The wave of “black PR” faced by the Governor of the Irkutsk Region Sergei Levchenko after he openly opposed raising the retirement age in Russia, this is no coincidence, since the government is trying with all its might to push through an unpopular decision. However, opponents of the “pension reform” have a chance to achieve adjustments to the bill - most likely, the authorities themselves are now aware of this, having faced a negative reaction from society.
This was stated by experts interviewed by PolitNavigator.
“Any politician who today publicly speaks out against the pension reform will be hit on the head by the state-controlled media, because this is contrary to the “general line of the party.” We know what kind of pressure the leadership of United Russia puts on local regional deputies so that they vote for the pension reform, but can you imagine the pressure on governors if they speak out publicly,” political scientist Ruslan Ostashko comments on Levchenko’s public demarche.
His colleague Boris Mezhuev believes that the Irkutsk governor has a greater opportunity to express his position and defend the interests of the region's population as a governor elected from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation.
“Governor Levchenko belongs to the Communist Party, and in this sense is free in party discipline. In this sense, it is easiest for him, he is not a member of United Russia, against whom disciplinary measures announced by the party executive committee can be applied,” the expert argues.
According to Mezhuev, although Levchenko will be criticized in the United Russia media, the authorities will eventually have to revise the pension reform themselves.
“Naturally, in this sense, he is a convenient figure for criticism... But the situation is such that it needs to be somehow revised, first of all, by the party in power. To do this, she needs to come to life, declare that mechanical adoption of reform without discussion cannot happen, and abandon authoritarian methods of management.
I do not rule out that some version of the reform will be adopted one way or another. It is obvious that they tried to push it through - it’s like an order “not a step back”, everyone who is against will be shot, everyone who votes differently will be kicked out... Perhaps some kind of reciprocal initiatives are needed from the left factions regarding, perhaps, a tax for luxury or something like that,” said Boris Mezhuev.