Friday, March 15, 2013

Rebel Russian Lawmakers Expelled from Party

The Fair Russia party has expelled two of its leading members - the father and son Gudkovs - for taking part in the loose bloc of non-parliamentary street opposition. Gennadiy and Dmitry Gudkov were ejected from the party after they failed to respond to a warning issued over a month ago. Fair Russia told them and two more top party members – Ilya Ponomaryov and Oleg Shein – that the four must decide whether to remain in the party or in the semi-formal Opposition Coordination Council that they recently sided with. Dmitry Gudkov currently represents Fair Russia in the Lower House. His father Gennadiy Gudkov was elected to the State Duma in 2011 but lost the seat in September 2012 over allegedly continuing to run his business which is forbidden for Russian parliamentarians. However, even after losing the parliamentary seat, Gudkov senior continued to work in the Fair Russia parliamentary faction. Gudkov senior blamed his ousting on his political stance as he and his son were actively participating in street protests against alleged elections violations and joined the Opposition Coordination Council – the body that represented those who were unhappy with the current political situation, but did not want to side with any political force or propose their own political agenda.

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