At the XXXIV Congress of the Liberal Democratic Party, Leonid Slutsky was unanimously chosen as the new chairman of the party. He solemnly promised to continue Zhirinovsky's work and outlined the future direction of the party.
The Liberal Democrats will stay a reasonable opposition and will defend the Russian World. The party also suggested changing the name to the Zhirinovsky Party or adding the founder's name to the existing name – “LDPR – Zhirinovsky’s Party”, to avoid losing political points. Daily Storm reports on the changes within the party outlined after Slutsky's election as the new leader.
How it all started
The LDPR congress typically occurred early in the morning and was strictly organized. Delegates from across the country came to elect a new party chairman for the first time in over 30 years. The press was only allowed to enter the headquarters of the Liberal Democratic Party in Basmanny Lane after the official proceedings had begun. A group of journalists was taken to the next building, where they settled in one of the small offices of the Institute of World Civilizations.
After an hour of waiting, no permission was given to enter the assembly hall. According to a party representative, these strict conditions were set by the delegates themselves. Before the public part of the event, they wanted to discuss all their “grievances and wishes” without cameras, so no journalists were allowed in until noon. However, the wait lasted almost until one in the afternoon.
At that time, at the meeting that began with a moment of silence in honor of Zhirinovsky, candidates for the chairman position were nominated. Self-nominated Alexander Sherin, who had repeatedly announced his intention to become the new leader of the party, was not supported by anyone. Longtime party member Vitaly Zolochevsky withdrew his candidacy, supporting Slutsky and accusing Sherin of the collapse of the Ryazan branch of the party and financial opacity. After Sherin received no support, he defiantly left the congress. As a result, there was only one candidate on the ballot, nominated by the supreme council of the party – the head of the LDPR faction in the State Duma, Leonid Slutsky.
When the voting began, the command to allow media access was given, and everyone hurried to the assembly hall. The journalists surrounded the ballot box, to which the delegates approached one by one. Before placing a ballot into it, almost every politician showed it to the camera, asserting their right to the secrecy of voting. There was a tick in favor of Slutsky everywhere. One of his most enthusiastic supporters shouted the slogan: “One leader, one party.”
Slutsky was backed not only by the congress delegates, but also by Zhirinovsky's children. Igor Lebedev, who does not live in Russia and changed his name to David Garcia, naturally was not present at the congress. However, two other children – son Oleg Edelstein and daughter Anastasia – spoke from the podium.
Oleg, Zhirinovsky’s son, told the congress delegates that he sees Slutsky as a genuine Russian man, honest and fair. He believes that Slutsky's performance as party chairman will determine his true qualities.
Anastasia also expressed gratitude to Slutsky for effectively and dignifiedly organizing the party's work after Zhirinovsky's passing.
Slutsky is a trendsetter.
At around 13:00 Moscow time, deputy Yaroslav Nilov announced the party's unanimous support for Slutsky's election as chairman. Following this, a video was shown on the big screen featuring Zhirinovsky praising Slutsky in various speeches. Then, the newly elected leader took the floor.
During his speech, he immediately highlighted several important points that will now become the core beliefs of the party. Firstly, the LDPR will remain an oppositional but constructive party.
The new leader outlined the party's position in the political system, stating, “Where we strongly disagree with the country’s leadership, we will express our position. Where we agree, we will embrace it. Because it's about uniting people around common sense. Moreover, we won't blindly follow officials. Instead, they will listen to our arguments, and we will continue to implement our position in the country's best interests.”
Slutsky identified the main tasks of the party at the moment as supporting the Russian military operation in Ukraine, resisting the Bologna education system, and preparing for the upcoming elections. He also mentioned the late Zhirinovsky's vision, which the Liberal Democratic Party aims to realize – the construction of the Russian world and the preservation of Russian culture and language.
He noted that the 40 days of mourning demonstrated the party's ability to come together during difficult times. The unanimous outcome of today's crucial vote for the Liberal Democratic Party is the most evident proof of this.
“No artificial divisions will be tolerated in the Liberal Democratic Party. Therefore, we will provide stronger support to regional branches. They will receive backing from the central apparatus on a weekly and monthly basis. This aligns with the practical line I have been pursuing for quite some time,” assured the elected leader.
Slutsky also mentioned that there are many strong leaders in the Liberal Democratic Party who may not always see eye to eye, but are individually dedicated to the party and speak from their professional perspectives. He is accustomed to surrounding himself with strong individuals, as long as they can unite. An example of this was the party cell in the Rostov region, where he personally resolved internal conflicts shortly before the congress.
