Navalny’s status as undisputed leader of Russian opposition questioned

(Interfax – Moscow, September 18, 2013) The apparent fact that Aleksey Navalnyy is popular in Moscow does not make him the sole leader of the opposition in the country, believes Boris Nemtsov, co-chairman of RPR-Parnas.

“It is an apparent fact that Aleksey Navalnyy is the leader of the opposition in Moscow. However, it is too early to say whether or not he can lead the opposition movement in the entire country,” Nemtsov told Interfax on Wednesday (18 September).

He recalled that at the next election to the Moscow city duma, which is due to be held in 2014, RPR-Parnas will unite with the People’s Alliance party and the 5 December Party in order to field a single list of candidates with them.

At the same time, Nemtsov does not believe that the opposition Coordination Council has lost its viability and currency.

“The opposition Coordination Council is the right idea. Even though everybody is berating it, nothing better has been invented so far,” he said.

However, he has not yet decided whether or not he will stand for re-election to the opposition Coordination Council. “I will decide on my participation in the election following a council meeting,” Nemtsov said.

Former State Duma member Gennadiy Gudkov told Interfax earlier that he does not consider the work of the opposition Coordination Council to be very effective, but believes that it should be “switched to a different format”, rather than disbanded.

“I do not think that a coordinating body should be formed through an online election mechanism. This should probably be done by some other method. It should not be given some special role of a ‘shadow parliament’. The Coordinating Council cannot be a ‘shadow parliament’, but should become some kind of genuinely deliberative body – no more than that,” Gudkov stressed.

He said that, even though Aleksey Navalnyy has become leader of the Russian opposition, he cannot coordinate all its activities single-handedly.

“Of course, Navalnyy has since then become leader of the opposition. However, if he supplants some body, this would be quite wrong. I think that the opposition palette is much broader, so there will still need to be some coordination of efforts. We recognize Navalnyy’s outstanding role, but I do not think that the entire opposition ends with him,” Gudkov said.

There have been media reports that the opposition Coordination Council, whose term ends in October, will effectively cease to exist because the most prominent representatives of the opposition are refusing to take part in the election to that body.

[featured image is file photo from past political demonstration]