New Leader to Come Up at 30th Congress, Zhirinovsky Projects
Led by Vladimir Zhirinovsky, the Liberal and Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) held its 17th Congress in the Moscow Variety Show Theater yesterday, December 13, 2005. Zhirinovsky, who was elected for a new term with no competition whatsoever, pledged to vacate the office in 2019.
“The Congress has a bright opportunity to elect a new LDPR leader today. If this wish forms and is fulfilled it will show the party’s democracy once again,” Zhirinovsky said, adding the leaders shouldn’t come up and run one and the same organization up to their death.
The highlight of the Congress was electing a leader. Inspired, perhaps, by the speech of Zhirinovsky, his competitors (including State Duma’s deputies Yelena Afanasieva, Sergey Abeltsev and Vladimir Ovsyannikov, according to Zhirinovsky) withdrew their names as candidates, providing no alternative to the party members. A new leader “may appear at the 3oth or 60th Congress,” Zhirinovsky said to cheer up those striving for another bellwether.
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All the Article in Russian as of Dec. 14, 2005
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