On the evening of June 19, 2021, the ruling party of the Russian Federation, the "United Russia" party, at the plenary session of the Twentieth Congress, identified 5 leaders of the federal list elected by the State Duma.
They are Minister of Defence Shoigu, Minister for Foreign Affairs Lavrov, Chief Physician Of Komunalka Hospital Protchenko, Co-Chairperson of the Central Headquarters of the Russian People's Front Shmeleva and Commissioner for the Rights of the Child Kuznetsova.
Former President of the Russian Federation, Medvedev, who previously entered the list in 2011 and 2016 and became the only leader on the list, was unable to enter the list again in 2021.
In his speech, President Putin, who attended the meeting, pointed out that the federal list of united Russia parties participating in the elections should include heavyweight politicians and new faces, who should represent the most important development direction of Russia and the most important areas of people's lives. Putin then proposed the list of 5 people adopted at the meeting.
This pulls people back more than a decade, and the last time multiple politicians appeared on the list was in 2003, when it was Grezlov, Luzhkov and Shoigu who entered the list.
As for the reason why the chairman of the United Russia Party, Medvedev, is not on the list, in a sense, this may be related to the negative evaluations he accumulated when he was prime minister. The United Russia Party believes that the introduction of Medvedev at this time will have a negative impact on the election situation.
In addition, the civilian population on the list constitutes a 3/5 majority, fully demonstrating that the United Russia Party is pursuing a line of depoliticization of its ranks. Shoigu and Lavrov remain popular heavyweights in the power vertical, while Protchenko, Kuznetsova and others have become new faces in Russia's ruling party. (June 20, 2021, by Liu Peng)