In addition to the fact that in the Yaroslavl region of the SR, CPRF and the Liberal Democratic Party, joined by the New People, plan to participate together in the elections to the City Duma of Yaroslavl, the governor and mayor of Rybinsk, they started talking about the chance of an alliance of the Socialist-Revolutionaries and the Communists in Karelia, where gubernatorial elections will also take place in September 2022.
Pavel Seleznev, professor of the Department of Political Science at the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, suggested that alliances might emerge in elections to other regional parliaments. “Sergei Mironov is reportedly in talks with the leaders of non-parliamentary parties about uniting with A Just Russia. As a result of these negotiations, there may be associations within the factions,” Seleznev said and suggested that A Just Russia is considered as a basis for creating a strong opposition party to participate in the next presidential and State Duma elections, and representatives of other parties may be included in its composition. Naturally, we are not talking about the radicalization of the SR: all of its opposition, as now, will not go beyond the limits set by the federal center.
The crisis within the Communist Party of the Russian Federation and the Liberal Democratic Party, according to the expert, will contribute to the strengthening of the Socialist-Revolutionaries. “Gennady Andreevich is nearing the end of his political career, with all the great respect and love of the electorate, time objectively takes its toll. Plus, the state of Vladimir Volfovich exacerbated questions about the successor and the fate of the party in general, because it was created by Zhirinovsky, exists around him, and Telegram channels already write that the active part of the party members can join A Just Russia. In the LDPR, in general, everything is tied to Zhirinovsky, and what fate awaits her if he retires, how long will she last? Naturally, now is the time to consider new alliances. Politics is different in that it is always situational, there are no absolute values in it, yesterday’s enemies can become friends today,” the expert says.
Seleznev added that such a kind of reformatting should be the government’s response to the voters’ fatigue from the existing parties and their leaders.
Secretary of the Presidium of the Central Council of the Slovak Republic for Political Affairs, State Duma Deputy Dmitry Gusev, at the request of the Club of Regions to comment on the possibility of alliances with other parties, said: “We are ready to nominate our candidates so that they are supported by the communists. As for Karelia and other regions, it is too early to talk about it. Alliances are possible, but I am not commenting on the details yet.”
Political scientist Alexander Kynev sees no reason for a large-scale unification of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation with the Right Russians, in his opinion, the Communist Party itself now “feels pretty good.”
As for the nomination of single candidates in the gubernatorial elections, a strategy that is correct in theory is rarely implemented in practice, he noted. “Any candidate, if he is not determined to play giveaway, seeks to expand the field of his support. Another question is that over the past few years the number of people who wanted to seriously fight for the post of governor was small, most of the candidates, understanding the reality, rather participated than fought,” Kynev said. Real campaigns of opposition, according to the political scientist, were after the return of direct elections of governors, but in the last seven years such examples can be counted on one hand, the political scientist attributed the 2015 gubernatorial elections in the Irkutsk region to them, where the candidate of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Sergey Levchenko won, and held in In the same year, the election of the head of Mari El, the main opponent was also the communist Sergei Mamaev, and the current leader, Leonid Markelov, narrowly escaped the second round. But in the disastrous gubernatorial elections for United Russia in the Khabarovsk Territory, Khakassia and the Vladimir Region in 2018. the candidates from the Liberal Democratic Party and the Communist Party of the Russian Federation that won in the end took a passive position, the source of the Club of Regions recalled.
