“I have no foundation to blush,” Kamaltynov on performance of United Russia in Tatarstan
The faction of United Russia in the Tatarstan State Council summarised five years of service in the parliament
The “party of power” to have “no much worse” votes in the upcoming election to the State Council. In the last five years, United Russia in Tatarstan has managed to address only 20% of citizens’ petitions to the regional office of United Russia. Head of the faction in the regional parliament Yury Kamaltynov said about it at a briefing. Realnoe Vremya’s correspondent also visited the meeting with the deputy.
“Indicators won’t worsen much”
United Russia party members in Tatarstan summarised their faction’s performance in the republic’s State Council on 12 July.
“I have no foundation to blush for what we do in the execution of plans, discipline, responsibility. And there is no need to criticise my colleagues,” head of the faction of United Russia in the Tatarstan parliament Yury Kamaltynov began the press conference.
It goes without saying that the issue of the upcoming election to the regional parliament interests the mass media the most. Kamaltynov reminded that in 2014 the “party of power” scored 84,2% votes. So United Russia occupied 82 out of 100 seats in the State Council.
“We will try not to worsen the indicators much,” the speaker made a careful forecast.
Later, when the press representatives asked to decipher the phrase, he was more confident. In his opinion, half of the voters are going to vote precisely for UR.
According to different research, United Russia’s rating varies from 30 to 40%. Experts note a reduction in the population’s approval of the party’s activity. However, Kamaltynov disagreed: according to his data, the lowest results were during the period from November 2018 to February 2019, while now Russians’ support of this political force has grown.
“This is the situation,” he continued. “I understand that the general background also affects the republic. So much is done in Tatarstan, including with United Russia, so in the future, we will have a firm majority in the State Council.”
Journalists inquired how would chair the faction in the next session of the State Council, United Russia’s plans and so on. However, Kamaltynov asked not to ask questions about elections “not to violate the law”.
20/80 rule
In the last five years, Tatarstan’s United Russia has had 48 joint sessions, 45 sessions of the panel. Over this period, the faction has considered 138 issues. As for news: reports of heads of the faction and party projects have become regular, State Duma deputies also began to report at general meetings, representatives of regional ministries gave speeches.
“As the faction had the absolute majority in the State Council, all committees were chaired by its members, legislative activity was on the first place. 599 bills have been considered during this period, 561 of them became laws, 130 are basic. The expert community was involved. 30 legislative initiatives were created by our colleagues and sent to the State Duma for consideration,” Kamaltynov said.
The regional office of United Russia hosted over 900 meetings and accepted over 2,500 people. The Pareto principle confirmed the effect of such approaches: only 20% of addresses got positive solutions. The other 80% — only consultation.
Over 3,200 meetings took place in local offices where more than 12,500 people came.
Strict discipline
In addition, Tatarstan United Russia created the Republican Coordination Council uniting deputies of all levels — federal, republican and municipal, which should improve the work of parliamentarians. Deputy’s Corps project was created for municipal elects: now they are trained by federal lawmakers and members of the Tatarstan Cabinet of Ministers to “increase the quality of work”.
In addition, United Russia tightened control over their party fellows. They began to especially strictly control discipline. According to Kamaltynov, over 90% of his colleagues met the requirements. And there wasn’t anybody among the members of United Russia in the State Council who deliberately missed meetings of the faction, committees, sessions.
“We don’t have skivers at all. Only one deputy of the current session doesn’t go anywhere for objective reasons,” Kamaltynov insinuated Robert Musin who is accused of Tatfondbank case (under house arrest now).
The speaker called the Strategy of Social and Economic Development of the Republic of Tatarstan through 2030 the milestone project of United Russia in the last five years. He says that Tatarstan was the first Russian region to “clearly formulate prospects of its movements in the long term”.
“We kept our promises. And the new session, as soon as it is elected, will operate in the new system,” the head of the faction concluded.