SRZP changes political positioning after failure in regional elections

The party “A Just Russia – For Truth” (SRZP) will adjust its political work and public positioning after a disastrous result in the 2023 regional elections. Spravorossy intend to move away from “ultra-patriotism” and return to their usual social democratic agenda, within which they will focus on working with vulnerable groups of the population. The Socialist Revolutionaries will test familiar technologies during the next regional campaign in order to completely correct the identified shortcomings by the State Duma elections in 2026. Experts, however, are not sure that proven recipes will allow SRHR to overcome the electoral crisis.

Last September left the SRZP without representation in six regional parliaments. The party did not overcome the five percent barrier in Buryatia (4.71% versus 9.41% in the 2018 elections), Khakassia (3.33% versus 7.09%), Ivanovo (4.06% versus 8.22%), Rostov (4.81% instead of 7.06%), Smolensk (4.32% versus 7.79%) regions and in the Nenets Autonomous Okrug (4.51% versus 5.41%), and also did not get into the legislative assembly of the Donetsk People’s Republic republics (3.27%). The Right Russians managed to improve their position slightly only in three regions: Bashkiria (7.39% versus 5.47%), Ulyanovsk (5.15% versus 3.93%) and Yaroslavl regions (11.19% versus 10%), while while in Yakutia and Kalmykia the party noticeably decreased in popularity – 9.39% instead of 15.94% and 5.23% instead of 8.43%, respectively. “We have no reason to be satisfied with the election results,” admitted SRZP Chairman Sergei Mironov, summing up the results of voting in the regions on September 11.

A month later, Mr. Mironov told Kommersant that the party had carried out “very serious” work in hot pursuit: “We had a closed meeting of the presidium, a principled friendly conversation – impartial, and I have already appointed Valery Hartung (deputy) as head of the headquarters for the 2024 elections State Duma.— “Kommersant”)”. The leader of the SRZP added that he conducted a survey of all employees of the central office, asking his associates to answer questions about what they see as the reasons for the September failure. “I am delighted with the answers, this is great food for thought,” admitted Sergei Mironov. “Based on these questionnaires, I will hold a meeting, and we will reformat the work of the central office.”

Mr. Mironov’s fellow party members are also trying to maintain a semblance of optimism. “Thank God that this result has happened now, because there are three years before the State Duma elections to fix everything,” Dmitry Gusev, secretary of the presidium of the Central Council of the SRZP for political issues, told Kommersant. According to him, the party perceived the disappointing results of the 2023 elections “as an incentive to work” in several areas: “First, the regions: the party was created at the expense of strong regional guys, it was a party feature. And secondly, work with the agenda, return to the social democratic channel.” The way to return, according to the Socialist-Revolutionary, is by “working with those who need protection,” that is, with the poor, the deceived, pensioners, small entrepreneurs and the self-employed: “A simple leftist idea—the people should feel good.”

Among the reasons for the failure in the 2023 elections, Mr. Gusev mentioned the fading of the protest agenda and the so-called Donetsk consensus. “This (patriotic.— “Kommersant”) the agenda, frankly speaking, works exclusively for the authorities,” he explained. “We help, support and will continue to do this, but politically it works for the party in power.” The same arguments were given to Kommersant by sources in regional party cells, adding that behind the consensus and “ultra-patriotic” theme, the party somewhat “lost face”: “Our usual theme of protecting ordinary people was demolished by all this jingoism.” The situation on the ground, according to Kommersant’s interlocutors, also indicates the need to “revise the agreement” with the authorities so that local administrations “stop interfering with us the way they were interfering now.”

“We will make adjustments to the agenda,” the head of the newly created election headquarters, Valery Gartung, assured Kommersant. “We will return to our traditional voter, with whom, let’s say, we have recently lost contact a little due to the specificity of the situation in our country after February last year is observed.” Mr. Hartung admitted that the SRZP really lost a lot of votes, but now “intends to win them back”: “The topics of the bills, the problems with which we work, have not changed, and if we convey to our voters all the information about what we are doing and what problems We’re deciding, I think he’ll come back to us.” According to Spravoross, there will be no need to radically adjust the work: “You don’t need to change anything in the work, you just need to change the accents of the lighting of the work – nothing more.”

Political scientist Konstantin Kalachev believes that the previous success of the SRZP was built on “three pillars”: a successful name, competent distribution of the party franchise in the regions and strict counter-positioning in relation to United Russia. “Now all this has been lost,” the expert states. By moving away from the theme of “new socialism,” the SRZP also lost its “understandable ideological dominant,” while entering into fierce competition in the “patriotic field,” where the main beneficiary is the majority party, Mr. Kalachev argues. According to political scientist Alexei Makarkin, SRZP, having put on an ultra-patriotic agenda, again (as in 2012, when the party supported the “Swamp protest”) decided to “jump in over its head.” Its failure was the result of several components, the expert believes: “rallying around the flag” worked for United Russia, and supporters of the special operation dissatisfied with the authorities voted for the LDPR because of the “prophet effect” – the late founder of the party, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, played this role. “And with representatives of the jingoistic subculture, speaking from the most radical positions, the SRZP did not succeed because this group is not very large and itself has never chosen a single consensus figure,” adds Mr. Makarkin.

To get out of the crisis, according to Konstantin Kalachev, the Socialist Revolutionaries need to “figure out their positioning”: “We also need new leaders and, especially important, serious partners in the regions.” “In most regions, SRZP branches are now under regional administrations that are not interested in their development: they are asked only for the results of the United Russia and, relatively speaking, they do not need a second party of power,” explains the expert. And Alexey Makarkin believes that SRHR can really be helped by returning to its leftist roots: “In fact, it’s difficult to offer anything other than such banal work in the social sphere: (return.— “Kommersant”) the image of a party that is psychologically comfortable and corresponds to the word “justice”. But you need to understand that this “clearing” is not exclusive.” Konstantin Kalachev also acknowledges the presence in society of a “demand for the left,” although with a caveat: “The left idea in the conditions of any stagnation, any crisis gains a second wind, but some kind of modern left is needed. And the SRZP is… well, I don’t know, some kind of Noah’s Ark.”

Grigory Leiba