Three people from the United Russia list are vying for a vacant seat in the State Duma.

Three people who participated in the 2021 State Duma elections as part of the United Russia (UR) list are being discussed as candidates for the vacant deputy mandate (previously held by Igor Kastyukevich). As four sources told Vedomosti (two in the party and two close to the presidential administration), these are the head of the central executive committee of United Russia, Alexander Sidyakin, the general director of the ANO Digital Economy, Sergei Plugotarenko, and the head of the apparatus of the State Duma Budget Committee, Dmitry Minenko.

On September 19, the State Duma adopted a resolution to terminate Kastyukevich’s parliamentary powers (he wrote the corresponding statement on September 15). In the September elections, Kastyukevich, who heads the regional branch of United Russia in the Kherson region, was elected to the regional Duma on the party’s list. He should move to the Federation Council from the regional legislative assembly, Vedomosti wrote on September 18.

Kastyukevich, who led the “youth” of the ONF, was elected to the State Duma in 2021 on the United Russia list from the Voronezh region. In the regional group he took fourth place. In the lower house of parliament he served as first deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on Youth Policy.

According to Art. 96 of the law on elections of State Duma deputies, the party from which the deputy was elected is obliged to propose to the Central Election Commission (CEC) a candidate from the same regional group within 14 days. But if all the contenders refuse, the party can transfer the mandate to anyone from the list of candidates. There are four more people in the group for the Voronezh region who did not receive a mandate.

Sidyakin was elected to the State Duma in 2021 in the United Russia regional group for Bashkiria. He ranked second on the list after the head of the region, Radiy Khabirov, but then refused the mandate. True, according to the law, a person can change his decision and take a mandate. Sidyakin was already a State Duma deputy of the VI and VII convocations from United Russia; he resigned after becoming the head of the administration of the head of the republic.

In 2021, he became the head of the United Russia Central Election Commission. The previous head of the executive committee of United Russia, Alexander Borisov, became a State Duma deputy in 2021. Then the party said that, according to the agreements, the current head of the Central Election Commission does not combine powers with work in parliament. On October 19, 2022, Vedomosti wrote that after the death of State Duma deputy Nikolai Petrunin, Sidyakin was named among the contenders for the vacant mandate, along with the head of the central interregional coordination council of United Russia, Andrei Parfenov. The latter received a mandate.

The second contender for the mandate, which Vedomosti’s interlocutors are talking about, is the ex-head of RAEC, and now the general director of the Digital Economy ANO Plugotarenko. In the 2021 State Duma elections, he took fifth place in the group for the Stavropol Territory from United Russia. Three of the four before him received mandates; only the head of the region, Vladimir Vladimirov, who headed the regional group, refused the opportunity to work as a deputy.

Minenko at one time was the first deputy head of the ONF executive committee for information policy, then moved to the post of deputy head of the United Russia Central Election Commission, at the same time heading the party’s department of information and mass communications. In 2022, he moved to the State Duma to the post of chief of staff of the Committee on Budget and Taxes. In the 2021 elections, Minenko was on the United Russia list in the Rostov region. He took ninth place in the group – four from the list refused to join the Duma, four more became deputies.

The decision to transfer the vacated mandate of a State Duma deputy is made by the central apparatus of the party, says one of the interlocutors. According to him, the party evaluates the experience and benefits of the candidate who will receive the mandate. For example, the recent transfer of the mandate to Parfenov was explained by his experience in conducting the party’s regional campaigns, he adds. According to the charter, the decision on the transfer of a mandate within the list is made by the General Council of United Russia at the proposal of the Bureau of the Supreme Council of the party.

Sidyakin did not answer Vedomosti’s calls. “I am focused as much as possible on my work as CEO of the ANO Digital Economy,” said Plugotarenko. Minenko declined to comment.

The press service of United Russia said that the decision to transfer the mandate will be made in the near future.