The number of those wishing to help the United Russia Party with their ideas continues to increase each day.
On June 2, Deputy Prime Minister Vyacheslav Volodin will hold another meeting with the leaders of public organisations which have joined the Russian Popular Front. In all, nearly 450 organisations have joined. The number almost equals that of State Duma deputies and exceeds the quota for public organisations stipulated by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on the United Russia ticket almost three-fold. Members of the front are clear about their approach. They are ready to promote their ideas and candidates in the regions. Analysts say the front is primarily needed to swell the electorate of the pro-Kremlin United Russia Party headed by Vladimir Putin.
Work to establish the Russian Popular Front is in an advanced stage. Vyacheslav Volodin in charge of the front's headquarters is to meet with the leaders of the national member-organisations today. On June 1, Dmitry Peskov, Vladimir Putin's press secretary, said Volodin will then meet with new people from regional and grass-roots organisations affiliated with the front and consider new initiatives. "As of today, the front comprises 16 national organisations and 429 regional, inter-regional and local organisations," Peskov who oversees the front's information policy said. He said another 173 applications addressed to Vladimir Putin have been received.
Peskov said the pro-Putin front will not only include major organisations but will also expand into the regions. The task is to involve even unregistered organisations which are viewed as the front's potential supporters. This also implies those unregistered organisations, members of the "constructive opposition", such as the Rutty Pskov Roads online community, whose leader talked to the Prime Minister during the latter's trip to the Pskov Region. (For more information, read the paper's May 24 issue). The front also continues to admit well-known persons: Doctor Leonid Roshal in charge of the National Medical Chamber has also voiced his desire to join the front.
Vladimir Putin has promised to allocate 150 seats for all organisations on the United Russia ticket. But this number is obviously insufficient. However, Peskov assured the paper that everyone will be able to take part in the State Duma primaries, due to be organised by United Russia. He said federal, regional and even municipal organisations have an equal opportunity. The rest will be able to take part in the elections at different levels.
Members of the front's headquarters met June 1 to discuss public-opinion leaders who will work with the population, and some of whom could run in the primaries. One of the front's leaders said trade unions, teachers, and Business Russia have already submitted such lists. Valery Ryazansky, a member of the front's Coordinating Council from the Union of Russian Pensioners, said he had listed 111 public-opinion leaders who can work with retirees. He said they are still being selected in the regions, and that June 15 is the final deadline. Ryazansky said at least 50 union members could take part in the primaries.
Other public organisations are doing the same. Business Russia Vice President Nikolai Ostarkov, who coordinates work with the front, said the organisation's activists are to discuss the lists with Vyacheslav Volodin on Friday.
"We don't see the compiling of lists as an end in itself. It is our purpose to discuss the modernisation programme and Vladimir Putin's initiatives," Valentina Ivanova, a member of the front's coordinating council from the National Teachers' Assembly, told the paper.
Analysts say the front is primarily intended to rebrand United Russia and Putin. Boris Makarenko, board chairman at the Centre for Political Technology, is confident that the front's creation was motivated by corporate state logic when public discussion is channeled inside an integral entity, rather than the inter-partisan format and thus becomes controllable.
In reality, the front's participants are quite heterogeneous, said Mikhail Vinogradov, president of the St Petersburg Politics Fund. He noted that the status of United Russia and the front's founding members differs from that of rank-and-file participants who will be used during the election campaign. In the long run, the very same people will make it into the corridors of power, said Yevgeny Suchkov, the director of the Institute of Electoral Technology. Vinogradov said the front's continued development depends on who will run for president.
Maxim Ivanov and Maria-Louisa Tirmaste
