In society

Vladimir Zhirinovsky died

April 6, 2022 Alexey Makarkin

Vladimir Zhirinovsky was a politician who combined the qualities of a public politician who for three decades effectively used the media resource, and a party organizer who created a powerful electoral machine. It included both regional structures and financial support thanks to the built relations with sponsors (with the punctual party to the party of their obligations to them, which does not always happen in politics), and successful interaction with the state power (Zhirinovsky, the only party to the Parliamentary opposition party, the full cavalier of the Order for Merit to the Fatherland; he received the first year last year). It is clear that he does not and cannot be adequate in the LDPR.

At the same time, the party in the current situation is an attractive asset. Last year alone, Zhirinovsky last spent her to the Duma for the last time - now she has a parliamentary faction until 2026. The LDPR is the third party brand in the “promotion” after the “United Russia” and the Communist Party in the conditions of a limited number of such brands (“Fair Russia” is inferior in degree of fame, the “new people” are only promoted, the “Yabloko” has undergone strong wear, the rest of the parties are little -known). The mass of fractions in regional zaks. And his voter-and if in the 1990s it was a bewildered and disoriented Soviet man, then starting with the “well-fed” zero Zhirinovsky received support for a considerable part of the new “small bourgeois” who do not like officials, did not want to return to equalizing socialism, but among which are sovereign moods.

It is clear that Zhirinovsky gave the LDPR a powerful impulse for functioning and inertia can hold the party afloat in the medium -term period. Although the problem of the intra -party struggle may arise: under Zhirinovsky, it was unthinkable to dispute his opinion in the party (internal oppositionists were finally replaced during the work of the first Duma), but now this rule has lost its relevance. And any next leader can become a contested figure.

Author - political scientist, deputy director of the Center for Political Technology

Photo: kremlin.ru