Members elected on the party lists collectively reject the mandates
at the United Russia party. And the personal composition of the church representatives is not yet definitively known: the number of those who have rejected the mandates is growing every day. It is not clear why these people voted.
Photo: Natalia Gubernatorova
The group for the preparation of the first meeting is traditionally composed of newly elected members representing all parties that have passed to parliament (United Russia, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, the Liberal Democratic Party, the Slovak Republic and the New People). On the evening of October 4, the group's first meeting took place, the chairman of which was expected to be elected first deputy chairman of the outgoing Duma party, Alexander Zhukov's United Russia party.
Telling reporters the results of the event, he expressed the hope that the next time the group met (it is planned to be on October 8), “we will receive a specific composition of factions from the parties, the full list of members will be determined, because now it is not completely known, someone rejects the status of a representative, someone acquires him. “
I would like to believe that the “incomprehensible process of rejecting the accepted seats”, in the words of the head of the Central Election Commission, Ella Pamfil, will really end in the coming days. “I do not want to comment – voters will assess it,” Ms Pamfilova said, saying that as the “incomprehensible process” had not yet stopped, another CEC meeting would have to take place on October 7. summarize the election results …. It was previously assumed that the line could be drawn on October 4.
With that half of the Duma elected in single-member constituencies, everything was clear right after the election: there, rejecting a mandate means holding by-elections. But those elected on the basis of party lists have a chance to refuse to be a member of parliament – within five days of receiving the election notice. The mandate of “refusenik” is transferred to another in the regional list. On September 29, the CEC reported that 66 of United Russia's 126 lists did not want to go to the Duma, that is, more than half of the lion's share of them are governors and other “locomotives.” And three other communists, one ldprovets and two “new people”. Their seats were transferred to other candidates, who also had five days to think.
And on October 4, it turned out that another 12 members of United Russia did not want to take over the handed-over seats! Like hot potatoes, they dropped them further in the list. As a result, Vladimir Mashkov, a well-known actor, artistic director of the Moscow Theater Oleg Tabakov, was now offered to become a deputy. Luck came to him after Maria Revyakina, who stood before him on the Moscow regional list of “United Russia”, did not want to resign as director of the Moscow Theater of Nations. Mr Maškov now has a few days to consider whether he needs it – after all, taking over the mandate means losing the post of artistic director. Donbass Volunteer Association, former DPR Prime Minister Alexander Boroday (elected to the roster in the Rostov region, which included all Russian voters from the unrecognized republics of south-eastern Ukraine).
Former Senator Sergei Lisovsky was also found among the 12 members of United Russia who were given seats. And finally, the same Alexander Avdeev, whom President Putin appointed the acting governor of the Vladimir region on the same day! He will definitely have to resign his mandate …
The first plenary session will begin at 10 a.m. on October 12, according to a presidential decree, traditionally opened by the oldest member of the Duma and will be chaired gradually by the oldest members of all factions until a speaker is elected. On the same day, he becomes known to fill the vice-presidents in the Presidium. They will vote (approve) the list of committees, their preliminary composition, register the factions and their composition, determine the order of work for the autumn meeting.
“We anticipate that all major personnel and organizational matters will be discussed on October 12,” he said. Mr. Zhukov.
So far, according to him, only an agreement has been reached to increase the number of committees to 32 (there were 26 in the last convocation) and their names. Various sources in the parties, the Kremlin and the Duma have been calling the number “32” for two weeks. The proliferation of committees was, one might say, inevitable: there is now another faction on Okhotny, and the United Russia, with its constitutional majority (324 out of 450 seats), seems to have to comply with the president's order to share contributions with other factions and status positions for its status. offices, cars and “access” to the government or at least to the individual ministries and departments they are to provide.
However, Mr Zhukov explained the fragmentation of some committees in a different way: he said, this was due to the fact that “the structure of the committees is designed to be as close as possible to that of the federal executive”. In the last Duma, there was a committee on economic policy, industry, innovative development and entrepreneurship – and now several will appear instead: on economic policy (will work with the Ministry of Economic Development), on industry and trade (will work with the Ministry of Industry and Trade); on antitrust policy (will work with the Federal Antitrust Service) as well as small and medium-sized enterprises. Another committee to be “cut” into several sections – on physical education and sport, tourism and youth policy: instead there will be a committee on physical culture and sport, a committee on tourism and infrastructure development for tourism and a committee on youth policy .
The creation of a single committee for ecology, natural resources and environmental protection conventionally fits into this logic – because the Ministry of Natural Resources deals with both natural resources and environmental problems in the government. Although, for example, the Ministry of Agriculture is also responsible for the law on responsible animal welfare, the implementation of which was painful for the Ecological Committee at the last convocation …
The Control and Regulation Committee will be divided into two parts in a special way: and for the first time in all convocations, the organization of the Chamber's work will not be dealt with by the Committee but by the Standing Committee.
It is strange that the Committee on Federal Structure and Local Government, with the same, apparently the same functionality, has now decided to convene a Committee on Regional Policy and Local Government: mentioning that, according to the Constitution, Russia is still a federation, is clearly not very in line with the trend to strengthen centralization in country management.
However, a number of committees will remain the same and with the same names – whether or not it corresponds to the structure of the government: Committee on the Family, Women and Children, Committee on Labor and Social Policy, Committee on Construction and State Legislation, Budget and Taxation, the Financial Market Committee, the Committee on International Affairs, the Committee on Security and the Fight against Corruption, etc.
Mr Zhukov did not say in what proportion the 32 committees would be divided into factions, but it is almost certain that half of it will be taken by the United Russia. The names of the heads of the committees will finally be known in the coming days.