18/7 Tass 323
MOSCOW, July 18 (Itar-Tass) —— The Right Cause party has changed the head of its regional branch in Irkutsk after numerous complaints from its current and potential members about the passivity of their leader and the absence of real work.
Entrepreneur Sergei Yeroshenko, a well-known businessman in Eastern Siberia, was elected the new head of the party’s regional branch. His candidature was proposed by party leader Mikhail Prokhorov.
A new political council and a new audit commission were formed.
Prokhorov expressed confidence that the Irkutsk regional branch would regain its working efficiency shortly.
He also recommended paying the closest attention to the public interest different social groups have been showing in the party lately. “We have no right to ignore requests for admission to the party. We should live up to people’s hopes for a new real political force capable of reacting clearly to voters’ questions and requests,” Prokhorov said.
All of the party’s regional branches will be inspected before the official start of the upcoming Duma elections slated for December 2011.
Prokhorov said earlier that his Right Cause party would return to parliament as a second party of power.
“We only gathering our strength, but we have already been challenged by United Russia,” he said. “We must accept this challenge.”
He believes that the party should stop using the word “opposition” and start “acting, working, reasoning and assuming responsibility as a professional and responsible party of power”.
The word “opposition” is often associated with marginal groups, but a party that prioritises man’s dignity cannot be marginal, he said.
“We must return to parliament and become a second, or probably even the leading, party of power in the foreseeable future,” Prokhorov said.
He stressed, “Any political or economic monopoly is our main opponent.”
Prokhorov said he was convinced that an active and responsible part of the population and young people would support his party so that it stops being only “a party of business”.
In his opinion, Russia remains “a supplier of raw materials, albeit a powerful one” in the world economy, while such sectors as healthcare, education and culture are falling into decay.
The task of the party is to reverse this trend. “Education, healthcare and culture expenditures should go ahead of security and defence expenditures,” Prokhorov said.
In order to do that, he suggests using oil revenues that are “either accumulated or eaten away”.
He believes that Russia has “a unique chance to save the world economy” by accepting all capital that cannot be utilised during a global crisis.
Prokhorov, who was elected the new leader of the Right Cause party at its congress on Saturday, June 25, said he would personally draft the economic part of the party’s programme for the Duma elections.
“I consider myself an economic specialist and I will write this part myself,” Prokhorov said.
He intends to “invite the best specialists” to draft the other parts of the programme.
Prokhorov announced some of the key points of the programme in his speech at the congress. He said he was convinced that “there is no alternative to capitalism”, but “an intelligent, professional and fair state must provide social guarantees”.
“For me, it’s not about capitalism or socialism. It is about how we treat people,” he said.
Speaking of his personal financial support for the party, Prokhorov said, “A party that lives off one money bag is not capable” and it should attract people who will contribute as well.
At the same time, he did rule out that he might contribute “a bit more” than others because he has “more possibilities”.