The integration of the “New People” and the Party of Growth has entered the practical stage

The Growth Party held an extraordinary congress over the weekend to discuss its upcoming merger with the New People party. The delegates confirmed their readiness to work in a single structure, where a new internal party body, the Federal Political Council, would be created under them and their leader Boris Titov. The united party may also receive a new name, but it is possible that this issue will be finally resolved after the official unification, scheduled for March.

Russian legislation does not provide for a direct merger of parties: legally it is formalized as the liquidation of one organization and the entry of its members into another. Most often, this mechanism was resorted to by A Just Russia, originally created in 2006 on the basis of three parties called A Just Russia: Pensioners, Motherland, Life. Later, the Social Revolutionaries absorbed several “small” parties, and in 2021 they were joined by “Patriots of Russia” and “For Truth!” Formally, they also liquidated themselves, and “A Just Russia” made changes to the charter, expanding the name and introducing co-chairman positions for the leaders of affiliated associations.

The integration of the Party of Growth (PR) into the New People (NL) will take place in a similar way, although the former emphasize the term “merger”. The party leaders took the first public step towards unification before the Unified Democratic Party 2023, declaring mutual support for candidates in the regional elections. Then Alexey Nechaev (NL) and Boris Titov (PR) emphasized that their parties adhere to common ideological principles (support for entrepreneurship, the priority of a market economy, limiting “prohibitive” initiatives), and their union will become a platform for “all progressive forces in Russia.” “Who knows what will happen in the future, how the political situation will develop, how events will develop? — Mr. Titov discussed further cooperation. “For now, we have chosen for ourselves a period of adaptation to each other and must understand each other: although we are very similar, we also have differences.”

Obviously, adaptation took place, and on January 27, the PR began moving towards full integration at a special congress. There, 46 leaders of regional party cells expressed their readiness to “enter the leadership of the united party”: 15 of them nominated themselves for the posts of chairmen of the united branches, the rest for the posts of secretaries and members of regional councils, the PR press service reported in its Telegram channel. At the same time, Boris Titov “should take the post of chairman of the Federal Political Council of the united party, which along with him will include his colleagues” in the PR. “In order to carry out this transition, the congress decided to remove Titov’s current duties as chairman,” party members indicated. At the same time, the congress decided to “support with action” a single presidential candidate, Vladislav Davankov (officially nominated by the “New People”): “More than 30 representatives of the Growth Party submitted documents to become proxies of the candidate.” The decisive “unification” congress is scheduled for March 2024, by which time the Party of Regions should officially dissolve itself.

The duration of the procedure is due to legislative difficulties, Oksana Dmitrieva, a member of the Party of Regions and State Duma deputy, explained to Kommersant: “The legislation does not have a mechanism for uniting parties so that they retain their own (electoral and parliamentary ones.— “Kommersant”) positions”. The unification will take place gradually and “through the entry” of members of the Party of Regions into the NL, she confirmed: “This is a merger, an association, but it is clear that the “carrier” will be “New People” for a number of reasons.”

The Federal Political Council of the NL (it is not yet provided for in the party charter) under the leadership of Boris Titov will be focused on developing “program provisions, ideology and expert work” and will include “many of the members of the PN”, especially those who dealt with relevant issues and took part in the work of the Stolypin Club, continued Mrs. Dmitrieva. “There is an agreement that some of the PR leaders will head the regional branches of the united party,” she added. “A certain number of leaders will join the Central Council, and some of the staff will join the NL executive committee.” Oksana Dmitrieva herself will join the NL and will probably take a seat on the Federal Political Council, but she will not change her Duma registration (she is not currently part of any faction): “My main “faction” in this convocation is St. Petersburg, and I want so that I have freedom, autonomy in protecting the interests of the city.”

The updated name of the party was also discussed, the deputy said: “We discussed “New People. Growth”, “New People for Growth”, different interpretations, but now the charter (in this part.— “Kommersant”) cannot be changed, because the NL candidate is in the active phase of the election campaign, and then the parties immediately begin preparations for the Unified Democratic Party.” In her opinion, the final decision on the name issue may be postponed until after the September elections.

Grigory Leiba