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gazeta.ru
March 21, 2002
Centrists Seek to Unseat Red Speaker
By Svetlana Nesterova, Natalia Nemtseva
Pro-Kremlin centrist majority in the Russian lower house has launched a large-scale ruthless campaign in an attempt to oust the State Duma speaker of many years Gennady Seleznyov. After 245 lawmakers voted in favour of stripping the chairman of his deciding vote on the house governing body – the Duma Council – it suddenly occurred to the centrist leaders that their effort to unseat him would not fail.
The State Duma voted on Wednesday, March 20, to deprive its speaker Gennady Seleznyov of his deciding vote in the Duma Council. The resolution was supported by 245 deputies, which was more than the necessary 226, with 159 voting against it and two members of the lower house abstaining. Duma Council is the chamber’s governing body, comprising all faction leaders and the house chairman. The Council defines plenary sessions’ agendas and reviews all draft bills before they are discussed in the parliament.
The pro-Kremlin majority has long since been unhappy that the Communists actually have the advantage in the Council. Two seats in that body belong to the Communists – Seleznyov and Zyuganov, notwithstanding the fact that their faction no longer prevails.
Media described what had happened in the lower house on Wednesday as a minor palace coup. Gennady Seleznyov did not stay till the end of the session whereat his fate was being decided. He had to leave for a scheduled trip to Spain.
Addressing the house before leaving the conference-hall Gennady Seleznyov said the Duma decision violated Article 101 of Russian Constitution, which provides that the Duma’s chairman is in charge of chamber’s internal procedures. He also pointed out to the fact that throughout his career as a speaker he had used his deciding vote only twice.
Sergei Ivanenko, a deputy of the liberal Yabloko faction, agreed with the speaker. He criticized the move as being "devoid of any practical sense" because 90 percent of the council's decisions are made by consensus without voting. He also said the campaign was the "third stage of an offensive by the centrist deputies intended to destroy the package agreement reached two years ago on distributing leading posts in the chamber."
Indeed, the initiative to strip Seleznyov of deciding vote on the Duma Council belongs to the pro-Kremlin centrist majority, primarily the freshly formed union of Unity and Fatherland All Russia.
“We believe that the majority of the Duma will support our initiative. The balance of forces in the Duma Council must correspond with the balance of political forces in the Duma itself. If the centrists dominate the Duma, they should also dominate the Council,” chairman of the Duma committee for house regulations Oleg Kovalyov, one of the authors of the initiative, explained before the voting.
After the speaker left the lawmakers put forward another daring initiative and suggested that a special resolution be drawn on dismissal of Seleznyov from his post. The initiative received approval of 247 centrists. 127 voted against and 1 abstained.
In this connection, it is noteworthy that Gennady Seleznyov has always had strong support of the Communists and their allies – the Agrarian party, yet, on Wednesday namely a careless emotional appeal of a leftist lawmaker played a dirty trick on the speaker.
In the heat of the squabble that began in the house after the deputies robbed the speaker of his deciding vote the indignant leader of the Agrarian group Nikolai Kharitonov bitterly suggested that the house call for a vote of confidence to the speaker. Of course, Kharitonov did not seriously mean what he offered, but his attempt to carry the discussion to the point of absurdity failed: some of the lawmakers enthusiastically backed the proposal, including the flamboyant “liberal-democrat” Vladimir Zhirinovsky, the SPS deputy Boris Nadezhdin and the chairman of the committee for house regulations Oleg Kovalyov.
LDPR leader, known for his straightforwardness, openly offered Seleznyov to leave the speaker’s post without hesitation. “Speaker must represent the majority, which means he must represent the centrists!” claimed Zhirinovsky who quite often has many things on his tongue that the Kremlin has in mind.
Oleg Kovalyov praised Zhirinovsky for a “sensible suggestion”. During a break the two deputies prepared an order instructing the regulations committee to draft a resolution on Seleznyov’s dismissal. The resolution received approval of the majority.
In the opinion of the Duma deputy speaker Lyubov Sliska, Kharitonov’s initiative on calling for a vote of no confidence to the speaker is somewhat premature. In an interview to the Ekho Moskvy radio station she also reminded that Seleznyov was allowed to keep the speaker’s after the 1999 parliamentary elections in accordance with the above mentioned package agreement between the Communists and the Unity. Under that agreement Seleznyov retained his post, whereas the posts in the key house committees were distributed among Unity and the Communists. That agreement was a mistake and, probably, the time has come to correct it, holds the vice speaker. However, according to Lyubov Sliska, as yet Seleznyov’s opponents have failed to present any serious charges on the basis of which he could be dismissed from his post.
Members of the Union of the Rightist Forces (SPS) consider the speaker’s fate pre-determined and conjecture about the new candidacy. For instance, the SPS deputy Boris Nadezhdin assumes that in theory the post may be occupied by any sane and reasonable person. “It does not take a genius to push buttons on time and give floor to deputies,” the lawmaker told Gazeta.Ru correspondent. “Owing to political reasons the speaker must not be a Communist,” holds Nadezhdin. According to the deputy, to ensure normal functioning of the house persons like Zhirinovsky should not hold the seat either.
Given the strong pro-Kremlin majority in the State Duma it will not be very difficult to oust the speaker. Under the Article 8 of the Duma regulations the decision to relieve the house chairman of his duties must be approved by the majority – 226 votes. Now, the committee for house regulations is to draw the resolution on relieving Gennady Seleznyov of his post of the Duma chairman. At first the draft is to be reviewed by the Duma council, whereupon it will be discussed in the house. This is not likely to happen before March 30.
Gennady Seleznyov is expected to return from Spain on March 23.
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