UNITED RUSSIA IGNORES THE PARTY OF LIFE IN LIPETSK

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 MOSCOW 011172 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS DEPT FOR EUR/RUS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL KDEM RS SUBJECT: UNITED RUSSIA IGNORES THE PARTY OF LIFE IN LIPETSK MOSCOW 00011172 001.2 OF 003 -------------- SUMMARY -------------- ¶1. (SBU) Lipetsk oblast and city are tightly controlled by United Russia Governor Oleg Korolyev. Oblast regional elections will be held on October 8 and it is widely believed in Lipetsk that YR will win a decisive majority. While the Communist Party (KPRF) continues to have loyal followers, it appears to be losing ground. The Russian Party of Pensioners (RPP) and the Russian Party of Life (RPL) contend that their parties have attracted some of the KPRF defectors, who live largely in the oblast's rural regions. RPL Chairman Sergey Mironov has chosen Lipetsk as the proving ground for his party, and he has made several campaign trips to the oblast. His efforts in Lipetsk seem to have the tacit blessing of the Kremlin, which has allowed the RPL to use a picture of President Putin in its campaign. While most observers predict that the RPL will not cross the 7 percent threshold to representation in the regional council, RPL believes that it will win 10-12 percent of the vote, which should translate into 4 - 6 seats on the Council. End summary. -------------- OCTOBER 8 REGIONAL ELECTIONS -------------- ¶2. (SBU) On October 8, the electorate will elect a new regional council. The last regional council election was held in April 2002. At that time, 36 single-mandate deputies were elected. The KPRF nominated 13 candidates and the LDPR - 4 candidates. Only one of those, a candidate from the KPRF, was elected. Among the remainder of those elected were 11 heads of district and city administrations. (They were elected before the law prohibiting state officials from holding office was enacted, and were therefore allowed to retain their jobs in the administration.) In by-elections held in April 2004, candidates from both RPL and YR ran, but were not elected. ¶3. (SBU) At stake in the October 8 election are 28 single-mandate seats and 28 party-list seats. Deputy Chairman of the Regional Election Commission (REC) Boris Lunev explained that single-mandate seats remained because the oblast had announced its election prior to enactment of the federal law eliminating them. The number of seats in the council has been increased from 38 to 56. To get on the ballot, single-mandate candidates must collect valid signatures from two percent of the voting population, or about 640 signatures. If the REC finds all the signatures are valid then the candidate is included on the ballot. Once accepted, the REC can remove a candidate only with the court's concurrence. ¶4. (SBU) Mark Goldman and Vasiliy Rodionov of the Lipetsk Association of Human Rights alluded to problems with the REC during the last election. In a separate meeting, Russian Party of Pensioners representative Lyudmila Yaskova told us that the difficulties with the REC lay in getting petition signatures approved. Union of Right Forces (SPS) representative Oleg Diachkin was philosophical about not running in this election, claiming that administrative resources make it impossible for competitors to compete with the incumbent parties. He vowed, however, that SPS would be active in the Duma elections next year. -------------- ELECTIONS MAKE LITTLE MEDIA DENT -------------- ¶5. (SBU) There are few signs on the street that Lipetsk is in the middle of an election campaign, let alone one that is predicted to be the litmus test of RPL Sergei Mironov's political viability. Public buildings have simple signs announcing the October 8 election. Plekhanov Square, a major intersection, has one large billboard featuring YR and the slogan "we're together." The billboard is dominated by a local statue of Peter the Great, which was apparently commissioned not long ago by YR. On a nearby sidestreet is a YR billboard depicting an ambulance and bearing the slogan "for the President's national projects." Such billboards are few. The majority of advertising is in the form of posters stuck to lampposts. While LDPR reigns over the space in front of the Central Department Store, most lampposts bear YR posters featuring a teacher; and many of these have been pasted over the RPL campaign literature. A picture of Mironov MOSCOW 00011172 002.2 OF 003 with Putin, about which there has been much national media interest, bears the quote "the Party of Life is a good sign for Russia" but no explicit endorsement. ¶6. (SBU) The local television station is bereft of political advertising. Although our interlocutors told us that there was advertising in the morning and in the evening, one would need to watch assiduously in order to catch it. Lunev explained that oblast-sponsored advertising was allocated on a calculus related to the number of signatures a candidate got. Otherwise, according to Yaskova, the cost is prohibitively expensive. -------------- UNITED RUSSIA -------------- ¶7. (SBU) YR, especially within the oblast administration, reacted defensively to Poloff's visit. Anatoliy Larin of the oblast administration asked how we had found people with whom to meet. He worried that we were there to make insinuations about a lack of democracy. Larin claimed that no problems existed, and that everyone was happy with the status quo. Every issue, Larin said, was exhaustively debated and consensus was reached before proceeding. Rodionov separately agreed that everything was discussed, but insisted that YR made all the decisions. ¶8. (SBU) The YR party representatives with whom we met are young and appear to be being groomed for power. Aleksei Demikov, head of the local Molodaya Gvardiya (MG) arm of YR claimed that MG had over 2000 members and told us that it was active in universities, orphanages, and schools. According to him, young people are attracted to it because it is an avenue for