Volunteers at the New People party congress wearing eye-catching party merchandise. Photo from the party’s Telegram channel.
The New People (NP) party held its sixth congress in St Petersburg on March 5. As expected, party leader Alexey Nechayev used his speech to criticise the growing number of restrictions, striking a tone that at times hinted at a more anti-establishment stance. The approach is also reflected in the party’s programme manifesto, ‘12 Steps to a Country You Want to Live In’. Yet the party’s campaign strategy, aimed largely at urban voters, is likely to focus less on opposing restrictions outright and more on reacting swiftly to them in the public and information space. Judging by current trends, there will be no shortage of opportunities for that this year.
The party framed the congress in Russia’s northern capital, St Petersburg, as a celebration of its sixth anniversary. The event had a festive feel, with party merchandise heavily promoted both at a special anniversary display and by volunteers circulating around the congress venue.
In stark contrast to the celebratory mood, media coverage of the gathering of party members from across the country was strikingly sparse, almost to the point of seeming deliberate. The party’s own media channels kept reporting on the congress to a minimum, while state news agencies were even more restrained. Notably, the customary greeting from the head of state to a parliamentary party congress was not delivered by Sergey Kiriyenko, First Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Administration, as has been the case at similar events for parties such as the Communist Party or A Just Russia.
Alexander Kharichev, head of the Presidential Directorate for Monitoring and Analysis of Social Processes, attended the New People congress as a guest. He is currently among the officials shaping the scenario for the upcoming State Duma elections. In his message to the party congress, the Russian president said: ‘Party representatives are making a constructive contribution to the work of the State Duma, regional legislatures and local self-government bodies. They place particular emphasis on key issues such as the development of science, education and healthcare, the introduction of advanced technologies, support for entrepreneurship, including among young people, and the promotion of healthy lifestyles.’ The message added that Russia’s youngest party has already gained solid experience and, ‘through initiatives that reflect the demands of the times, has earned the trust of a significant number of citizens.’
The Russian president also singled out the party’s readiness to work constructively with other political forces and civic groups, praising its emphasis on political consolidation. Kharichev, for his part, wished the party success in living up to its slogan: ‘Dream, love, create.’ State Duma Deputy Speaker Vladislav Davankov, meanwhile, offered what sounded like the first campaign promise to voters: that they would be surprised. Yet aside from the unexpected sight of model-looking young women recruited as the congress’s campaign promoters, most of the news from the sixth New People congress merely confirmed earlier leaks and predictions. For instance, it had already been reported that the party’s top three candidates would again be Nechayev and Davankov, joined by State Duma lawmaker Sardana Avksentyeva. It also emerged that political strategist Darya Kislitsyna would be formally brought into the party and tasked with working on its political strategy.
As Nezavisimaya Gazeta had anticipated, Nechayev used the congress to deliver sharply critical remarks about a range of bans: a prediction that, in truth, was hardly difficult to make. The paper’s expectation that the party would focus less on fighting new restrictions outright and more on responding to them swiftly in the information space also proved correct, with such reactions doubling as campaign messaging. The congress nevertheless left one question hanging: whether New People will be allowed to maintain the same level of rhetorical sharpness during the election campaign. The party leader, for example, made the following remark: ‘We have opposed blockings and bans. The increase in the conscription age. Total control over the internet and violence. If you think that was pointless, think again. Why are platforms slowed down rather than blocked? Why haven’t abortions been banned? Why can students still decide where to work instead of being assigned jobs by the state? Because every madness has its limit, and someone has to hold that line’
The programme manifesto adopted at the congress, ‘12 Steps to a Country You Want to Live In’, calls for ‘a notification-based system instead of a permit regime, from opening a business to organising a public event, as well as a complete ban on the pre-trial freezing of bank accounts belonging to citizens and businesses.’ On the IT sector, the document argues that online restrictions should be ‘targeted and justified rather than sweeping’: ‘Content that genuinely threatens security should be blocked. Everything else should be dealt with by other means.’ In short, during the election campaign New People is likely to push rhetoric aimed at attracting urban voters, particularly younger ones, both through the substance of its platform and by offering what appears to be a chance to vote for a political force positioned in opposition to the current political status quo.
