Medvedev is ready to join United Russia

President Dmitry Medvedev is ready to lead the ruling "United Russia" instead of Vladimir Putin, as well as join the party if it was elected by the chairman. “If such a proposal is to lead the party - I will come to me, and the current chairman voiced it, I will not refuse him. And yet: I think that any party leader should be in it,” Medvedev said in an interview with five Russian television channels.

On April 24, Vladimir Putin announced his intention to leave the post of chairman of United Russia, proposing to hold a congress in the second half of May in order to decide on the new chairman. Dmitry Medvedev put forward this post to this post. "We have such a practice that the president is a superstitial figure. The Constitution does not prohibit the president of being a member of any party, but in the spirit of what we have in political life, nevertheless, the president is, first of all, a consolidating figure for all the country's political forces. In this regard, dear friends and colleagues, after the inauguration, which should take place on May 7 of this year, I consider it right for myself. Fold the powers of the chairman of United Russia, ”Putin said at a meeting with the party leadership.

“I propose to convene an extraordinary congress in the second half of May of this year; and due to the fact that Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev headed the United Russia list in the State Duma elections and due to the fact that, as you know, I will offer his candidacy as the chairman of the government, I would consider it right if he and the party headed, this is a global practice,” Putin said.

In February, Izvestia reported that the leadership of United Russia began a discussion of the future party in power, after the elections a "full rebranding" could be held. “It seems that the United Russia brand is bent. Therefore, now they have been talking about changes very seriously,” said one of the sources of the publication. As the newspaper noted, so far the topic of possible changes has been raised only at the level of discussion party clubs. Higher leadership did not give such discussions. So, in January, the deputy secretary of the Presidium of the Secretary General of the party, Yuri Shuvalov, spoke about the division of the faction in the State Duma into three parts - liberal, social and patriotic. However, then the leadership did not approve of the idea.

Now several options for further actions are being considered - from relatively moderate to the most cardinal, the party claims. A scenario is possible in which United Russia will change the name and some leaders, but the party will remain monolithic. The presence of such an option was confirmed by the sociologist and member of the party Olga Krystanovskaya. "Rebranding will certainly be. We must carry out work on errors, develop a clear ideology, and the leader should also appear. We must get out of this state of Kisel, when neither Putin, nor Medvedev, nor Gryzlovskaya," Krystanovskaya said. She suggests choosing the leader of the new head of the faction in the State Duma Andrei Vorobyov.

The option of formal preservation of the party and dividing into ideological factions in the State Duma is also relevant, said Yuri Shuvalov. "This issue can be resolved in the fall. So far, the topic is at the stage of understanding the whole party," he said.

In addition, the option of eliminating United Russia and the creation of several new political forces in its place is considered, a source in the party said on the basis of anonymity. "The option with the creation of new parties is being discussed. They could appear on the principle of our clubs - liberal, social and patriotic. Another possible base - the Popular Front, it can also be used for a new party," the source said.

The first deputy secretary of the Presidium of the United Russia General Council, Sergei Zheleznyak, denied information about the reform and possible collapse of the party after the elections, RIA Novosti reports. According to Zheleznyak, such initiatives were not discussed at the level of leading bodies. "Everyone can express their opinion, but this does not mean that it reflects the position of the majority," the politician concluded.

In turn, Andrei Vorobyov denied rumors about the possible collapse of the party and the supposedly reigning decadent moods in it. According to him, "the party program, and the plan, and the personnel reserve are in a very good tone, and the rating has a stable growth trend." At the same time, Vorobyov noted that the party sets the task not to stand still. “Otherwise, you are lagging behind, and this cannot be allowed in no case,” he explained. Therefore, for the sake of strengthening its positions, the party can go to "some kind of rebranding", find "some new methods, new methods of political work."

After the elections to the State Duma, Vorobyov stated that the Rrucumberry of United Russia intends to ask President Dmitry Medvedev in the near future, "whether he is ready to head the party." “At the first opportunity, we will try to ask and ask and be sure to say and make clarity to this question,” he said. The head of the presidential administration, Sergei Naryshkin, on the election day, said that Medvedev could lead United Russia after the presidential election. “I can only confirm what I spoke about a month and a half ago at a press conference after the first stage of the United Russia congress. I want to repeat my assumption that Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev a few months later as a result of the entire elected cycle, obviously, can lead the party,” he said.