Mayors representing United Russia staged a demarche against the governor of the Irkutsk region, communist Sergei Levchenko, at yesterday's meeting of the regional council. 31 mayors demanded that the agenda be changed, saying that the items proposed by the governor were no longer relevant. At the same time, a wave of “black PR” against Levchenko swept through the local media.
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Political scientist Oleg Bondarenko believes that the escalation of the struggle in Irkutsk is due to the fact that the communist governor is demonstrating success in governing the region (the increase in regional budget revenue was 117% from last year), so it is extremely important for opponents to undermine the leader’s position.
“The governor of the Irkutsk region was elected by the population. Sergei Levchenko’s confident victory in the elections reflected the sentiments of citizens. In this regard, it was extremely inconvenient for the party in power - Levchenko turned out to be the only governor in the country from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation who defeated the candidate from United Russia in the competition.
Therefore, the current struggle, various provocations are all within the framework of the laws of the political genre. But Levchenko is a man with rich political experience; he knows how to take a blow, despite all the efforts of his opponents, including in terms of “black PR.”
You need to understand that Levchenko’s position in the Irkutsk region is quite strong, it is acceptable and understandable for Moscow. And, of course, there is and cannot be any basis for rumors about the possible resignation of the governor.
And yesterday’s attempt at confrontation at the regional council is unlikely to have been agreed upon with Moscow. Most likely, this is an initiative of local United Russia functionaries trying to regain the shaken trust of Moscow bosses after losing the gubernatorial elections a year ago. But this is far from the best attempt,” Bondarenko concluded.