self-actualization. As Demikov described MG, it is less a means to spark the political interest of youth and more of a club, where youth can gain experiences they otherwise would not have. Demikov said that banks and enterprises finance MG activities as a form of advertisement. He was not willing to name the chief sponsors. ¶9. (SBU) Valeriy Zhybenko, a local YR representative, who had spent some time in Chicago, described YR's campaign as highly personalized. YR campaign workers meet potential voters individually and endeavor to solve their problems. According to Zhybenko, campaign financing is no problem. (It is clear from the location of YR headquarters --steps from the oblast administration building and undergoing complete renovation-- that there is no lack of money, and a belief that YR will remain in power after October 8.) Both Demikov and Zhybenko rated RPL's chance of success as zero and agreed that the number of KPRF voters was dwindling. -------------- PARTY OF LIFE -------------- ¶10. (SBU) On the contrary, the regional representatives of the RPL, Sergei Grushevskiy and Larissa Ksenofontova, expressed confidence that their party would win 10 - 12 percent of the vote, or 4 - 6 seats. Money is "no problem" they said. It flows from the RPL's Moscow headquarters. When asked why they were confident of a win, Ksenofontova quoted Mironov in contending that the RPL represented "opposition to monopolism." According to Ksenofontova, the YR is concerned with global issues, while the RPL focuses on the human dimension, although she was unable to identify which issues were global. Ksenofontova believed that YR is doing a good job, but "someone else" needed to look after the people and provide education, health care, interesting jobs, and, most importantly, help raise the birthrate. ¶11. (SBU) The RPL party list is headed by Mironov, who has made three campaign trips in the last few months. When in Lipetsk recently, Duma Speaker Boris Gryzlov told reporters that Mironov's campaign had to be taken seriously. Although Mironov told Lipetsk voters that he would not sit on the council if RPL gains representation, Mikheyev believes that, regardless, victory is key to Mironov's national political aspirations. Moscow political technologists believe Lipetsk is critical to the RPL's political future. A victory of 10 - 12 percent would provide a significant morale boost and send a clear signal to the regions that Mironov's party is being accommodated by the Kremlin in advance of the 2007 parliamentary elections. MOSCOW 00011172 003.2 OF 003 -------------- THE FATE OF THE COMMUNISTS -------------- ¶12. (SBU) All interlocutors, with the exception of YR, described a great economic gap between the city and the oblast, which is being exploited during the campaign. According to Union of Right Forces representative Oleg Diachkin, rural voters are regularly told by the oblast administration that if they do not vote "correctly," they will not be allotted a new tractor or continued subsidies. The opposition, on the other hand, seeks to exploit increasing dissatisfaction within the agricultural sector to win votes. Although rural voters have historically backed the Communist Party (KPRF),rival parties agree that the increasingly extreme stance taken by the KPRF's Lipetsk branch has alienated traditional supporters. Sergey Mikheyev of the Center for Political Technologies told us that such alienation plays into the hands of the Presidential Administration, one of whose underlying goals is to chip away at support for the KPRF in this historically "red" region. -------------- RUSSIA'S BEST-BUILT CITY -------------- ¶13. (SBU) As befits a city that was recently named the best equipped and well-built Russian city, Lipetsk is clean and orderly. It boasts working fountains; well-groomed roads, children in suits and ties or plaid pinafores, and many fashionably-dressed adults. New construction is ubiquitous. A statue of Lenin surveying the valley dominates the city's central square, around which is ranged the Lipetsk Oblast Administration building and the Lenin Cathedral, currently undergoing renovation. ¶14. (SBU) Lipetsk appears to be thriving. In addition to the metallurgical plant (LMP),which employs a large percentage of the working-age population, the Governor last year won approval for a free economic zone, and a white goods plant had since been built. According to the SPS's Diachkin, investors benefit from tax breaks, but each deal is negotiated individually. Relations between Governor Korolyev's administration and the center are civil, he said, and there is little wrangling over the terms offered prospective investors. The Oblast Administration's Larin claimed that Lipetsk is financially independent of the center and averred that, unlike elsewhere in Russia, the oblast economy is not tied to oil. Yaskova of the RPP agreed, but thought too much of the oblast's revenues were being siphoned off by the center. More should be retained to subsidize the agricultural sector and support medical care, she thought, especially the escalating costs of medicine. ¶15. (SBU) Ethnic minorities are not in evidence. Goldman told Emboff that it is very difficult for minorities to obtain permission to live in Lipetsk. Sergei Mikheyev of the Center of Political Technologies described the oblast as one of the most homogenous in Russia. -------------- COMMENT -------------- ¶16. (SBU) The oblast administration has firm control over the economics and politics of Lipetsk. For the moment, many of its citizens are content with the improving standard of living, and the parties contesting this election seem to have adjusted their strategies accordingly. While non-incumbents face greater challenges in electoral participation, the oblast has not refused to include any of the major parties on the ballot. The Lipetsk election can be viewed as a referendum on the Kremlin's efforts to establish a managed, two-party system. While the RPL clearly believes that Lipetsk is their moment, YR may not have gotten the memo. BURNS