Not the time of the first – Kommersant

Chairman of the Supreme Council of Khakassia Vladimir Shtygashev, who has headed the republic’s parliament since Soviet times and represents United Russia (UR), most likely will not be included in its new composition, which will be elected in September this year. He did not take part in the preliminary party voting of United Russia, and United Russia, according to Kommersant’s information, does not intend to include him in the list of candidates for the September elections “out of competition”. The resignation of the honored speaker from his post is natural and is largely connected with the upcoming elections of the head of Khakassia in the fall, experts say.

83-year-old speaker of the Supreme Council of Khakassia Vladimir Shtygashev did not apply to participate in the UR primaries for the selection of candidates for the election of deputies of the eighth convocation of the republican parliament, follows from the data on the preliminary voting website. The call for applications for participation in the primaries ended on April 27.

Mr. Shtygashev is a veteran of Khakass politics. He began his party career back in the 1970s, having gone from the first secretary of the Ust-Abakan district committee of the Komsomol to the chairman of the executive committee of the Council of People’s Deputies of the Khakass Autonomous Region. In 1985 he became deputy chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR, in 1990 – chairman of the regional council. In 1991, the autonomous region was transformed into a republic, and the Council of People’s Deputies – into the Supreme Council of Khakassia. Vladimir Shtygashev headed the newly created legislature and has been in charge of it for 31 years since then. From 1996 to 2001, he was ex officio a member of the Federation Council, since 2007 a member of United Russia.

Theoretically, the current speaker may still be among the EP candidates in the upcoming elections when determining the general part of the party list. It has the right to form the conference of the republican branch of the party. “In this case, it acts as a platform for preliminary voting,” explained “Kommersant” in the regional branch of EP. “Plus, outside the framework of the primaries, the presidium of the party’s general council has the authority to put candidates on the party list.”

However, a source in the leadership of EP told Kommersant that the presidium of the General Council does not plan to include the veteran in the leaders of the list: “Shtygashev is an experienced politician, and he paves his way himself.”

It was not possible to get a comment from Vladimir Shtygashev at the time of writing the material “Kommersant”. He will outline his position on participation in the autumn elections “not earlier than the moment they are appointed,” says a source close to the politician. Earlier, Kommersant’s interlocutors did not rule out that Mr. Shtygashev would run for a new deputy term as an independent candidate.

Governor elections will also be held in the republic in September. Now Khakassia is headed by the representative of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Valentin Konovalov, who defeated the United Russia party Viktor Zimin in 2018. He counts on a second term, and from the United Russia State Duma deputy, secretary of the republican party cell Sergei Sokol will participate in the elections.

Recently, United Russia, controlled by him, voted against the adoption of the report of Valentin Konovalov before the parliament for 2022. Vladimir Shtygashev then sharply scolded his fellow party members: “I will call (Dmitry.— “b”) To Medvedev, the chairman of the party: the punks are joking here! This is the problem, my friends. There are no elections yet, but the election campaign has already begun. Stop, there is justice for everyone!

According to political scientist Rostislav Turovsky, a “change of generations” is ripe in Khakass politics. “Shtygashev is a well-deserved person, but if the head of the region changes, then the speaker will be new. Still, Shtygashev played along with Konovalov, while the Kremlin and United Russia made a clear bet on Sokol. In addition, events show that he does not control the deputies,” the expert notes.

“The main reason for the departure of Vladimir Shtygashev is age. If it were not for the victory of Valentin Konovalov in 2018, then Shtygashev most likely would not have been re-elected speaker or would have been forced to resign in a year or two, – explains Vitaly Ivanov, an expert on regional politics. – Konovalov did not try to remove him, because he could not to put your own speaker. They cooperated to mutual benefit. In conditions when Sokol will be the next head, Shtygashev becomes superfluous. He himself understands this, and therefore allows himself liberties in statements.

Andrey Ashes; Valery Lavsky, Novosibirsk