Glaziev presidential aspirations could destroy the Rodina Bloc

Russian Journal ^ | January 15, 2004

[RussianConservative]

MOSCOW – The Rodina (Motherland) Bloc, which surprised everybody by its unexpectedly high results at the parliamentary election on Dec. 7, seems set to surprise everyone again — this time by the speed of its disintegration.

Citing members of the young political bloc with brazen nationalistic ideas, Nezavisimaya Gazeta claims that Rodina has one or two weeks more to live as united political entity. According to the paper, several party members have attributed the internal wrangling among party leaders — Sergei Glaziev, a candidate for the presidency, and Dmitry Rogozin — who are currently on bad terms with each other. “They hardly say hello to one another,” the sources said.

Observers have attributed the reason for the fallout to Glaziev’s self-nomination bid for the presidency, despite the fact that Rodina has already selected Viktor Gerashchenko, former Central Bank president, as its official candidate for the Kremlin’s No. 1 post.

The official explanation of two candidates from one party was that Glaziev would be a backup candidate, in case the Central Electoral Commission refuses to register Gerashchenko for the presidential election slated for March 14. However, the reason was that most bloc members had wanted Glaziev to be the only, and therefore, were against Gerashchenko’s nomination right from the very start.

On the other hand, Rogozin’s upporters had objected to Glaziev’s nomination mainly because the Kremlin allegedly did not support the idea. According to press reports, one of such supporters had allegedly said that Glaziev’s presidential ambitions could draw anger from the Kremlin, thus making Rodina to lose favors such as certain positions in the State Duma and the government, which its members had hoped to get being loyal to the Kremlin.

“No conflict with the president” was promised to the Bloc sponsors, another member claims, and now “those sponsors now feel swindled”. At present, many members are reportedly ready to leave the bloc, according to the Nezavisimaya Gazeta.

Political observers have also mentioned Ragozin’s personal ambitions as another probable reason for the brewing disagreement in the party. According to this hypothesis, Glaziev might become a more powerful figure after the presidential election, especially, if he comes second, and would therefore, demand more power within his party. Ragozin, they argued, will not be happy with such arrangement.