The number of the Popular Front members who want to join the State Duma may surpass those of the United Russia party members on the party list.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin opened a meeting of the Popular Front's Federal Coordinating Council, which he currently chairs. He reminded the participants that the Front should unite those public leaders who are ready to work and who enjoy the trust of their compatriots; he referred to bloggers who are actively involved in social networking in all the regions.
The prime minister drew on the example of Alexander Vasilyev, who established the public movement, Pskov's Ruined Roads, and was also present at the meeting. Vladimir Putin commended Mr Vasilyev's initiative and recommended to gradually spread this valuable experience to the rest of the country. Activists engaged in this movement could inspect the quality of the roads and assess the practicalities of relevant budget expenses. "Currently all administrative centres in the country are involved in implementing a big project to improve courtyards and repair urban roads... Agencies like Mr. Vasilyev's can be attracted to supervise the effective use of relevant public funds," said the prime minister.
The need for people's oversight was also mentioned by Vyacheslav Lysakov, coordination council chairman of the Freedom of Choice interregional public association of motorists. In his opinion, fuel prices must be supervised. Putin, who on many occasions spoke with representatives of the oil industry about unjustified spikes in fuel prices, liked the idea. He said that "those who are trying to get too deep into people's pockets should be taught a good lesson." Putin promised to grant the proposal active support.
Also, Lysakov believed it is necessary to halt the demolition of garages in Moscow and St Petersburg for two years. In order to make an impression on the prime minister, Lysakov said that the garage that belongs to Putin's father is also under threat of demolition. "I keep a trailer there. I used to take potatoes home from my garden in that trailer," recalled Putin. He promised to deal with the situation.
Alexander Shokhin, head of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, and Boris Titov, chairman of the Business Russia national public organisation, were more concerned about the government's pending decision on whether to lower insurance premiums. Shokhin said that in order to alleviate excessive tax burden on business and to prevent a deficit of the Pension Fund, it should be merged with the National Welfare Fund. Surplus revenues from oil trading should be channeled towards paying pensions. Revenues from privatisation, which in his opinion should be pursued more aggressively, should also be channeled towards replenishing the National Welfare Fund. Shokhin urged the prime minister to address this matter as soon as possible. This decision would allow reducing taxes to 30% for large businesses and to 20% for small and medium-sized companies.
Titov disagreed. In his view, social insurance payments should be equal for all – otherwise, there would be no real incentive for further development. In order to pay lower taxes, no small or medium-sized businessperson would want to develop his or her company to expand to big business, and conversely, the owners of large businesses would be tempted to split their companies into several smaller ones. Putin's response was brief – work on this issue is being done.
Next, the meeting's participants addressed procedural issues. Prior to securing a nomination for United Russia, any member of the Russian Popular Front must first be selected in the primary elections. This procedure must be absolutely transparent, according to the prime minister.
Any public association can propose its candidates to join the United Russia party election list. Within a period of two weeks, all candidate lists will be completed and approved by the Popular Front regional quarters. The voting will begin on August 1st; electoral colleges will then consider and choose the best candidates.
50% of electors will represent the United Russia party and 50% will represent public organisations that are part of the regional coordinating councils. Voters can vote for more than one candidate. The counting boards will count the ballots and the results will be registered according to protocols and sent to the Federal Coordinating Council. Based on these protocols, a list of 600 most worthy candidates will be selected and the United Party chairman, Vladimir Putin, will submit the list to the bureau of the party's Supreme Council. Candidates will then be approved by the United Russia congress on September 3-4, 2011.
As a result, there may be more representatives of public organisations than 150 seats originally allocated by Boris Gryzlov for unaffiliated candidates. Prime minister's press-secretary Dmitry Peskov stated that only the primaries will dictate the percentage of party and unaffiliated candidates. "There may be more than 50% of candidates that are not party members," said Peskov.
Alexandra Bayazitova