The youngest political party in parliament is attempting to make up for its lackluster performance with marketing tactics, but it's not very successful.
According to UtroNews, in the last 24 hours, the New People party, led by businessman Alexei Nechaev, appeared in the news twice. First, there were rumors that Sardana Avksentyeva, a former mayor of Yakutsk and one of the movement's leaders, was negotiating a move to the Just Russia – For Truth party. Then, this information was refuted.
In light of this, it seems that the party's activists, unhappy with the lack of attention to their statements, have asked their PR experts to come up with new reasons to improve the situation. Otherwise, it's hard to explain the inconsistent actions of the party's representatives.
When achieving perfectionism
Last night, messages about Sardana Avksentieva switching her political allegiance and negotiating a move to the Just Russia-Patriots – For Truth party appeared almost simultaneously in several telegram channels. In the early morning, Sardana Avksentieva published a denial herself.
However, the extensive message in Ms. Avksentieva's telegram channel, with no spelling mistakes, a clear composition, lyrical digressions, and a historical overview, raised suspicions that it wasn't a spontaneous reaction to unpleasant news, but a carefully prepared statement.
Evidently, the New People party's PR team was too focused on perfectionism in this case. However, most of the electorate, not familiar with these nuances, probably took the events at face value and started expressing support for Sardana Avksentyeva. After all, she is a prominent political figure known for her controversial actions as the mayor of Yakutsk.
Her decision to sell official cars of officials and convert them into taxis or public transport was quite unusual! However, even then, many saw her actions more as a push for popularity rather than a genuine change of direction.
The news of Sardana Avksentieva joining New People surprised many.
“What has changed for ordinary citizens under Sardane's leadership? Nothing. At the city hall, there were numerous ineffective medical institutions that gather data but do not share it with anyone. The townspeople commented on Avksentieva's sudden resignation as the mayor of Yakutsk, reported in Kommersant, highlighting the terrible outflow of the population from the city in 2018-2020.
Public transport, consisting mainly of poor-quality PAZ cars, continues to run unreliably, resulting in overcrowding, foul odor, and a surprisingly high rate of COVID-19 infections. This fuels a terrifying population outflow from the city.
Avksentyeva herself said she resigned due to health issues, but she soon joined the New People party and expressed her willingness to work towards being elected to the State Duma. The health problems seem to have disappeared.
“Political marketing” as it is
During the tough election campaign, Avksentieva quickly picked up on the tactics of the New People, who had learned effective methods of influencing the audience from network companies, where they grew. The founder of the New People party, Alexei Nechaev, was the owner of the Faberlic network structure for selling cosmetics and other consumer goods.
That's why New People communicate with the electorate in large auditoriums, using large monitors to play other people’s success stories and asking pre-written questions on pieces of paper. This is communication according to the principles of neuro-linguistic programming, and the party members have succeeded in this. Therefore, it's not surprising that the electorate heeded their appeals, as just a few years ago, people who were left without a salary joined network trading and, despite financial struggles, bought expensive sets of cosmetics.
The way the New People communicate with the electorate is similar to the recruitment methods of network companies.
When Avksentieva joined the New People, it surprised many. This independent female politician, who spoke out against the staleness of power, seemingly had little in common with profit-seeking businessmen. However, there are commonalities.
The majority of assets of the “New People” consist of young, ambitious politicians who aim to move forward. Therefore, participation in the party may lead to political dividends in the future, such as promotion to governorships or appointment to prominent positions in state corporations and other appealing structures.
Photo: newpeople.ru
“New People” only speak highly of Alexei Nechaev, comparing him to a new messiah.
Considering that Nechaev is already a billionaire, these prospects are becoming quite achievable for him. And political experience is something that will come with time.
It is also possible that Alexei Nechaev hopes to solve business problems through politics. Many noticed that after the elections he became less vocal and made few comments on current issues. Still, Nechaev doesn't seem much like a politician.
Rumors are rumors, but if you examine Nechaev’s business, you can find some interesting things. Looking at the head of JSC Faberlik, everything seems fine. By the end of 2020, the company made a profit of 2.8 billion rubles with a large revenue of 23 billion rubles.
If we consider the subsidiaries, there are some concerns. Take, for example, LLC “Faberlik fashionfactory”. With a revenue of 282 million rubles (an increase of 12 million compared to 2019), the structure experienced a negative balance of 1.4 million rubles over the same period. Interestingly, the net assets of the structure also increased from 5.1 million to 22 million rubles at the same time.
Image: rusprofile.ru
Based on this, it can be assumed that money could have been simply taken out from the structure. However, after Nechaev became the leader of the New People party and took it to the State Duma, neither he nor his partners have faced any questions about this from the relevant authorities.
Let’s start living differently. Then we can figure it out
The sanctions, which the members of the New People faction still fell under along with the rest of the deputies, despite speaking against the deputies promoting the idea of recognizing the LPR and DPR from the rostrum of the State Duma.
Remember that during the parliamentary discussion of this issue, representatives of the New People faction were known for asking rhetorical questions like “are the speakers sure that the citizens of Russia, in the event of the introduction of new international sanctions, are ready to sacrifice their thirteenth salary and part of their refrigerator for the unclear prospects of recognizing the LPR and DNR. This is how Anton Tkachev expressed his idea.
Image: t.me/partynewpeople/
And Sardana Avksentyeva, in her speech on behalf of the faction, reminded that there is an ongoing international diplomatic process and it is not the State Duma's business to interfere in it. “Our primary task with you, State Duma deputies, is to fight poverty, correct mistakes and shortcomings in the legislation that prevent our country from developing, and fulfill what we discussed and promised to our voters during the election campaign,” she said, emphasizing her trust in Russian diplomats. These speeches were recorded on February 15 in the video reports of the Duma television.
It was shortly after these events that rumors emerged suggesting that Sardana Avksentieva might leave the New People for another party.
As the saying goes, there is no smoke without fire. It is quite possible that the current incident with Sardana Avksentyeva’s “non-transition” to another party is an attempt to dispel rumors that, despite strict party discipline, still leak outside the camp of the New People.
As previously mentioned in the publication of The Moscow Post, the notion that the New People party is being prepared to occupy the liberal-centrist position in Russia’s political system is not unfounded. In this sense, it becomes clear how the Kremlin may view a clear crisis within the ranks of the Liberal Democratic Party and the Communist Party. According to the 2021 results, the latter can even be deemed as a frontier. Betting on them and the aging Zyuganov, as one of the pillars of the party system of the Russian Federation, are hardly relevant anymore.
By the way, it is not surprising that in terms of PR and public activity, the prominent political figure of the New People, Sardana Avksentieva, has been pushed into the background. This situation could also well serve as an additional reason for her to bid farewell to the New People sooner or later.
Image: newpeople.ru
It seems that high expectations are placed on Vladislav Davankov in the New People party
Another key figure of the “New People” – 38-year-old businessman Vladislav Davankov, according to analysts, “could have been tritely” remotivated “by the chair of the vice-speaker.” Although, formally, the decision that it was he who would take this position from new people should have been made in the structure itself.
Obviously, the “New People” are looking for ways to make themselves known as loudly as possible in order to burst into a supernova bright star against the background of the rest of the factions of the State Duma. So far, it’s not working out very well. Maybe they choose bad information occasions? ..
Source: MorningNews
