The Communist Party nominated Leonid Zyuganov as a candidate for the election of the mayor of Moscow

On the evening of June 23, the Moscow branch of the Communist Party held an election conference to nominate its candidate for mayor of Moscow. It passed without surprises: Leonid Zyuganov, the grandson of the leader of the Communist Party and a deputy of the Moscow City Duma, will represent the Communists in the capital’s elections. In the part of the conference open to journalists, the leader of the capital’s Communists, Nikolai Zubrilin, and Mr. Zyuganov himself spoke, who told the audience about what the Communist Party of the Russian Federation would focus on first of all if they won the elections. So, Zyuganov’s election program will be based on the slogan goal – “Return the Future”: he wants to achieve it by a moratorium on commercial development of the city and a ban on the conversion of industrial areas.

The conference of the Moscow city branch of the Communist Party was held in the mansion of the Central House of Writers in the center of the capital. Under the famous composition of Alexandra Pakhmutova and Nikolai Dobronravov “And the fight continues again”, the guests of the event gathered in the lobby in front of the meeting room. And on the way to it, delegates and journalists could study photo collages about the work of the Moscow city food supply of the party, in the center of which was a portrait of Leonid Zyuganov. The fact that the Communist Party of the Russian Federation will nominate him as a candidate for mayor of Moscow, became known back in April.

In the presidium of the conference of the Moscow city committee, in addition to its leader Nikolai Zubrilin and Mr. Zyuganov himself, there was also the first deputy chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, Yuri Afonin, who at the beginning of the year, sources close to the party called one of the main contenders for the post of mayor of Moscow. However, the journalists failed to find out what Mr. Afonin was talking about with his Moscow colleagues: they were asked to leave the meeting room before his speech. Nikolai Zubrilin and Leonid Zyuganov delivered speeches in the open part of the conference.

Behind the members of the presidium hung a banner with the slogan “Bring back the future.” Nikolai Zubrilin began his report with criticism of electoral novels. Even before the elections, he said, the Communist Party will focus on informing voters that they still have the opportunity to vote in the traditional way through paper ballots, and not through remote electronic voting (DEV) or special new terminals that will be installed this year on all remaining metropolitan areas after optimization. The Communists still oppose the DEG and multi-day voting, recalled the head of the capital’s city committee. After that, the communist turned to criticism of the current government in all other sectors: urban planning, transport, housing and communal services, social policy, industry and ecology.

“As a result, instead of a scientific, cultural, industrial, comprehensively developed modern city, officials are turning Moscow into a huge logistics, storage, transport, interchange, trade and market transit city,” summed up Mr. Zubrilin.

In such circumstances, residents can only protest, but it is better if the city government hears the population and represents its interests, and the mayor from the Communist Party will be just like that, assured Nikolai Zubrilin. “In the first place should be the interests of our respected residents, so we are going to win the election of the mayor of Moscow. Our country is Russia, our capital is Moscow, our candidate is Leonid Zyuganov. Hooray!” Nikolai Zubrilin chanted in conclusion. “Hooray!” The hall answered him and burst into loud applause.

Leonid Zyuganov was more restrained in assessing the work of the current government and spoke more about what he would focus on if he won the elections. “We are definitely not extras, we understand that the struggle will not be easy, using all the dirty political technologies,” Mr. Zyuganov warned the audience, adding that he considers himself the only candidate against whom the authorities have already begun to fight. Mr. Zyuganov cited an example of such a struggle on his Telegram channel: he posted a photographic fact of how the party newspaper Pravda Moskvy began to be taken out of mailboxes and transport carts, and pressure was put on volunteers.

Speaking about his election program, Leonid Zyuganov singled out two main problematic blocks – urban planning policy and the revival of Moscow industry.

First of all, a moratorium on the construction of commercial housing should be introduced in Moscow until a balance is reached with the availability of social facilities, Leonid Zyuganov is sure. And in order to restore industrial capacity in Moscow, the communists developed a number of program proposals, including a ban on the conversion of industrial territories, an analysis of the state of all research institutes, and a significant increase in city budget expenditures for the development of production. “Comrades, I am absolutely convinced that you and I must become the force that will return the future to Muscovites,” the future mayoral candidate admonished the audience.

However, it will be difficult to return the future to Muscovites if the Communist Party of the Russian Federation does not expand its representation on the Internet, Mr. Zyuganov continued. The grandson of the leader of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation considers it “vital” to intensify work in social networks and on the Internet. In order to catch up with other parties in this direction, Leonid Zyuganov proposed creating a digital ecosystem of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, which will unite all the allies of the party. “If we want to survive and take normal results, we definitely need to do this,” the speaker concluded.

At this point, the journalists were asked to leave the hall, as the communists preferred to continue communication in a closed format, including voting for the candidacy of Leonid Zyuganov for the mayor of Moscow, which, however, was more of a formality.

Elena Rozhkova