LDPR has its eye on Muscovites

The Liberal Democratic Party is reformatting the work of the Moscow cell in order to extract more significant electoral dividends from work in the capital than before. As the coordinator of the Moscow branch of the party, Dmitry Koshlakov-Krestovsky, said on Monday, the Liberal Democrats intend to increase the number of Muscovites loyal to them to 1 million people, secure five seats in the Moscow City Duma in the 2024 elections and win two single-mandate metropolitan districts in the 2026 State Duma elections. . The expert warns that it will be very difficult to find a free electoral niche for the Liberal Democratic Party in Moscow.

The plan for the reorganization of the Moscow cell of the LDPR was presented to journalists by the branch coordinator Dmitry Koshlakov-Krestovsky, who was appointed to this post a little over a year ago. “We changed the structure of the department itself and the structure of the coordinating council in order to achieve more coordinated work on solving the tasks set,” the politician reported. “b”) Leonid Slutsky – to become the second party in Moscow.

The head of the branch said that now from 190 thousand to 250 thousand people vote for the Liberal Democratic Party in the capital in elections of various levels, but the plans are to reach 1 million voters: “This will have to be decided next September (in the elections of the mayor of Moscow.— “b”) and prepare to have a million votes guaranteed for our presidential candidate in March 2024.” According to Mr. Koshlakov-Krestovsky, in the same year the accumulated electoral resources of the LDPR are going to be used in the elections to the Moscow City Duma, as a result of which the party expects to receive five mandates at once (now the Liberal Democrats are not represented in the capital’s parliament).

“We changed a lot and started by giving up the party newspaper in Moscow,” the politician continued. The newspaper format was considered obsolete in the party – it was replaced by the Moscow Time magazine, which will be distributed among supporters and activists. The Liberal Democrats also intend to strengthen their work with social networks. In addition, the LDPR standardized the campaign materials of its candidates for the municipal elections in New Moscow. “So that there would be no “some in the woods, some for firewood,” Dmitry Koshlakov-Krestovsky explained. “Last year I really regretted that I did not write down the slogans that the candidates proposed. If Zadornov were alive, it would be possible to send him! Folk creativity, of course, is good, but a single visualization will make it clear that there is a single team, a single big Eldepeer family.”

In terms of content, the Liberal Democratic Party will rely on the new program. To the five points approved back in 2021 by the then party leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky, the list of which was opened by “Historical and Cultural Heritage”, “Housing and Public Utilities and Overhaul” and “Education”, the party members added seven new ones. Among them are “Help for the Disabled and Rehabilitation of Men after SVO”, “Youth” and “Digital Ecosystem”. The leader (cell coordinator or municipal deputy), the supervising State Duma deputy and the leader of public opinion are responsible for each direction. So far, LOMs have been selected only for Heritage – they are architect Stanislav Kulish and songwriter Alexander Shaganov, who, as the main Moscow liberal democrat emphasized, “wrote many famous songs and, most importantly, a song about a horse, which is already considered folk”.

They outlined the capital’s party members and a portrait of their potential supporter. “Our voter is definitely not an elderly person,” Mr. Koshlakov-Krestovsky reasoned. “Our electorate is 35-55 years old and, unfortunately or fortunately, it is more women than men.” He recalled that earlier Moscow supporters of the Liberal Democratic Party personally voted for Vladimir Zhirinovsky: “And we managed to keep this electorate that voted for Zhirinovsky and (after his death.— “b”) went to vote for our candidates.” The Moscow cell, its leader admitted, before the reforms “was a kind of backdrop at the events” of the founder of the party: “Before, Moscow had no agenda, it was Zhirinovsky’s agenda. Now this is Moscow’s agenda.”

Ideologically, the LDPR, Dmitry Koshlakov-Krestovsky promised, would be a “party of the young.” “In this case, it is important whether a person is ready for change: a young person is more ready than an old one,” he explained. “Therefore, a party of young people is cool.” By the way, the 50-year-old head of the department admires the party youth: “They, like us, have stopped being photographed with LDPR packages on their belly, these anachronisms are coming to an end.” According to him, the Liberal Democrats are getting rid of the role of the “party of tram drivers”, although it seems that they do not intend to completely abandon shocking actions (like sending videos with “Zhirinovsky’s prophecies”). “Sometimes it’s worth it to hype, but abuse of hype will not lead to anything, except that people will say: “Ah, these idiots have taken to the streets again!” ”The politician described the correct alignment, in his opinion.

The party leadership will evaluate a substantive new approach based on the results of the September elections for the mayor of Moscow, in which Boris Chernyshov, vice speaker of the State Duma, is running from the Liberal Democratic Party. According to its result, the capital’s liberal democrats will determine how much they will have to “get by March 2024,” said Mr. Koshlakov-Krestovsky. “And do not forget the prophecy of Zhirinovsky! – he could not stand it at the end of the meeting. – Who said that there would be two parties: the ruling and the Liberal Democratic Party. I will allow myself to correct him: the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and the other. However, the Liberal Democratic Party can no longer abuse the legacy of its founder, the liberal democrat summed up: “It’s difficult, incomprehensible, but life works that way.”

The president of the Minchenko Consulting communications holding, Yevgeny Minchenko, believes that the Liberal Democratic Party has a chance to increase its rating in Moscow even under the new conditions, but it all depends on the quality of its tasks: prism they explain everything. But the struggle for this will not be easy, the expert warns: “Mayor Sergei Sobyanin does so much that it is very difficult to find a free electoral niche, and one that would not include criticism of the current mayor’s office.” Political strategist Vladimir Perevozchikov also admits that the Liberal Democratic Party is able to increase its electorate in the capital: “They have every chance. It depends on the political will and the search for new solutions – that’s what they propose.”

Grigory Leiba