MOSCOW, December 23 «A Just Russia — For Truth (SRZP) will hold the XIII pre-election congress on Saturday at the Holiday Inn hotel in Sokolniki, where it plans to announce support for the current head of state Vladimir Putin in the 2024 Russian presidential elections, party leader Sergei Mironov has repeatedly reported.
Russian presidential elections are scheduled for March 17, 2024. Nomination of candidates from parties takes place from December 7 to January 1, self-nomination — until December 27.
United Russia and the Liberal Democratic Party have already held their congresses and nominated candidates: the current President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, and the chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party, Leonid Slutsky. The congress of the New People party will take place on December 24; party members are keeping their candidate a secret for now. On Saturday, the Communists will also officially nominate their candidate. The support of the plenum of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation for the candidacy of State Duma deputy Nikolai Kharitonov became known this week.
What will happen at the congress As noted in the party’s Telegram channel on Thursday, participants in the congress will be Mironov, State Duma deputies, members of the Federation Council, as well as leaders and representatives of regional branches of the SRZP, leadership and activists of the party’s youth wing, representatives of volunteer and public organizations, famous political scientists and cultural figures. As part of the congress, it is planned to nominate and support Putin as a candidate for the presidency of the Russian Federation in the upcoming presidential elections in 2024.
In November, the SRZP announced a collection of program proposals from regional branches and the public for Russian President Vladimir Putin; it was reported that they would also be discussed at the party’s pre-election congress on December 23, following which they would be formalized in a resolution and handed over to the country’s leader. In addition, during the congress it is planned to present a new book by Vice-Speaker of the State Duma Alexander Babakov, “Universal Economic Machine,” as follows from the announcement published on the party’s official website.
Decisive support In February 2023, Mironov announced for the first time that at the next May party congress he would propose not to nominate a candidate from the SRZP for the presidential election and to support the current President Vladimir Putin. So, in May, at the XII Party Congress, such a decision was made based on voting results. After this, Mironov repeatedly voiced the party’s intentions at press approaches.
Last week, Mironov reported that the SRZP announced a collection of orders for its presidential candidate, Putin, and at that time several thousand orders had already been received. Last Saturday, Mironov also took part in a meeting of the initiative group of voters to nominate Putin for the upcoming elections in Zaryadye Park. On the same day, he also confirmed his intention to support Putin at a meeting of the leaders of the Duma factions with the president.
In December, the SRZP also submitted a bill to the State Duma proposing that parties that do not nominate their own presidential candidates support a self-nominated candidate or a candidate nominated by another party. In this case, the presidential candidate who receives such support receives the right to include this information on the ballot.
Following the results of the large annual press conference, which was combined with the direct line on December 14, Mironov told reporters that he was once again convinced that the Socialist Revolutionaries were making the right decision to support Putin as a presidential candidate.
Who was the candidate from the Socialist Revolutionaries? Previously, the SRZP already supported candidates not from its party. So in 2008, the Socialist Revolutionaries supported the current chairman of the United Russia party, Dmitry Medvedev, and in 2018 — Putin. The party leader himself, Mironov, participated in the presidential race in 2004 and 2012 and both times took last place, receiving 0.75% and 3.85% of the votes, respectively. In 2004, he was nominated from the Russian Party of Life, and in 2012 from A Just Russia. The latter was formed in 2006 after the merger of the Rodina party, the Russian Party of Life and the Russian Party of Pensioners. SRZP in its current form arose only in 2021, when an agreement was signed uniting the parties “A Just Russia”, “For Truth” and “Patriots of Russia”.