Portray the opposition on a leash. “New people” are becoming the new “second place party”, but for now they are afraid of it

“New people” are becoming the new “second place party”, but for now they are afraid of it

There are four months left before the State Duma elections; the election campaign is now in full swing. The surprise of this campaign was the “New People” and their extraordinary popularity. According to all surveys of various sociological services, they confidently occupy second place after the ruling United Russia, and in polls on social networks they sometimes surpass it. This party, artificially created in 2020 by the Kremlin to renew the stagnant party roster, has become unprecedentedly popular due to its careful fight against restrictions and blockages.

But the party itself perceives this increased political demand with caution - and is preparing to deliberately bring down its own ratings through silence and a failed campaign. “OGE” recalls the history of the emergence of the party and describes the mood prevailing there now.

“Victoria Bonya will head the party list of “New People” in the State Duma elections,” the “news” with this headline was published by the satirical website “Panorama”. An interlocutor of Novaya Gazeta Europe, close to the leadership of New People, assured that his party has no contact with Bonya. But all the same: this is an example of that “Panorama” joke, which may well come true .

Boni’s appeal to Vladimir Putin as a “good tsar” who has the power to return normalcy to the lives of Russians is playing on the same field where the “New People” have already firmly established themselves. The field is promising: the youngest parliamentary party confidently ranks second in all polls. However, the party itself is afraid of this role, New People told Novaya Gazeta Europe.

The New People party was registered in 2020; from the very beginning it was written about as a project of the presidential administration, designed to accumulate a protest, liberal electorate against the backdrop of the obvious degradation of the old parliamentary structures.

The party was created by 59-year-old Alexey Nechaev, at that time a member of the All-Russian Popular Front. Nechaev owns a large business. He controls Faberlic, which has a network of hundreds of thousands of cosmetics distributors. Vladislav Davankov, who ran for president from the New People in 2024 and took third place (albeit with a result of 3.85%), is a former vice president of Faberlic. Business connections with hundreds of thousands of voters have become a good help for the formation of party infrastructure.

— Alexey treats Faber very kindly and tenderly. The Faberlik network is a separate structure that is sometimes mobilized for voting in elections and campaigning. Rarely and gently: like asking to tell friends about the game. And it’s even less common for candidates to be promoted from there to municipalities, but not higher,” says a source close to the party leadership .

Several interlocutors of Novaya Gazeta Europe immediately noted that the very appearance of “New People” was Nechaev’s personal project and initiative. One of them, also close to the party leadership , noted that Nechaev had always been an “active dreamer.” He himself has known Nechaev since the 90s, when he was a Tolkienist and “attended hobbit games.”

— One of Nechaev’s first businesses was publishing. Among other things, he was [one of the first] to publish “The Chronicles of Narnia” in Russia ( at least, this is what the politician himself claims . - Ed. ). He always wanted to have a beneficial influence on historical processes and go down in history. He is also a fan of the Strugatskys, and accordingly, he considers himself a progressor. A progressive is a person who knows that he cannot change the whole world, but can change it a little bit where people are ready,” says the interlocutor.

It is also worth noting that in the fantastic universe of the “World of Noon” by the Strugatsky brothers, the progressors are representatives of a highly developed earthly race who infiltrate backward alien societies and indirectly give them their preferred vector of development.

In the ranks of the “New People”, except for Nechaev, there are practically no bright names. The exception is the ex-mayor of Yakutsk Sardana Avksentyeva, known for her spectacular populist moves in this post, for example, the sale of a fleet of SUVs to the mayor's office in favor of the city budget. However, in 2021, the party entered the State Duma with 5.32%, just above the passing line.

This, however, was enough to break the alignment that had existed in the lower house since 2007. For 14 years, only United Russia, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, the Liberal Democratic Party and A Just Russia met there.

In the Duma, “New People” promote the agenda of small and medium-sized businesses, respond to current problems related to mortgages , import substitution , migration and the Unified State Exam . At the same time, most of their high-profile initiatives do not end in anything, notes the interlocutor of New Europe, who is involved in GR projects in the State Duma. This is especially true of their recent “liberal” proposals, for example, anti-sexist initiatives, demands to introduce special punishments for torture, or attempts to achieve the lifting of blocking that began during the time of restrictions on Instagram. All this is just needed to “let off steam,” the interlocutor is sure.

He notes that the New People, of course, never opposed the war: “They don’t play Schlosberg.” However, the party concentrates on this topic much less than other parliamentary parties, so that they manage to look like the least pro-war force among them.

