Perm communists are building their own vertical of power

Perm communists intend to build a power vertical among their deputies elected to local dumas and the legislative assembly. Local communist deputies will report directly to their colleagues from the legislative assembly, which will allow the Communist Party of the Russian Federation to act as a united front in the elections in the Kama region. Kommersant experts believe that the Communist Party of the Russian Federation has already begun preparations for the introduction of a municipal filter for the upcoming elections of the governor of the Kama region.

The regional branch of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation has begun preparations to build a parliamentary vertical of power. It will provide an alternative connection for communist deputies, in addition to the existing party structure (territory - district committee - city committee). As Gennady Kuzmitsky, head of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation faction in the regional legislative assembly, told Kommersant, negotiations are underway with deputies of representative authorities of the Kama region municipalities. “We need to build relationships for the future. Prepare a single policy line, act as a united front,” Mr. Kuzmitsky explained to Kommersant. According to him, the party has serious parliamentary resources: it has formed the second largest faction in the legislative assembly, communists are present in zemstvo assemblies and dumas, for example, Chernushka, Tchaikovsky, Aleksandrovsk, Vereshchaginsky district. Such a vertical is necessary. Such communication does not occur within party structures.

Oleg Kulikov, a deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, representing the Perm Territory, confirmed that the task has been set to form a rigid vertical from deputies of the regional legislative assembly to deputies of municipalities. “All members of the faction will be assigned to specific municipalities. This is important, given that there are prospects for a significant expansion of the deputy corps: in all large territories, according to the law, a mixed electoral system must be established. This means that the Communist Party of the Russian Federation has a 100% chance of being elected to representative bodies of power in municipalities with a significant number of people,” explained Mr. Kulikov.

Let us recall that in the last elections to the regional legislative assembly on December 4, the communists gained about 20% of the votes and formed a faction of seven people: Andrei Starkov, Vladimir Korsun, Gennady Kuzmitsky, Ksenia Aitakova, Evgeniy Zhelobovich, Vadim Chebykin, Pavel Makarov.

Perm City Duma deputy Andrei Solodovnikov believes that the imposed discipline will only be beneficial: “I rarely meet with legislative assembly deputies; a lot of important information passes by.” In his opinion, the vertical will eliminate the possibility of broadcasting different, and sometimes alternative, points of view among communists. The deputy recalled the recent scandal surrounding Andrei Starkov’s statement about the need to support the candidacy of businessman and Russian presidential candidate Mikhail Prokhorov for the post of governor of the Perm Territory. Let us remember that at that time the first secretary of the regional committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Korsun, did not agree with the statement, who criticized the parliamentarian and invited his colleagues to consider the issue of expelling him from the party organization.

And about. Secretary of the regional branch of United Russia, Alexey Chibisov, does not see the point in the structure being created by the left. “There is a council of representative bodies in the regional legislative assembly. It's quite enough. It is best to come to the territory and work on site. The creation of administrative verticals is a way of talking about problems,” the interlocutor noted.

The coordinator of the Perm branch of the LDPR, vice-speaker of the regional legislative assembly, Sergei Mitrofanov, believes that the communists are preparing for the fact that regional governors, when elected, will go through the so-called municipal filter (the need to collect signatures of deputies of local representative bodies of power. - “Kommersant”). “I don’t see any other reasons for building a vertical that bypasses party structures,” says Mr. Mitrofanov. The Communist Party of the Russian Federation does not deny that the vertical structure being built could also be useful in possible gubernatorial elections if the federal authorities nevertheless decide to approve a municipal filter.

Political consultant Nikolai Ivanov believes that the vertical structure being built by the communists can make it possible to effectively take part in the elections of both the governor of the region and municipal authorities. “Probably, the intentions are related to the establishment of strict discipline, party control, the need to guarantee that communist deputies in the future will support the party candidate, and not someone else. In this case, the process can be organized in a more civilized and meaningful way,” the Kommersant expert concluded.

Dina Polina

And this is all the regional committee

And this is all the regional committee