According to Slutsky, any conflicts in other regional branches can also be easily resolved. This is why the first three actions within the LDPR will be a briefing, a meeting of the supreme council immediately after the congress, and a meeting of representatives of all regional departments, where important decisions will be made collectively. For instance, they will decide on the transfer of Zhirinovsky’s Duma mandate and the appointment of “locomotives” in the regional party lists. It was previously Zhirinovsky who acted as such a “locomotive”. Hence, many are anticipating Slutsky to continue this practice.
The new leader of the party noticed Sherin's public trick at the congress.
“Maybe if Alexander Nikolaevich Sherin hadn't broken our internal party agreement, we might have taken away Vladimir Volfovich's mandate in the State Duma after 40 days. Maybe he would have received a different number of votes today. But it happened as it did,” Slutsky added meaningfully.
He ended his speech with the slogan “Zhirinovsky forever” to thunderous applause, showing that the memory of the late leader lives on and his name is immortalized in the updated party program.
Liberal Democratic Party or Zhirinovsky’s Party?
As reported by the Daily Storm, the idea of including Zhirinovsky’s name in the party's name was discussed at the congress and is supported by Vladimir Zhirinovsky's son, Oleg Edelstein.
“I couldn't understand why my father kept trying to associate his name with the Liberal Democratic Party. Now I understand why he did it. I also wanted to propose the idea of renaming the party. We are all liberal democrats, but not everyone understands what this means. But everyone knows who Zhirinovsky is – honest, fair, and forever,” he said at the closed part of the congress.
The name of Zhirinovsky is going to be immortalized and used as a powerful weapon, as one of the congress participants recounted a story that took place six months before the ex-leader's death.
“Six months before his death, approximately before the autumn elections, Zhirinovsky said at a regular meeting that one must understand that he will die someday. It will inevitably happen. Therefore, when this happens and you will speak in the elections, rename the party to “LDPR – Zhirinovsky,” the leader of the Liberal Democrats said. And you will be enough for another five years,” the party member recalled.
Zhirinovsky’s funeral on April 8 produced an unprecedented response from the people. Even former Foreign Minister Yevgeny Primakov was not buried like that. Therefore, now everyone in the party is counting on this rise to be enough for them for half a year and they will have time to at least “grab the tail of this outgoing comet.”
Zhirinovsky’s former adviser Sergei Zhigarev explained that renaming the party makes sense as many people in the regions come to the polling station asking not for the LDPR, but for Zhirinovsky.
“Today, the name Zhirinovsky is a more popular brand than the Liberal Democratic Party. When the party was created, it was possible to understand a lot. There was the Liberal Democratic Party. Are we liberal today? No. Democratic? I don’t think,” Zhigarev stated.
Therefore, the party believes it is necessary to pay more attention to the leader who is famous throughout the country. Additionally, the Liberal Democrats had a similar experience in 1999 when the party was not allowed to vote, leading Zhirinovsky to form the Zhirinovsky Bloc as the law allowed it.
Thus, the issue with the “locomotive” in the regional elections will also disappear. With the new name “Zhirinovsky’s Party” it will not matter which of the politicians to put first on the party lists.
Will the intra-party struggle continue in the future?
Alexander Sherin’s demarche showed that not everything is so smooth within the party so far. According to the ex-adviser of Zhirinovsky, Sergei Zhigarev, it was because of this that part of the congress was closed. He said that during the meeting, a flurry of criticism fell upon Sherin, so they decided not to promote him in the media and not raise his rating, making him a victim. But if Sherin had simply not been allowed to attend the meeting, then there would have been a scandal.
Zhigarev assured that the “troublemaker” had set the whole party against himself in recent days, so even if Sherin had been given the opportunity to compete with Slutsky for the leadership seat, no one would have voted for him. And, according to him, there is no need to worry about Sherin, you just need to wait. His term as a member of the high council ends in December. Nobody will re-elect him. And then it will be possible to exclude him as an ordinary party member.
So far, no serious personnel decisions have been made, and, probably, Leonid Slutsky, as the leader of the party, in this case will rely on the collegial decision of the supreme council. And in such a period of transformation, it is possible that the inner-party struggle may continue.
Who will get Zhirinovsky’s mandate?
Although Slutsky said that the supreme council would decide the issue of transferring the mandate of the former leader, potential successors are already being called on the sidelines. Sherin, of course, dropped out of the list. The participants of the congress name the mentioned Sergey Zhigarev and ex-deputy Andrey Svintsov as the most suitable candidates.
Zhigarev refused to comment on his candidacy to the Daily Storm, but explained the essence of the whole procedure for appointing a new deputy.
“It can be any candidate for deputies of this convocation, who was registered in the lists. Therefore, the Supreme Council must make a decision by May 31. If he does not make this decision, then this decision is submitted to the CEC. And then they hand over the mandate to the LDPR candidate who had the largest constituency and the largest number of people who voted in that constituency. In this case, it will be Andrey Svintsov,” the potential candidate summed up.
