LDPR approved the Presidium of the Supreme Council and presented the election headquarters

The renewed Supreme Council of the LDPR approved a seven-member presidium on Tuesday. At a press conference after the meeting, party leader Leonid Slutsky, who had previously been nominated by the party for president in the 2024 elections, presented his election headquarters, which he himself will head. The politician also said that during the election campaign he plans to visit at least 30 regions and formulate an election program while communicating with people.

Leonid Slutsky himself became the head of the presidium of the Supreme Council of the LDPR, and his deputy was the ex-governor of the Smolensk region Alexey Ostrovsky. In addition to them, the presidium included member of the Central Election Commission from the LDPR Alexander Kurdyumov, State Duma deputies Andrei Lugovoy, Vladimir Koshelev and Sergei Karginov, as well as the coordinator of the Chechen branch of the party Dzhambulat Umarov. The head of the apparatus of the Duma faction of the LDPR, Maxim Zaitsev, became the secretary of the Supreme Council.

A source in the LDPR explained to Kommersant that all members of the presidium, except Mr. Umarov, are representatives of the so-called old guard, but at the same time loyal to Mr. Slutsky and “not intriguing against him.” As for the Chechen party member, according to Kommersant’s interlocutor, Leonid Slutsky “considers the re-establishment of the LDPR branch in Chechnya his great personal victory, because he has good connections with the head of the republic, Ramzan Kadyrov.” “That’s why he shows his honor and respect to Umarov,” the source added.

Let us recall that at the LDPR congress on December 19, delegates rotated the Supreme Council and approved changes to the charter. The maximum number of seats in the governing party body has increased from 15 to 25 (24 are currently occupied). The updated composition of the council did not include State Duma deputies Yaroslav Nilov, Alexey Didenko and Boris Paikin, senator Elena Afanasyeva, ex-State Duma deputy Sergei Natarov, who is in a pre-trial detention center on suspicion of embezzlement, and the late founder of the party Vladimir Zhirinovsky, who until the congress was listed as a member of this organ. According to changes to the charter, the party chairman will now be able to suspend the powers of members of the Supreme Council and coordinators of regional branches for failure to comply with instructions from above and “actions that discredit the reputation of the LDPR.”

Earlier, Vedomosti reported that the LDPR was discussing the possibility of depriving deputies Nilov and Didenko of the posts of chairmen of the State Duma committees on labor and regional policy. On December 25, they did not participate in the press conference at which the faction reported on the work in the autumn session, although two other chairmen of the committees – Leonid Slutsky himself (for international affairs) and Dmitry Svishchev (for physical culture and sports) – were at the event, as and deputy chairmen of committees from the Liberal Democratic Party. However, on Tuesday, Mr. Slutsky, answering a question from Kommersant, said that the faction did not discuss the issue of depriving these party members of their Duma posts, and “various colleagues” attend the press conference, and this time “those who have what to report on at the end of the autumn session.” Yaroslav Nilov and Alexey Didenko, according to the leader of the LDPR, “like all deputies of the faction, will take part in the 2024 election campaign.”

During this campaign, according to Leonid Slutsky, the Liberal Democrats plan to visit at least 30 regions. “I did not specifically formulate any election program, because I want to form it on the basis of meetings with people. We will conduct a nationwide survey of the population to identify problems that need prompt resolution. Everything will continue as current party activities even after the end of the presidential campaign,” the LDPR leader noted. He also said that he plans to personally head his campaign headquarters.

The head of the St. Petersburg Politics Foundation, Mikhail Vinogradov, explains the latest personnel decisions in the LDPR by the reluctance of the party leadership to “nominally elevate someone.” “By and large, Slutsky does not have his own team. Therefore, it is important for him to build balances that are beneficial to him in order to strengthen his position in the party and at the same time get rid of the most disloyal people,” says political scientist Rostislav Turovsky. “For example, Ostrovsky was a status figure, a governor, and was close to the late Zhirinovsky. And Slutsky attracts him to his side. The same applies to a number of deputies and senators, current and former. But at the same time, Nilov and Didenko were forced to leave the high council, so not all of the important figures are taken onto the new LDPR ship. And Slutsky’s taking the campaign under personal control is a sign of unwillingness to delegate functions to actually trusted people.”

Ksenia Veretennikova