The Communist Party of the Russian Federation officially nominated State Duma deputy Nikolai Kharitonov for president

The XVIII Congress of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation on Saturday nominated the Chairman of the State Duma Committee for the Development of the Far East and the Arctic Nikolai Kharitonov as a candidate for President of Russia. Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov, who will personally head Mr. Kharitonov’s headquarters, said that even he was not given such support by delegates for a similar nomination. The communists also criticized their colleagues in the parliamentary opposition: “A Just Russia – For Truth” (SRZP) for refusing to nominate its candidate for the 2024 elections, and the LDPR for the lack of a “shadow cabinet” in the party. Mr. Kharitonov himself promised not to make any comments during the campaign and to give voters the opportunity to independently evaluate and compare the results of the work – his own and Vladimir Putin’s.

The fact that Nikolai Kharitonov would run in the elections from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation became known on the afternoon of December 22, when the plenum of the party’s Central Committee recommended that the congress nominate his candidacy for president. Let us remember that Kharitonov, a deputy of all convocations of the State Duma, already participated in the presidential elections in 2004. Then he received 13.69% of the vote (more than the Communist Party of the Russian Federation in the 2003 parliamentary elections – its party list received only 12.61%) and became second after Vladimir Putin, who was re-elected for a second term with a result of 71.31%.

As Yuri Sinelshchikov, a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, told Kommersant, alternative candidates were not discussed on Friday, but as part of the nomination from primary organizations, in addition to Nikolai Kharitonov, other names were also heard – for example, the leader of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Gennady Zyuganov, the ex-governor of the Irkutsk region Sergei Levchenko, the head of the Oryol region of Andrey Klychkov.

At the start of Saturday’s congress, delegates paid tribute to the comrades who died during the special operation in Ukraine and welcomed new members into the party.

While delivering his report, Gennady Zyuganov emphasized that the Communist Party of the Russian Federation is going to the presidential elections as a team. “I say to Slutsky: name me five people who will join the government? (in case of victory in the elections; December 19, LDPR congress put forward to participate in the presidential elections, the candidacy of party leader Leonid Slutsky.— “Kommersant”). And we have a government of people’s trust,” said Mr. Zyuganov, keeping silent about what Mr. Slutsky answered his question. The party leader called Nikolai Kharitonov “the adornment of the faction”: “This is a man of action and action, he has gone through all the steps in this life. He turned out to be very brave – when the parliament was shot (we are talking about the outcome of the constitutional crisis of 1993, when the Supreme Council refused to implement President Boris Yeltsin’s decree No. 1400 on the dissolution of parliament; riots began in Moscow, on October 4, 1993, the building of the Supreme Council on Krasnopresnenskaya embankment was shelled from tanks and taken by storm.— “Kommersant”) he defended to the last and collected funds at Krasnaya Presnya to save from hunger.”

Even age for the 75-year-old candidate from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation is not a hindrance, but an advantage, Gennady Zyuganov is convinced.

“One person came to me and said that we need all the young people. “I said that at decisive moments the young people could not cope,” shared the chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, and as examples of the “old school” that showed its effectiveness, he cited Mikhail Kutuzov, Winston Churchill, Franklin Roosevelt and Yevgeny Primakov, who were not united by party principles.

The next speaker was Nikolai Sapozhnikov, Chairman of the Personnel Commission of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation. In his opinion, Nikolai Kharitonov “has all the data to be a candidate, and then the president of Russia.” “He grew up among the people, he is a people’s deputy in the full sense of the word. “He knows how to get along with a huge mass of people, he doesn’t get lost in any audience,” the speaker listed the advantages of his comrade-in-arms. “And when I said that women supported him very much in 2004, I will repeat today that women generally support our candidates. Here is Pavel Nikolaevich (Grudinin, who ran for president from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation in 2018.— “Kommersant”) In our elections, women also supported. We must work more closely with women voters, regardless of their age.” It was not entirely clear whose age was meant in this case, and laughter and applause rang out in the hall. Mr. Sapozhnikov partially explained his idea: “Firstly, there are more women voters than men. Secondly, women are more disciplined. The men are shirking the elections, and the women go, cast their ballots and look on the computer for where to vote.”

“Let’s be honest and admit that modern elections are conceived rather as a referendum of confidence in the current government,” State Duma deputy Oleg Smolin urged the delegates.

Nevertheless, he is convinced that left-wing patriotic forces should participate in the elections and try to gain as many votes as possible. “The more the candidate from the left forces gains, the more social the internal agenda will be in the next year – right up to the creation of a coalition government,” Mr. Smolin boldly suggested.

State Duma deputy Nina Ostanina recalled that simultaneously with the communists, “one party calling itself opposition” (SRZP) is holding its own congress, the agenda of which is to support the presidential nomination of Vladimir Putin. “De facto, we do not have a multi-party system. We have formed a stable two-party system: on the one hand, United Russia and all their parties and spoilers, on the other, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation with its allies, a broad front of left-wing patriotic forces,” reasoned Mrs. Ostanina.

After the speeches, the congress delegates went to the secret voting room.

As a result, 175 votes were cast for the nomination of Nikolai Kharitonov, six against, and two more ballots were spoiled.

Nevertheless, Gennady Zyuganov told reporters that the Communists supported the presidential candidate “very unanimously”: “I have never achieved such a result.” Mr. Zyuganov himself intends to take part in the elections, but as the head of the election headquarters: “I will coordinate all the work, perform the role of a person who ensures the election campaign.”

At a subsequent briefing, First Deputy Chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Yuri Afonin promised that the communists would submit documents to the Central Election Commission on December 27: “We hope that around January 10 our candidate will be registered. And then we have a set of events planned for January, February, and March as part of the election program.”

“Of course, like any normal person, I am worried about the important work that will need to be done,” Nikolai Kharitonov admitted to reporters. He called his main task during the election campaign the consolidation of voters, “so that there is victory on all fronts.” And when asked whether the current president would be criticized during the elections, he answered: “What will I criticize him for? He is responsible for his work cycle, why should I criticize? I am not the kind of person to criticize a colleague, each person is responsible for his own work. The voter will appreciate the results of the work – both mine and Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin’s, but simply going out and making comments like that – no, that won’t happen.”

Ksenia Veretennikova