An interlocutor associated with one of the parliamentary parties notes that the initiatives of the “New People” get into the Russian media more often and more easily than similar ones from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, the Liberal Democratic Party and A Just Russia, which, in his opinion, speaks of the party’s patrons in the highest echelons of power. At the same time, the interlocutor agrees that the “New People” are more modern than the rest of the Russian Duma opposition.

— In the old parties there are many people from the past, boring and straightforward populists. The initiatives of the “New People” often cause a mixture of confusion and smiles. Whether it be allowing flight attendants to walk without heels or banning acts with animals in circuses. I like their style, people are trying: they Jesuitically portray the moderate opposition right on the leash of the presidential administration,” the interlocutor formulates.

“New People” is a party that has been minimally noted in the recent wave of prohibition. On the topic of slowing down Telegram, the party took a very moderate position: they say that the messenger beloved by Russians should not be blocked, but should be convinced to cooperate with Russian regulatory authorities. And even this, in the grand scheme of things, worked great.

Already at the start of the election campaign to the State Duma , they began to talk about “New People” as the second most popular party, including official polls by FOM and VTsIOM.

In a VTsIOM poll dated April 24, 2026, the level of support for United Russia was 27.7%, New People received 13.4%, confidently ahead of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation. The speakers we interviewed give different explanations for this popularity.

— They accumulate a protest electorate. In addition, New People has one of the most effective propaganda machines on the Internet. They are protected by the internal political bloc [of the presidential administration], which is allergic to communists. Apparently, this is where the rumors come from that they will be pumped up to the level of a party in second place,” says a political consultant , ex-editor of a large political telegram channel.

A political strategist who works with legal opposition projects in Russia does not rule out that, as a result, “New People” may be retained in this second place for a long time. But at the same time, he is sure that this is a constructed popularity that has nothing in common with the real one.

— A year ago, wanting to greatly weaken the communists, who still do not have complete trust for historical reasons, the presidential administration tried to make the LDPR the second party. Then they decided that it would be “New People”. The official ratings of VTsIOM and FOM should be treated as a reflection of the Kremlin’s plans, he believes.

The interlocutor of Novaya Gazeta Europe, working with United Russia , agrees with this thesis. In his opinion, the presidential administration sees in the New People a “protection against a systemic crisis” and will coordinate their election campaign - this does not happen with all systemic opposition parties.

“Of them they create “His Majesty’s loyal opposition” ( that’s what the official opposition in Britain is called. - Ed. ), he formulates.

Interlocutors in “New People” are also confident that the results of official opinion polls were staged.

“This is necessary to suppress and intimidate the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, so that they do not overly believe in themselves,” a source close to the party leadership is confident.

At the same time, the party is partly confident in its real popularity. As proof of this, the interlocutor cites the results of surveys in political telegram channels of various spectrums. In some of them, the party even comes out on top.

At the same time, victory in the State Duma elections is a nightmare for the “New People,” party representatives admit in a conversation with OGE.

“The party is now committed to a “non-electoral campaign.” We will fight non-existent problems and suffer from nonsense. We are unlikely to propose excessively “popular” and “opposition” initiatives, so as not to increase excessive popularity, admits an interlocutor close to the party leadership.

But whether this will help “bring down” her rating is an open question. Even if the party suddenly goes into “radio silence mode,” it can still attract votes dissatisfied with the bans and blockings. The party perceives this situation with alarm, the interlocutor says: the excessive popularity of the “New People” was not included in the plans of the presidential administration.

A second interlocutor close to the leadership of New People says that the leaders of the old Duma opposition - Gennady Zyuganov, Leonid Slutsky and Sergei Mironov - regularly complain about the newcomers to Putin and the presidential administration, and this creates serious pressure.

“Our campaign is now, of course, much more careful, because our every step is under fire.

If earlier we could calmly flirt with some kind of free agenda, now we need to think a hundred times. God forbid, somewhere something will be interpreted as crossing the red lines,” says the source.

According to him, the vote count after the Duma elections will be a test for the “New People”.

— It will be difficult to maintain [our] good results. In addition to regular voting, there is also remote electronic voting ( infamous for how it changes the results in favor of those in power. - Ed. ). Some governors will want to adjust the results. Especially in regions such as the North Caucasus, Kuzbass, Moscow - there they will, of course, do what they want, increase the votes of United Russia. This could lead to powerful intra-elite conflicts after the elections, he suggests.

However, there are suspicions that the party will not seriously fight for its votes. After the 2024 presidential elections, there were allegations that the result of the “New People” was underestimated, and Vladislav Davankov, for whom part of the opposition campaigned as the least pro-war candidate, actually took second, not third place. But neither Davankov nor the party itself then began to challenge the election results in any way.