#6405
#11 - JRL 6404
Gazeta
No. 145
August 2002
WHO WILL HEAD PUTIN'S ELECTION HEADQUARTERS?
By Olga REDICHKINA
According to the Gazeta data, despite the fact that there are still 18 months left before the elections, the presidential administration has already stopped the activities of one of the public headquarters aimed at nominating Vladimir Putin for the presidency for the second term. As a Kremlin source told the Gazeta, only the administration itself could be the headquarters, "no other version is possible." The headquarters will be headed by someone who will prove his worth at the Duma elections, that is, ensure the "party of power", i.e., United Russia's, victory. The fight for this post will start in September, and Vladimir Surkov, deputy chief of the Kremlin administration, may part with his "monopoly" for the leadership of the pro-Kremlin party.
In 18 months, United Russia must form a "pro-Putin" Duma. The choice has been made. First, the Kremlin will not be able to give as much money to boost the rating of the Party of Life, or the Raikov-led People's Party, as it gives to United Russia. Second, United Russia does not need a duplicate party: portfolios in the State Duma have been divided and communists demoralised.
There are 18 months left before the elections. Meanwhile, United Russia has actually started its election campaign. At least, its communist rivals claim that it has and ask the Prosecutor-General's office to check whether United Russia violates the law on the parties. However, leaders of other parties and political science experts do not think that active "promotion" of United Russia is a false start. Zhirinovsky said to the Gazeta, for instance, that "it's high time to start the propaganda campaign, otherwise it will be too late." United Russia could also have come late. At the time when the Unity faction was dividing posts in the State Duma, the party's rating was falling catastrophically. According to the VTsIOM data, in April United Russia's rating was 18 percent, while the "persecuted" communists' rating was 35 percent.
Back in February, Vyacheslav Surkov, deputy chief of the presidential administration, sharply criticised the party for a lack of ideas and any intellectual life.
No wonder then that United Russia was the first party to demonstrate miracles of political activity. In Moscow alone, United Russia spends about 220,000 dollars a month on street ads and, according to experts' estimates, the party has already spent from 2 to 10 billion dollars to boost its rating.
In July, United Russia's leaders visited nearly 20 regions of the country checking the process of party development in the provinces. Oleg Morozov, member of the party's general council, is enthusiastic: they don't have enough party membership cards for those wishing to join. According to Franz Klintsevich, another member of the general council, "whole villages are joining United Russia."
As a result of these great efforts, United Russia's rating grew in July to reach the KPRF's (Communist Party of the Russian Federation) rating of 29 percent, according to the data of the All-Russia Public Opinion Research Centre (VTsIOM); meanwhile, the ROMIR agency gives different figures: United Russia - 19 percent, and the KPRF - 17.4 percent.
Surkov should be quite satisfied with the United Russia's efforts. However, such ratings are not enough to form a pro-presidential Duma.
At present, four centrist factions in the Duma have, together with the SPS (Right Forces Union), about 300 votes, i.e., the constitutional majority in the Duma. This gives them an opportunity to adopt major laws, such as the law on the turnover of farm lands for instance, and even constitutional laws (such as amendments and addenda to the laws on the state flag and state emblem, "bypassing" communists.
Vladislav Surkov is that very "hand of the Kremlin" which holds all the strings the centrists are "hanging" on: if the parliament is "nurturing" an unsuitable decision, Surkov's one visit /to the Duma/ may prevent it from being passed. Now, when the portfolios are redivided, the Unity faction and the State Duma are, in a certain sense, one and the same thing.
However, Gazeta sources in Unity claim that the faction is no longer under Surkov's influence.
Who is trying to snatch the levers of power in the Duma from Surkov's hands? There is talk about Igor Sechin, another deputy chief of the president's administration. Both Sechin and Surkov were in Putin's election headquarters before. Surkov became Alexander Voloshin's deputy back under Boris Yeltsin. During the elections, Surkov successfully coordinated political parties' work thus becoming the chief "party ideologist"; he set up the Unity and United Russia parties.
Sechin came to the Kremlin together with Putin from the House of Government, where Sechin headed Putin's apparatus. In the Kremlin Sechin headed Putin's secretariat and had the right to draw up the president's work schedule, as he did in the government.
The names of Surkov and Sechin became associated with two Kremlin groupings.
On the one hand, there were Sechin and St. Petersburg people represented mostly by officials from the power structures (the army, police and law-enforcement agencies) and the former FSB (Federal Security Service) officers. On the other hand, there were Surkov and the remaining members of Voloshin's team. Differences in voting on major draft laws were explained by a confrontation between the "Family" representing Yeltsin's former retinue and the newly-formed Petersburg team. True, the Unity faction did not know how to vote till the last moment of late. As Vyacheslav Nikonov, president of the Politika foundation, told the Gazeta, "a fight is under way now between the old "Family" team and the so-called "power" structures' team: the new generation is seeking to oust the old one all along the line, including the elections." This split is very convenient. It could explain any news coming from the president's administration.
The fight for control over the United Russia party and the Unity faction is, in fact, the fight for the right to head Putin's election headquarters. In the previous elections, Vladimir Putin's headquarters were made up of top members of the president's administration. It followed the principle "our best propaganda is the present president." A participant in the previous election campaign told the Gazeta that "Putin's next campaign will not differ much from the previous one in this sense. When the State Duma election comes closer, the headquarters will be set up to include several members of the president's administration. Those forces in the administration which draw up the president's work schedule and control the "party of power" will have the greatest chance to head the election headquarters."
Back to the Top Next Article
August 15, 2002:
#6404 #6405
- Back to the Top -