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The State Duma voted Wednesday to reshuffle the chairmen of
nearly a third of its committees, stripping the Communists of
eight top posts and concentrating even greater power in the hands
of centrist and liberal factions supportive of Kremlin policies.
Infuriated by the decision, the Communists immediately stepped
down from the two minor committees they had been allowed to retain
and announced that they would form a shadow Cabinet to develop
alternative state policies. "The left-wing opposition does
not plan to boycott the parliament, but refuses to accept the
crumbs of leadership ... brushed from the table by the Kremlin's
lackey," Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov told reporters.
"The left wing is going into tough opposition against the
policies of the aggressively obedient majority in the State Duma
and is forming a shadow government."
The Communists also called on their comrade, Duma Speaker Gennady
Seleznyov, to relinquish his post in protest. But Seleznyov --
whom many within his party consider a traitor for being too middle-of-the-road
-- floundered, saying he would carefully weigh his options.
As the Duma's largest faction, the Communists had held 10 chairman
posts. But under Wednesday's resolution, proposed by the Kremlin-backed
Unity faction and approved by a vote of 251-136, Zyuganov's group
lost control of seven major committees, as well as the Duma's
mandate commission, which has committee status.
After the vote, Communist deputies Nikolai Gubenko and Viktor
Zorkaltsev stepped down, respectively, as head of the committee
on culture and tourism and head of the committee on public organizations
and religious groups -- the two minor posts their faction had
been allowed to keep.
In a show of solidarity, the Communists' allies from the Agro-Industrial
Group rejected two chairmanships they had been offered -- the
committees on nationalities and on women's, family and youth affairs.
The Communists lost control of the committee on state-building,
which went to the Fatherland-All Russia faction, or OVR, as did
the committee on regional policy and the committee on agrarian
issues, which was controlled by the Agro-Industrial Group. As
a result, OVR came out the big winner with five committee chairs
instead of its earlier two.
The Union of Right Forces, or SPS, won control of two major
committees -- on economic policy and enterpreneurship and on labor
and social policy -- boosting its total from one to three.
Russia's Regions received control of the committee on industry,
construction and advanced technologies, its only chairmanship,
and the liberal opposition Yabloko faction also won its first
committee, on education and science.
Supporters of the reshuffle said the Duma's work would now become
more effective because the Communists would no longer be able
to stall bills that clash with their populist agenda.
"The changes being implemented by President Vladimir Putin
in the interests of the country's people are being sabotaged by
certain political forces led by the Communist Party," said
a statement issued by the United Russia party, which includes
Unity and OVR.
Unity Deputy Oleg Kovalyov, who heads the Duma's procedures
committee, said that the next personnel shake-up would affect
the chamber's sprawling administrative structure, or apparat,
and could begin as early as Thursday.
The Kremlin has called the repartitioning an internal Duma affair.
Slamming Putin for his unwillingness to negotiate, Zyuganov even
found some kind words to say about Putin's predecessor, Boris
Yeltsin, one of the Communists' most loathed enemies.
"Even when tipsy, Yeltsin had the courage to gather the
leaders of different factions in critical moments and look for
a solution together, rather than starting a new war," Zyuganov
said in televised remarks. "[But Putin] keeps silent in his
traditional manner."
Andrei Zakharov, vice president of the Foundation for the Development
of Parliamentarianism in Russia, said the redistribution of power
in the Duma amounted to a reversal of the January 2000 deal between
the Communists and Unity, the chamber's second largest faction.
Under that agreement, the Communists got the speaker's post and
10 of the Duma's 29 committees, while Unity got seven top committee
jobs. No procedure for distributing the posts is spelled out in
the Duma's regulations. The 2000 deal provoked fierce protests
from the four minority factions, who boycotted Duma sessions for
almost two weeks, but returned in the end having won no concessions.
"The Communists have been defeated with the same weapon
they used in 2000," Zakharov said, adding that the redistribution
of power will have a negative effect on the general disposition
of political forces in Russia.
"The situation is sad. It signals a real weakening of the
parliament, which is already weak and will retain its secondary
status," Zakharov said.
He also said the change is unlikely either to paralyze the Duma's
work or to significantly ease the passage of Kremlin-backed bills,
since the Communists had already abandoned some of their principles.
"The Communists, like no other political party, have demonstrated
their ability to compromise," he said.
See also:
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