Translated material
Oksana Dmitrieva wrote a statement about leaving A Just Russia
State Duma deputy Oksana Dmitrieva wrote a statement about her withdrawal from the Just Russia party.
Explaining her decision, Dmitrieva said that A Just Russia "has ceased to be a constructive opposition party, cannot defend the rights of citizens and is not able to justify the hopes of voters."
State Duma deputies Natalya Petukhova and Dmitry Ushakov left the Just Russia together with Dmitrieva, the reported . St. Petersburg Business News Agency
“We continue to work in the State Duma as non-partisans,” Dmitrieva stressed.
Oksana Dmitrieva also announced that she intends to create her own party. The founding congress of the party, which, according to Dmitrieva, will be called the "Party of Professionals", will be held in Moscow on May 16. With the new party, Dmitrieva said, she plans to participate in the elections to the State Duma in 2016.
“We want to inform you that today, as expected, we wrote a statement about our withdrawal from A Just Russia of our own free will, since there was no exception. It follows from this that the party did not find objective grounds for expulsion,” the deputy said.
- In early March, the Presidium of the central council of A Just Russia early removed Dmitrieva from the post of head of the St. Petersburg regional branch of the party. Dmitrieva then stated that she did not agree with this decision, since the presidium did not meet, and the voting took place by telephone poll.
- Oksana Dmitrieva ran for governor of St. Petersburg in 2014, but was unable to collect the required number of signatures from municipal deputies to register her candidacy.
- In the elections to the State Duma in December 2011, A Just Russia won 23.7% of the vote in St. Petersburg (the national average was 13.24%). And in the elections to the Legislative Assembly, the party scored 23.08%, taking second place after United Russia.
- The St. Petersburg branch of A Just Russia instead of Oksana Dmitrieva was headed by Oleg Nilov.