian Federation to continue his political career. It is worth noting that the senator is the owner of the largest officially declared vehicle fleet among all Russian senators. He owns seven luxury cars - Bentley Continental, Land Cruiser 100, Mercedes-Benz ML 63 AMG, Mercedes-Benz S 600, Mercedes-Benz S 600 L, Porsche 996 Cabrio, Ferrari 550 Maranello.

The Tambov United Russia members did not respond to Mr. Gurov’s statement yesterday. The leader of the party faction in the regional Duma, Andrei Pilipenko, only noted that “it is too early to say who will be at the top of the list” in the State Duma elections. Mr. Pilipenko did not expand on the “Varangians” on the list, saying that “all the candidates on the list are worthy.” He added that the party members set themselves the goal of getting the same result in December as in the last Duma elections (61% of the votes) and getting three deputy mandates. Opponents of the party in power, meanwhile, believe that the personal composition of the regional list of United Russia will not have an impact on the electoral result of the party in power. “People will vote for United Russia, and not for the candidates on the list. With fair elections, the party in power can somehow hope for one mandate. And if there are the same outrages as before, they can get all five,” noted the leader of the Tambov communists, State Duma deputy Tamara Pletneva.

It is worth noting that in the Tambov region, this is not the first time that “Varangians” from United Russia have encountered resistance from local party members in the struggle for “passable” places on the party list. In 2007, in the regional primaries, the federal leadership of the party in power nominated the then Deputy Speaker of the State Duma, Lyubov Sliska. But in Tambov she received powerful resistance - State Duma deputy Ivan Vasiliev, who at that time headed the regional branch of the party in power, went into a tough confrontation with Mrs. Sliska, as a result of which she took last place in the primaries and left to run for office in Kemerovo, and Mr. Vasiliev himself voluntarily abandoned attempts get re-elected. Let us recall that Ivan Vasiliev committed suicide in 2008.

Political scientist Vladimir Slatinov believes that Amir Gallyamov “was looking for a bearish angle, but, like Lyubov Sliska in his time, he miscalculated.” “The Tambov region appears to be a quiet, calm Central Russian region with a monocentric system of power concentrated in the hands of Governor Oleg Betin. Logically, it is easier to negotiate with the leadership of such territories about a seat in the lower house. But the senator did not take into account the presence of an authoritative opponent there, and now his election will depend on two key factors - the reliability of his agreements in Moscow and the ability of local authorities to repeat the record of the autumn elections to the regional Duma, when falsifications, according to various estimates, amounted to up to 30% of the votes with the accepted fundamental political science critical maximum of 10%. In the second case, both candidates can get into the State Duma,” the expert noted ironically.

Maxim Kosinov, Vsevolod Inyutin

The oligarch is not a friend of the general