New People and the Growth Party enter into an electoral alliance
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Leaders of the New People and the Party of Growth Alexei Nechaev and Boris Titov will hold a joint press conference on Tuesday. Kommersant’s sources in the Party of Growth and Kommersant’s interlocutors close to the presidential administration say that for now it will only talk about an election alliance, but in the future, a full-fledged merger of the two organizations is also possible, which some Telegram channels were quick to announce earlier. Although in the second case, according to experts, it is more correct to talk about the actual takeover of the Party of Growth by the more successful New People.
As stated in the official announcement on the TASS website, the joint press conference of Alexei Nechaev and Boris Titov will be devoted to “discussion of plans for the upcoming elections.” At the same time, last week information about the upcoming merger of these two parties appeared in a number of Telegram channels. And the first rumors about a possible merger of political projects similar in ideology appeared at the end of 2021, but then in both parties this information was actively denied.
However, now, according to Kommersant sources, the situation has changed. “According to my information, the process of unification is going on one way or another. I’m not sure that it will be directly stated at the upcoming press conference, rather, for now, they will only talk about joining efforts in the elections, ”says a Kommersant source close to the leadership of the Growth Party. An announcement of a merger of parties is not expected, joint participation in the elections will be announced, adds a Kommersant source in Boris Titov’s party: it is assumed that the two organizations will nominate common candidates. The New People declined to comment on their relationship with the Growth Party prior to the press conference.
It should be noted that according to the law, a party is prohibited from nominating candidates at elections of any level who are members of another party. However, options are possible that do not violate this prohibition, for example, the “breeding” of candidates into single-mandate districts, the official support of one party for the nominees of another, or the joint work of party headquarters to promote specific candidates.
According to two well-informed Kommersant sources close to the presidential administration, they are not against such a merger. However, this is primarily the initiative of the New People themselves and its leader Alexei Nechaev, and his plans may change, Kommersant’s interlocutors make a reservation. In addition, there is still no unequivocal clarity on the position of Mr. Titov, says one of the sources.
The New People and the Growth Party are indeed similar in many ways: both position themselves as right-wing liberal parties and advocate for the rights of entrepreneurs. And their leaders are big businessmen themselves: Alexei Nechaev is the founder of the Faberlic cosmetics company, and Boris Titov is the main shareholder of the Abrau-Dyurso group of companies. True, the history of the creation of the two organizations is noticeably different. Until 2016, the Party of Growth was called “Just Cause” (in the same year it was headed by Mr. Titov, who at that time held the position of authorized representative under the President of the Russian Federation for the protection of the rights of entrepreneurs) and was established back in 2008 by merging the “Union of Right Forces”, “ Civil Force” and the Democratic Party of Russia. But she failed to overcome the five percent barrier in the parliamentary elections either in 2016 or 2021, and the only representative of the party in the Duma now is Oksana Dmitrieva, who won the elections in the 217th single-mandate constituency in St. Petersburg. “New People”, on the contrary, appeared quite recently – at the beginning of 2020 – and in their very first elections they entered the Duma, gaining 5.6% of the vote.
According to Kommersant’s interlocutor, close to the leadership of the Party of Growth, Boris Titov is now more ready to unite, as this will give him the opportunity to “beautifully” close his project. The party is not active, and the merger option is preferable to liquidation, the source explains.
According to political consultant Yevgeny Minchenko, in the current situation it will no longer be an association, but a “takeover” of the Growth Party by the “New People”. “Before, it would have been an association of comparable players. But now the “New People” have proved their viability: they have factions both in the State Duma and in regional parliaments. The unification can be imagined as a consolidation of right-wing forces – those who are for the market, the parties of the future. Why not?” — says the expert.
The head of the Petersburg Politics Foundation, Mikhail Vinogradov, believes that the unification suggests itself because there is a certain crisis in party formats. “Members of the Growth Party need some tools of influence, and the Duma faction and the presence of the New People in regional parliaments is also a lever of influence that would be logical to use,” the political scientist notes. At the same time, the “New People”, who supported the military operations in Ukraine, will in the future need to focus on those parts of society that are peaceful, Mr. Vinogradov believes. “Synergy and mutual enrichment would probably be interesting. But there is also a risk of mechanical unification through the absorption of the “New People” of the Party of Growth, ”adds the expert.
According to political analyst Konstantin Kalachev, Boris Titov did not want to hear anything about the unification for a long time: “Yes, the Growth Party is a frozen asset, but it is an asset. And at the end of the special operation, one could recall that the party supported the topic of negotiations and even posted a dove of peace on its website. After all, the time may come when a corridor of opportunities will open for parties that are not currently represented in the State Duma.” The expert believes that it would be beneficial for the Growth Party to agree on an alliance with the New People, but not to lose its subjectivity, because in the event of a merger, it can simply dissolve. “But forming the agenda together is quite realistic. The Growth Party has a serious economic program that overlaps with the New People program. A synergistic effect is possible,” sums up Mr. Kalachev.
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