Parties choose their leading candidates for the Duma election
Rumor has it that former Motherland co-leader Sergei Glaziev may have agreed to head the Patriots of Russia party’s candidate list. Motherland’s other founding father, Dmitri Rogozin, seems unlikely to participate in this year’s Duma election at all.
The United Russia party’s leaders have approved a preliminary list of 1,246 potential Duma candidates; this will be narrowed down to 600 by autumn. The big names used as “steam engines” on the party’s regional candidate lists are likely to include several federal ministers (Alexander Zhukov, Alexei Gordeyev, Yuri Trutnev), regional leaders, city mayors, star athletes (Alina Kabayeva, Svetlana Khorkina, Elena Isinbayeva, I. Rodnina, Elena Vyalbe, Svetlana Zhurova), ballerina Svetlana Zakharova, and General Vladimir Shamanov.
In the meantime, rumor has it that former Motherland (Rodina) co-leader Sergei Glaziev may have agreed to head the Patriots of Russia party’s candidate list. The gossip even names the sum of money allegedly promised to Glaziev ($1.5 million), although there’s no proof of such a deal, of course. It had been reported earlier that Glaziev might be one of the top three candidates on Just Russia’s list. Now it seems that Patriots of Russia, like the Communist Party, is making an effort to counter Just Russia’s popularity with left-wing voters.
Motherland’s other founding father, Dmitri Rogozin, seems unlikely to participate in this year’s Duma election at all. According to our sources, the Justice Ministry has received orders from the top: Rogozin’s new party, Great Russia, will be denied registration.
