By News Room
Matveev opened up about his non-appearance in the gubernatorial election during a stream with his constituents on April 19.
One of the most active deputies of the State Duma, the communist Samara Mikhail Matveev has announced that he will not participate in the September gubernatorial elections. He said Governor Dmitry Azarov and “partly the presidential administration” would not let him participate in the elections because Matveev could generate “too much interest” or even win the election.
Azarov has already received Vladimir Putin’s approval to be nominated for a new term. At the same time, the Communists sometimes still put forward notable personalities for the elections. For example, in Moscow, against Sergei Sobyanin, the Communist Party sent the grandson of its leader, Leonid Zyuganov.
Matveev opened up about his non-appearance in the gubernatorial election during a stream with his constituents on April 19.
He explained this by saying that he was “not allowed to participate in the campaign”.
“Apparently, Azarov and partly the presidential administration don’t care that the elections are illegitimate and ridiculous. That is, when the parties appoint extras of the second level of importance who will play the rivals of Azarov,” said Matveev.
He called the elections themselves “a strange wartime story”:
“On the one hand, they are afraid of popular unrest, on the other hand, they show that everything is fine and calm, even in the new territories we are holding a vote.”
Matveev explained that, contrary to the wishes of the governor of the Samara region, no one could move forward. The reason is the municipal filter.
“None of the parties has enough local elected officials to overcome it. Therefore, in any case, they need the signatures of United Russia, which they cannot receive without Azarov’s approval,” he said.
At the same time, Matveev believes that the governor of Samara “can be defeated”, because he has accumulated many errors, “more systemic”. As an example, he cited the story of a new road bridge in the Togliatti region, which could “plant the budget of the Samara region” by 60 billion rubles.
Dmitry Azarov. Photo: kremlin.ru “And if fewer cars pass through it than what is written in the agreement with the dealer, the budget will compensate for the difference. It’s a striking move for an “effective manager”, Matveev said.
Additionally, he listed other miscalculations by the governor: “Trash reform, subway, overhaul, you can still bend your fingers.” Matveev believes he could have gained “too much interest” and even “won the election” if “something went wrong” with Azarov’s team.
Mikhail Matveev, from Ukrainian Dnepropetrovsk, is one of the brightest lawmakers in the Communist Party faction of the current convocation. He entered the State Duma in 2021, after winning the elections in the single-mandate industrial district of the Samara region. His opponent was the authoritative United Russia, Hero of Russia Igor Stankevich. Matveev got more than 36% of the vote, Stankevich – just over 34%.
At the same time, United Russia was not an extra: in the United Russia primaries, he lost to famous Samara businessman Alexander Mileev. But after internal party intrigues, the party still supported the hero, not the entrepreneur. It is possible that the “gambling lobby” played a role in this decision: Stankevich, together with United Russia deputy from the Rostov region, Viktor Deryabkin, lobbied for the adoption of a law regulating the activities of bookmakers. Their proposals included the creation of a single operator for this activity and the reduction of targeted levies on bookmakers for the development of sport. After the scandal broke, the bill was not passed. But the sediments remained.
Igor Stankevich. Photo: State Duma website Matveev quickly launched a public activity in the State Duma, constantly broadcasting from the meeting room and giving pointed comments on a variety of topics discussed in parliament. As a result, according to experts, he entered the top 25 of the most effective deputies of the State Duma. Only United Russia and a great friend of the Russian guard, Alexander Khinshtein, is above him from Samarans.
The communists of the Samara region have really serious positions. In 2021, in the last Provincial Duma elections, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation won 20.44% of the vote, doubling its faction in parliament from five to ten deputies.
The Communists also came second in the State Duma elections held simultaneously: the party won 18.95% of the vote with United Russia’s 49.84%, which Azarov personally led in the elections. With the gubernatorial elections, the Communist Party turned out, however, much more modestly.
In 2018, the first secretary of the regional committee, Aleksey Leskin, obtained only 9.99% of the vote, while Azarov, according to the electoral commission, was then supported by 72.63% of the voters. It is Leskin who in the Communist Party is called the leading candidate for participation in the gubernatorial elections. At least the Communist Party’s second person, Central Committee Vice Chairman Yuri Afonin, spoke about it a few weeks ago. He clarified that the final decision has not yet been made, and in addition to Leskin, Matveev’s name is also called, but the party still tends towards the first option.
Alexei Leskin. Photo: Communist Party website For now, I assume that I will not be the candidate,” Matveev said.
Relations between Matveev and the regional committee are obviously not looking cloudless.
“The party has not announced yet, it will be in June, I do not know who will be chosen as the candidate, but for now I assume that it will not be me. It is up to each person to decide whether it makes sense to go to elections that don’t exist.
The other day, a member of the Samara regional committee of the Communist Party, Viktor Guzhov, said that Leskin, along with several other party members, were “working against Matveev”. In particular, he collected signatures from the leaders of the district committees for a complaint to the Central Committee and the Chairman of the State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin. Like, Leskin, “disgraces the party with his statements.” As a result of the proceedings, Matveev received a reprimand. And Leskin from Guzhov – the status “of a man of the Samara oligarchs.” Which Matveev, in his own words, is not a friend at all.
“When I meet the same Mileev, he hugs me – but you don’t know if he’s hugging me or if he wants to strangle me,” the communist joked.
Perhaps the refusal to appoint Matveev is also due to the fact that Dmitry Azarov recently openly received approval for his re-election personally from Vladimir Putin. However, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation does not always put forward pale figures for the next elections in September, even in the face of candidates clearly approved by the president. For example, on April 19 it became known that the party will nominate for the election of the mayor of Moscow against Sergei Sobyanin not someone, but the grandson of Gennady Zyuganov, the deputy of the capital Leonid Zyuganov. Moreover, the mayor’s office expected to see Vadim Kumin, a much lesser known and more “understandable” oligarch from the Moscow region and State Duma deputy, as the candidate of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation. However, the Communist Party of such turns can only harm.
“It is enough to start a rumor that if Zyuganov Jr. gets second place, he will replace Zyuganov Sr. as head of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, because he will collapse to last place among the candidates,” political scientist Konstantin Kalachev ironically.
Konstantin Kalachev Mikhail Matveev himself seems disappointed by the very idea of electing governors. When asked by a voter if such elections were necessary, he replied as follows:
“To go to such elections, where everything is clear in advance, or not – everyone decides for themselves. I think it might be better to appoint governors. But before that, transfer a significant part of the powers to the municipal level. Regional leaders should not have such power!
Author: Nikolai Troinin
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