Speakers change in voice – Kommersant

“United Russia” completes the acceptance of applications for participation in the preliminary party voting in the elections of deputies at all levels. In most legislative assemblies, as Kommersant calculated, the current speakers expect to extend their powers and have already applied for the primaries. However, there are also those who gave up the fight for both the post and the mandate in advance.

As a source close to the leadership of Kalmykia told Kommersant, Anatoly Kozachko, speaker of the Supreme Khural of the Republic of United Russia, will leave his post upon the expiration of the powers of the current convocation of parliament. He is not nominated for the elections of the new convocation on September 10, the interlocutor of Kommersant added. According to the website of United Russia’s preliminary party voting (ER), Mr. Kozachko did not apply for the primaries. Please note that the application deadline is Thursday, April 27th.

Anatoly Kozachko is 73 years old, he has led the Khural for the last three convocations. He came to Kalmyk politics back in 1973, becoming an instructor in the CPSU party committee of the Yashalta region. In 1979 he graduated from the Saratov Higher Party School, in 1989 he was elected to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. After the collapse of the Union, for some time he headed the district council and the administration of the Yashalta region, and in 1998 he became the Deputy Minister of Agriculture of Kalmykia under its first and only president, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov. By 2003, Mr. Kozachko had risen to the post of prime minister of the republic, where he spent four years. In 2008 he headed the Khural. Soon, Mr. Ilyumzhinov was replaced by Alexei Orlov, and then Mr. Orlov in 2019 by Batu Khasikov.

According to a Kommersant source, the current speaker was inherited by Mr. Khasikov “inherited from Orlov”, therefore the head of the region and part-time secretary of the republican branch of the United Russia is not interested in his re-election, “and he himself has no ambitions (regarding the extension of powers.— “b”) does not have, calmly collects things. The interlocutor explains that Anatoly Kozachko withdrew himself from the conflict that arose between some of the United Russia deputies and the new governor at the beginning of his term, and therefore “he definitely does not belong to Khasikov’s team: both ours and yours – this will not work.” Recall that in 2020, nine deputies of the Khural, headed by the head of the United Russia faction, Saglar Bakinova, sent an open appeal to President Vladimir Putin with complaints about the high mortality rate from COVID-19, in fact, linking it to the actions of the head of the republic. They also unsuccessfully tried to bring the issue of a vote of no confidence in Mr. Khasikov to the consideration of the Khural. Later, Mrs. Bakinova was deprived of the post of head of the faction and the post of deputy chairman of the parliament, but not the mandate. As for Mr. Khasikov, he intends to be re-elected for a second term in 2024 and would like to see a loyal Khural, the source summarizes. Kommersant failed to get a comment from Mr. Kozachko.

In addition to Kalmykia, in September 2023, the composition of the legislative assemblies of another 17 subjects will be updated. In two regions – Zaporozhye and Kherson regions – they must be elected for the first time. In most cases, current speakers have already signed up for the primaries. Participants in United Russia’s preliminary voting are Konstantin Tolkachev (Bashkiria), Vladimir Pavlov (Buryatia), Alexei Yeremeev (Yakutia), Yuri Kon (Trans-Baikal Territory), Ekaterina Prokopyeva (Arkhangelsk Region), Marina Dmitrieva (Ivanovo Region), Alexander Vedernikov ( Irkutsk Region), Valery Malyshev (Ulyanovsk Region), Mikhail Borovitsky (Yaroslavl Region), Alexander Lutovinov (Nenets Autonomous District), Denis Miroshnichenko (Luhansk People’s Republic) and Vladimir Bidevka (Donetsk People’s Republic).

So far, only the long-term speaker of the Supreme Council of Khakassia Vladimir Shtygashev, the head of the parliament of Kuzbass Alexei Zelenin, the chairman of the legislative assembly of the Vladimir region Vladimir Kiselev, the speaker of the Smolensk regional duma Igor Lyakhov and the chairman of the legislative assembly of the Rostov region Alexander Ishchenko have not shown up for the primaries.

Kommersant failed to get a comment from Shtygashev and Zelenin. Kommersant’s interlocutors in Khakassia give different versions of Vladimir Shtygashev’s participation in the elections: one is sure that he will still show up, the other that “the party does not see him on the lists.” The source, however, does not rule out that in this case, Mr. Shtygashev may go to the polls as a self-nominated candidate. Alexander Ishchenko told Kommersant that he would submit the documents this week. Sources of “Kommersant” in the Smolensk regional department claim that Igor Lyakhov, like five years ago, will head the list of United Russia in the elections to the regional Duma, therefore, he will be approved for the position of “locomotive” by the Presidium of the General Council. Usually, the top party leadership of United Russia puts governors first, but in 2018, the Smolensk region was headed by LDPR representative Alexei Ostrovsky. In 2023, Vasily Anokhin, a native of the federal government, replaced him in the status of interim. Vladimir Kiselev, according to Kommersant’s interlocutor in the Vladimir Legislative Assembly, will also show up for the primaries. But at the same time, he will probably become not a chairman, but a senator according to the legislative quota of the region. “It’s no secret that such a scenario was considered back in 2018, but then Vladimir Nikolayevich had to linger against the backdrop of well-known events (the LDPR representative Vladimir Sipyagin won the gubernatorial election.— “b”),” added the source.

The participation of the speaker in the primaries does not yet mean that he will retain his chair. Sources of “Kommersant” in Bashkiria, Ulyanovsk and Yaroslavl regions are confident that the local chairmen will be able to do this. But interlocutors in Buryatia are talking about the likely replacement of Vladimir Pavlov with the deputy chairman of the Buryat government, Pyotr Mordovsky. Yuri Kon (Kong Yong Hwa), who became chairman in 2021 after the death of the previous speaker, Igor Likhanov, may also step down from leadership of the Trans-Baikal parliament. How do Kommersant’s interlocutors in the Irkutsk region assess Alexander Vedernikov’s chances of being re-elected chairman: “50 to 50”: Governor Igor Kobzev may not like the independence of the legislative assembly from the executive branch, Kommersant’s source in parliament suggests.

Andrey Ashes; Vlad Nikiforov, Irkutsk; corset “b”