Andrey Turchak: ‘Tatarstan becomes a flagship of many important programmes’

According to an audit of the Tatarstan regional office of the United Russia party, almost one in ten members of the party was struck off of the list, which is as many as 13,000 people. The reshuffle will make the Tatarstan office younger, thinks the head of the Tatarstan office, make the staff more effective. Today Tatarstan is the leading region in the successful implementation of many projects aimed to improve the quality of life of people, noted Secretary General of the party’s General Council Andrey Turchak noted at the 34th session. Read more in Realnoe Vremya’s report.

Today United Russia is responsible for everything that happens in the country

Participating in the conference, Tatarstan President Rustam Minnikhanov stressed that at the moment United Russia played the leading role in the politics of the republic. A professional team was created to perform goals in the Tatarstan regional office of United Russia. The president reminded the audience that our United Russia office was the biggest in the country.

“The results of the work are seen in the outcomes of elections. 1,8 million voters voted for United Russia representatives in the elections to the State Duma. In the last five years, we elected the republican parliament, completely created regional and urban councils, elected State Duma deputies. The party has the stable majority at all levels of representative power. Many projects and programmes are implemented effectively in the republic. It is the construction of comfortable housing, opening of new schools, kindergartens, cultural facilities, modernisation of hospitals, road construction. Today United Russia is responsible for everything that happens in the country,” Minnikhanov noted.

Rustam Minnikhanov: “Today United Russia is responsible for everything that happens in the country”

Regular rotation as key principle of the ruling party

Secretary of the regional office of United Russia Farid Mukhametshin noted as the main speaker that rotation became compulsory for all executive levels. Over this time, a big number of new party members who went through the crucible of elections campaigns at all levels appeared. Mukhametshin thinks that this became a consequence of the open voting system.

“For instance, more than 11,000 people participated in municipal primaries in 2020 alone, half of whom went into politics for the first time. A third of local self-government councils was renewed. At the same time, local offices are still involved in party-related and social projects.”

According to him, the activity of the party in Tatarstan is organically mixed with the administrative work. All heads of cities and municipalities are secretaries of local offices. It is a critical decision. The party management is mainly up to executive secretaries and specialists, moreover, requirements for them are quite high — from the knowledge of rules and regulations, administrative work, a growing amount of reports to the skills in working with information systems, social media, the organisation of the reception of the population, Mukhametshin noted.

Farid Mukhametshin: ““For instance, more than 11,000 people participated in municipal primaries in 2020 alone, half of whom went into politics for the first time. The composition of local self-government councils was renewed by a third”

Local political councils poorly control the work of voluntary unions of party members

Khalil Giniyatov, chairman of the Regional Control Commission, said that 23 meetings of the Control and Revision Commission were held in 2021. During the year, the membership of 10 people was suspended, one person was excluded.

“The main task of the commission is to carry out integrated inspections of local offices to check their financial and economic activity. As a rule, at least 25% of local offices are inspected. In the last five years, 86 inspections were carried out. The goal of such inspections is to analyse the political situation in districts, the amount of party work, the outreach. At a meeting of the political council on 23 December, the situation in local party organisations was analysed.”

The chairman of the commission noted a number of serious problems:

“Local political councils poorly control the work of voluntary unions of party members, formally there is a supervisory institution, the election of delegates isn’t discussed at these unions’ general meetings. A real job is done in more than a hundred party projects in the districts, but it isn’t almost manifested in the decisions of local political councils.”

Khalil Giniyatov: “A real job is done in more than a hundred party projects in the districts, but it isn’t almost manifested in the decisions of local political councils”

United Russia’s digitalisation

It is already clear that the further development of the organisation will depend on the use of digital platforms. As evidence of this point, Farid Mukhametshin claimed the information and communication system All Russia had grown into an important instrument of “corporate” management in the last 10 years. To prove it, he provided some numbers.

“On the basis of this multimodal base, the registry of candidates, organisation of primaries, mobilisation, work with observers during electoral campaigns became habitual. We were one of the first to start to use video conference, online conference, electronic document exchange,” said the secretary of United Russia’s Tatarstan office.

The Tatarstan office is well represented on social media. A big number of accounts became good support in electoral campaigns in 2018-2021. During the latter, more than 4,600 posts were published. Deputies, secretaries of local offices, supporters, the youth are involved in the party’s work on social media, there is cooperation with the community of bloggers of the republic, Mukhametshin noted.

Tatarstan office of United Russia demonstrated high effectiveness

Thanks to the constructive cooperation between power branches, the president and the Tatarstan government’s support, all instructions received from the population — and this is the news in the last five years — are now seen in republican and municipal programmes (road maps) with specific deadlines and funding from the budget. This mechanism was tested for the first time during the election of deputies to the State Duma and the presidential election in 2019-2020, 8,846 petitions were received. The execution of the Road Map here nears 905. After the Duma election, more than 5,500 petitions were received (5,518).

Secretary General of United Russia Andrey Turchak also noted that at the moment the Tatarstan office was the biggest in the country in the number of party members and most effective in its activity. According to him, the republic is traditionally represented by a big group of deputies in the State Duma. While United Russia in Tatarstan itself has stable positions not only in the State Council but also in local self-government agencies.

“The administration sets big goals to improve the quality of life of residents of the republic, which is an undoubted priority for United Russia. Tatarstan becomes a flagship in many important programmes, it is the repair of health care institutions, rural clubs, camps, development of public spaces. The programme Our Courtyard effectively works on the territory of the republic, many of its components were in demand at federal level too,” Turchak noted.

Farid Mukhametshin became the office’s secretary again

Delegates of the conference voted for the candidate for chairing the Tatarstan regional office of the United Russia political party. The secretary is chosen for five years. Two candidacies were declared — head of Zelenodolsk District Mikhail Afanasyev and Chairman of the Tatarstan State Council Farid Mukhametshin.

Farid Mukhametshin was again elected the secretary of the regional office by majority vote. “He is the patriarch of our party’s politics,” this is how Andrey Turchak characterised the re-elected secretary of the regional office.

“Farid Mukhametshin has effectively chaired the regional office for 20 years,” emphasised Andrey Turchak. “There are a lot of electoral cycles and victories behind you. This is a responsible job Farid Mukhametshin does 24/7 and 366 days a year. In the eyes of voters, United Russia is responsible for literally everything, and it is important to remember that our party is a huge resource of the president, which does some business.

Delegates of the conference also renewed the composition of the regional political council and panel, regional control commission.

One of the best Tatarstan schools in federal repair programme

Before the conference began, Andrey Turchak and Farid Mukhametshin visited Kazan Lyceum No. 131. In 2022, 19,474 million rubles of federal money and 12,983 million rubles of regional money (a total of 32,457 million) must be allocated for a repair programme. The building of the school that opened in 1961 doesn’t comply with modern requirements, which are made by supervisory agencies by educational organisations.

The lyceum has been a leader in the number of winners and medallists of school Olympiads and different competitions for many years. There are over 200 doctors of sciences and more than 3,000 candidates for sciences among its graduates. In the results of mandatory Unified State Exams (maths and Russian), the lyceum has been first in the republic in the last few years. The number of people who want to study there exceeds the school’s capabilities many times. 3-5 people annually claim a spot there.

In 2008, the lyceum was added to the Russian Book of Honour. In 2009, it was included in the national registry Leading Educational Establishments of Russia. In 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, the lyceum was in the top 25 Best Russian Schools.

Natalia Eller. Photo: Rinat Nazmetdinov
Tatarstan