Communist Grudinin surfaced in Khakassia

The Communist Party of the Russian Federation is trying to knock out a candidate with a well-known surname from the race for the post of head of Khakassia.

On Tuesday, Khakassia’s electoral committee failed to make a decision on the registration of the candidate for the head of the republic from the “Communists of Russia” Vladimir Grudinin. The Communist Party of the Russian Federation, whose governor Valentin Konovalov claims a second term, claims that the namesake of the director of the state farm. Lenin Pavel Grudinin (in 2018 he took second place in the presidential elections in the Russian Federation) did not formally leave one Communist Party to run for another. Vladimir Grudinin himself assures that he left the Communist Party of the Russian Federation back in 2020. The Central Election Commission (CEC) will have to resolve the controversial situation. It is likely to be in favor of the candidate.

Candidate for the post of head of Khakassia Vladimir Grudinin

Photo: Election Commission of the Republic of Khakassia

On July 25, the election commission of Khakassia was unable to make a decision on the registration of Vladimir Grudinin, general director of Irbis Aviation Plant LLC, as a candidate for the post of head of the republic. A native of the Krasnoyarsk Territory living in Kazan was nominated by the Communist Party of Russia (KPKR) at the end of June. On July 16, Mr. Grudinin presented all the necessary documents to the election commission, including the signatures of 123 municipal heads and deputies. Ten days are allotted for verification of documents and making a decision on registration.

The hitch arose because of a rival organization – the Communist Party. Grigory Nazarenko, second secretary of the Republican Committee of the Communist Party, told the media that the communists informed the electoral committee that Vladimir Grudinin is a member of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, which means that he cannot run for another party. “There is no document confirming his withdrawal from our party,” said Mr. Nazarenko.

The namesake of the presidential candidate himself submitted to the election commission a statement on his withdrawal from the Communist Party, dated as early as 2020. However, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation assures that this is a fake.

At a meeting on July 25, six members of the commission voted in favor of registering a candidate from the KKKR, four members voted against, and one abstained. A decision is considered adopted if it is supported by at least eight people (a total of 14 people in the commission: two had their powers suspended, another was absent due to illness).

A similar situation developed at a meeting on July 19, when, due to the question of the party affiliation of Vladimir Grudinin and deputy Nikolai Razumov, the election commission was unable to register the list of the KPKR for the elections to the republican parliament. On July 25, the CEC working group considered the complaint of the “Communists of Russia” and tentatively adopted a draft resolution obliging the Khakassia Electoral Commission to register their list, Denis Brazauskas, the first secretary of the Republican Committee of the Communist Party of Russia, said.

According to a source in the CEC, Vladimir Grudinin “provided convincing evidence that he had not been a member of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation since 2020, and the communists themselves, in fact, confirmed this.”

A source close to the presidential administration also claims that the CEC working group has made a decision on the need to register Mr. Grudinin, and on Wednesday it will be announced at a meeting of the Central Election Commission.

As for the registration of Vladimir Grudinin as a candidate for governor, the corresponding complaint has not yet been received by the CEC. The Communist Party threatens to go to court if a positive decision is made on this issue. The communists who have gained power in Khakassia “are ridiculing the concepts of “elections”, “democracy”, “competitiveness” and “legitimacy”,” they answer in the KKKR.

Earlier, the electoral committee registered the incumbent head of the region Valentin Konovalov (KPRF), deputy of the Khakassia parliament Mikhail Molchanov (LDPR) and State Duma deputy Sergei Sokol (United Russia) for the gubernatorial elections. Two more candidates from Motherland and Just Russia – For Truth were going to take part in the elections, but did not provide the documents necessary for registration.

Chairman of the Independent Public Monitoring Association (which monitors elections), member of the HRC Alexander Brod claims that Vladimir Grudinin’s statement about his withdrawal from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation “due to disagreement with the party line”, dated July 2020, is in the public domain. The Khakass Regional Committee of the Communist Party, in fact, ignored the position of Mr. Grudinin, the expert believes.

“For some reason, it was the decision of the bureau of the Khakass branch of the Communist Party that confused the republican electoral committee,” explains Mr. Brod, adding that, in his opinion, we are talking about the use of administrative resources.

Krasnoyarsk political scientist Alexander Chernyavsky recalls that the most acute gubernatorial campaign is taking place in Khakassia, which may end in a second round. “Grudinin, if he managed to register, of course, could take a certain percentage of votes from Konovalov. But by and large, he poses a relative danger to the head of the republic, ”the expert believes.