New People (political party)

In January 2020, Alexey Nechaev announced new party creation in media.

March 1, 2020, the constituent congress of "New People" was held. 55 party regional branches were created. At the end of March, official party registration at Russian Ministry of Justice was received.[6]  

In April 2020, the party sent an appeal to the State Duma and the Federation Council and called to adopt additional laws, eliminating contradictions in contecst of the absence of an official emergency regime in the country.[7]

As of July 1, 2020, “New People” registered 55 regional branches, declaring their readiness to take part in the elections in September 2020 in 12 regions of the country.  Also, the party declares its readiness and intention to take part in the elections to the State Duma in 2021.[8][9]

On August 8, 2020, the II congress of the party was held in Moscow, at which its founder, Aleksey Nechaev, was elected chairman of the party.

At the end of 2020, the party announced election campaign for the State Duma of the VIII convocation will be led by the well-known political strategist Yevgeny Minchenko.

On June 1, 2020, the Ministry of Justice added the party to the list of associations eligible to participate in elections.[10]

Election commissions did not allow party lists to participate in the elections in Belgorod and Voronezh regions, as well as to the elections to the city duma of Rostov-on-Don, by rejecting voters signatures.[11][12][13][14]

On the Single Election Day, September 13, 2020, the party overcame the electoral barrier in all four regions where it participated in the elections, namely in Novosibirsk (7.0%), Kaluga (8.08%), Ryazan (5.7%) and Kostroma (7.5%) areas. The party also took part in the elections to the Tomsk City Duma having received 10945 votes.[15]

In the elections to the city duma of Krasnodar, the election commission announced the party's result in 4.97% of votes.[16] Party candidates also took part in municipal elections in Samara and Nizhny Novgorod.[17]

The party ranked second in terms of financial expenditures in the elections in the third quarter of 2020, spending 179 million rubles, after "United Russia" with 261 million rubles.[18]

According to electronic media,  the party's goal is to "reorient the state" from caring for officials to serving citizens.[19][20]

The party has a center-right ideology  and considers self-employed people, as well as representatives of small business, as its social base. It combines support for the values of popular capitalism such as private property, a competitive economy, a decrease in the state's share in governing the country, with a social agenda, the rights of people with disabilities and an accessible barrier-free environment, as well as environmental issues, animal protection, garbage collection problems.[8]

An important part of the party position is the renewal and modernization of management systems and political institutions. Support for the development of modern technologies, science and education is declared.[21]

The party attracts social entrepreneurs and activists from the regions as candidates, focusing on the regional agenda.[22]

• "New People" propose to make electable positions of heads of city and regional police departments, district inspectors, prosecutors and mayors of cities. They also raise the issue of banning one person from holding one position more than twice in a lifetime.[21]
• The party also proposes to reduce the number of state structures and officials, to reduce the powers of police and other government security structures, which the party members call inflated, to limit the costs of maintaining officials and state top managers.[23]
• "New people" consider it necessary to carry out a large-scale reform of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and other power structures. One of their proposals for reform is to double the salaries of ordinary police officers.[24]
• It is important for the party to shift budget funding from Moscow to the construction of infrastructure and job creation in the regions. The party also demands that each person be provided free of charge land for the construction of his own house or estate no further than 150 km from the place of actual residence.[25]
• Related to this is the theme of road construction and road safety announced by the New People. The statements of the party representatives contain specific measures related to the establishment of warranty periods for road repairs, the prohibition of "mobile ambushes", the dismantling of 50% of traffic cameras and the installation of separators on the highways.[26]
• Party leader Alexei Nechaev and other party members have repeatedly proposed to increase the border of the special tax regime for the self-employed to 5 million rubles of income per year.[27] Another important aspect of stimulating business, from the point of view of the party, is to start teaching children the basics of entrepreneurship and financial literacy at school.[28]
• A number of specific nutrition and health initiatives have also been added to the party program. The party is in favor of increasing the federal subsidy for school and pre-school meals by at least 50%, as well as a ban on harmful substances (antibiotics, trans fats and growth hormones) in the food of Russians.[29]
• The party declares that all enterprises that harm the health of Russians are obliged to reduce the harmful effect: either modernize production or close down.[29]
• The electoral barrier for the passage of parties to the State Duma "New People" propose to reduce from 5% of the number of voters to 1 million votes. Elections are proposed to be held in electronic form, and for participation in them, citizens should be awarded incentive points for paying for housing and communal services or taxes.[23]
• The party proposes to increase the participation of citizens in state and municipal government by expanding the practice of people's budgeting.
• The party stands for the abolition of laws used to implement state censorship: in particular, the law on extremism and the law on insulting government officials.[29]

1. Irena Lukyanova,[30] 1 March – 8 August 2020
2. Alexey Nechayev,[31] since 8 August 2020