Russian ruling party confirms Duma election candidates

(RIA Novosti – June 27, 2016)

A United Russia congress on 27 June approved the ruling party’s candidates and manifesto for the State Duma election in September, Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reported.

Lists of candidates

Half of the 450 seats in the new Duma will be elected by proportional representation and the other half by a majority vote system.

The congress voted to confirm the “federal party list”, with the Russian prime minister and United Russia chairman, Dmitry Medvedev, the only candidate on it, as well as 36 regional lists of candidates. Medvedev and many other candidates topping United Russia’s lists will act as figureheads, or what is known in Russian politics as “steam engines”, and are not expected to take up their seats.

The congress also approved 207 candidates for single-seat constituencies. United Russia will not be fielding candidates in the other 18 of the country’s 225 constituencies. Medvedev suggested that this was being done in order to help other parties to be better represented.

Preliminary vote results taken into account

Most of the candidates approved at the congress were selected from among the hopefuls who performed well in the United Russia “primaries” on 22 May.

However, 28 candidates, according to RIA Novosti, did not stand in the preliminary vote. Among them are 19 regional leaders, including Chechnya’s Ramzan Kadyrov, deputy presidential chief of staff Vyacheslav Volodin, Russian Airborne Troops commander Vladimir Shamanov and Crimean “prosecutor” Natalya Poklonskaya.

Putin and Medvedev speak

Both President Vladimir Putin and Medvedev addressed the congress.

In his speech, Putin criticised “attempts to capitalise on current difficulties” (er.ru/news/143673). He said he welcomed criticism, but warned against “lies and distortion of facts, outright betrayal of the country’s interests, [and] empty promises.” The latter, he said, were being made by forces trying to “destabilise the situation, split society and come to power at all costs.”

Medvedev also rejected what he called “populist proposals” (er.ru/news/143680). They would “inevitably lead to a spike in inflation, which would in turn devalue pensions and benefits”, he said. He also touched on the party’s manifesto, saying that the Russian authorities would continue with their “social programmes” and would invest in key areas such as healthcare and education.

Pundit reaction

Pundit Konstantin Kalachev has said that the Kremlin sees the State Duma elections as a rehearsal for the 2018 presidential poll, in which Putin is widely expected to seek re-election. In remarks published in the Vedomosti newspaper, he highlighted the fact that Volodin is among the top United Russia candidates, even though he is not expected to enter parliament. “Volodin is the author of the political reform that is under way. Putin has instructed him to test not just United Russia, but the system in general,” Kalachev said (bit.ly/296K5hy).

Another pundit, Alexei Chadayev, told Vedomosti that the list of United Russia candidates “generally” reflected the results of the party’s primaries. He noted that, for example, Vladimir Pligin, the chairman of the Duma constitutional law committee, who had “lost” the primaries, was given only fifth place on the St Petersburg list, which did not guarantee him a seat. Vedomosti said that Viktor Kidyayev, deputy secretary of the United Russia General Council, was in a similar position, while the State Duma international affairs committee chairman, Alexei Pushkov, did not make the list at all following a poor result in his primaries.