Photo: RIA Novosti
Party New People
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Russian media call the New People party one of the projects of the presidential administration.
The main sensation of the Russian elections, if sensations are possible there at all, is the entry into the State Duma of the New People party. She was added to the permanent 4 political forces represented in parliament since 2007. The party overcame the 5% barrier, gaining about 5.35% of the vote and thus taking fifth place. According to preliminary estimates, the New People will be able to hold 13 deputies to the Duma.
What a party
New people appeared in 2020, the party is headed by the founder of the Faberlic company Alexei Nechaev. Before the Duma elections, the party participated in several regional campaigns. Russian media called it one of the projects of the presidential administration.
The party was consulted by political strategists close to the Kremlin, in particular Yevgeny Minchenko. The party’s program itself was focused on city dwellers of center-right views, that is, on potential supporters of non-systemic opposition. In particular, it contains a demand to repeal the most repressive laws. At the same time, the party avoids criticism of Vladimir Putin.
In an interview with TheNewYorkTimes, Nechaev said that New People is not a project of the Kremlin, but added that the party does not violate three unspoken bans that would prevent it from being registered: they do not directly criticize Putin and his family, do not organize protests and do not receive funding due to frontier.
About Alexei Navalny, the leader of Novyi people said: “The advantages of Navalny are that he is a good journalist, an investigator – he is very useful. But one of the values of our party is respect. For some reason Navalny simply calls us names for some reason.”
Navalny’s supporters call the New People a Kremlin party and a spoiler, they urged not to vote for this party on party lists.
Prominent people
In addition to Nechaev himself, New people during the current election campaign were represented by the former mayor of Yakutsk, Sadana Avksentyeva, who was not a party in the past. She ranks second on the party list in the elections.
Sardana Avksentyeva explained the success of the New People by the fact that the party is pursuing a new policy. “These are modern standards of communication, so you are now observing a new policy, new standards of interaction between the authorities and society,” she said.
Program
On the eve of the elections, the New People are most actively promoting their reform of the tax system. The party proposes to replace three taxes for enterprises – VAT, income tax and insurance premiums – with a single turnover tax. The party believes that this could increase the real wages of Russians by 20%. SPbSUE specialists helped to work on the initiative.
In the main provisions of the New People’s program, there is a moderate criticism of the authorities without becoming personal. The party points out that the voices of ordinary Russians are not represented in the government, there is a demand for change, and state propaganda creates images of enemies surrounding Russia and does not accept protests.
The program says that the party opposes censorship – in particular, against laws on extremism and insult to government officials, and for freedom of peaceful assembly, rehabilitation of political prisoners, cancellation of sentences for economic crimes and the abolition of Roskomnadzor.
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