Chairman of the Supreme Council of Khakassia Vladimir Shtygashev left the United Russia party, in which he was a member for more than 15 years, and will go to the autumn elections on the list of the Communist Party. The head of the republic, Valentin Konovalov, spoke about the creation of such a union in his Telegram channel.
“Today, the delegates of the <conference of the Khakass branch of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation> unanimously approved candidates for deputies of the Supreme Council of the Republic of Khakassia of the VIII convocation. <…> At the head of the party list, the delegates nominated me and the chairman of the Supreme Council of the Republic of Kharkiv, Vladimir Nikolayevich Shtygashev.”
Shtygashev himself did not comment on his nomination after the conference, confining himself to a statement on the current political agenda and support for Vladimir Putin <the conference was held on June 24, at the height of the armed rebellion of Wagner PMC – The Insider> .
Political analysts and experts commenting on Shtygashev’s transition to the Communist Party agree that this is a loss for United Russia and a great support for the head of Khakassia, who will have to fight for re-election in September Abakan). President of the Center for the Development of Regional Policy Ilya Grashchenkov, in a commentary to Kommersant, said that he considers the change of party guidelines by Vladimir Shtygashev "an unprecedented event", since "not once in the last ten years, at least a speaker-level figure has moved from one party to another, especially from "United Russia" in the Communist Party".
“Specifically in Khakassia, this makes the Communist Party of the Russian Federation the party of power and strengthens the position of Konovalov. The victory of the opposition candidate will lead to the fact that Khakassia will remain the last region where the communists hold power in a non-coordinated way, as in the Oryol or Ulyanovsk regions, namely due to the broad support of the population.”
Representatives of United Russia have not yet commented on the loss of Shtygashev, who left for competitors.
Vladimir Shtygashev, 83, is one of the oldest and most experienced active Russian regional politicians. He has headed the Supreme Soviet of Khakassia since its inception in 1992. Shtygashev headed the Supreme Council under five heads of the executive branch of the republic, starting from Vladislav Torosov and ending with Valentin Konovalov. The faction of "United Russia" in the Armed Forces, which Shtygashev headed immediately after its creation, now has 21 deputies. The parliament of Khakassia consists of 50 deputies, so United Russia does not have a majority in it.
In June 2023, Shtygashev announced that he was leaving United Russia, explaining his decision by his unwillingness to be with "unworthy" people:
“Today I am a complete supporter of President Vladimir Putin. Complete. All officials began to stick there <to “United Russia”>. Who wants a career, get something. And I hate it all. I can't be there. All sorts of unworthy people there. Therefore, you need to cleanse yourself. But we do not have the institution of suspension of party membership. So they can stop without leaving. But then we will be excluded. I have never been expelled from any party, and I was in only one party – the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
Konovalov took over as head of the republic in 2018, unexpectedly beating United Russia party Viktor Zimin in the first round, and in the second round, after the voluntary withdrawal of all other candidates in turn, gaining 57.57% of the vote with the required 50%. At first, Shtygashev had a rather complicated relationship with the young governor. The speaker of the Supreme Council told reporters that in both the first and second rounds he voted against Konovalov.
Less than a year after Konovalov was elected, Shtygashev said in an interview with a local TV channel:
“The baggage that was accumulated in previous years will soon be squandered. Therefore, I would like the head of the republic to finally start working. And most importantly, make your own decisions. Not what the puppeteers would tell him. I still express the hope that some kind of responsibility will speak in him. You can choose at least someone – even a teddy bear, even Gena the crocodile – but who will work?
Over time, however, the political positions of the United Russia Shtygashev and the communist Konovalov began to converge. After Sergei Sokol headed United Russia in Khakassia in the spring of 2022, and in the fall of the same year he was elected to the State Duma with the support of the party, the United Russia faction in the Supreme Council, led by the speaker, began to actively oppose the policy of the head of the republic, which caused a sharp criticism of Shtygashev. In April 2023, United Russia deputies refused to vote for a report on the work of the governor in 2022, after which Shtygashev announced that he would “complain” about them to Dmitry Medvedev. “Each MP has his own opinion. No one was hired to be servants and slaves. I'll call Medvedev, the chairman of the party. The punk here was joking. There are no elections yet, but the election campaign has already begun, stop, there will be justice for everyone, ”Shtygashev said at a meeting of the council.
