Triumphant after their recent victory over United Russia, a top lobby group for car owners has decided to register as a political movement and has already drawn pledges of support from populist politicians, a leader said Monday.
The Federation of Russian Car Owners, known by its Russian acronym FAR, spearheaded protests against a bill that would have raised the base rate for a tax that car owners pay each year.
The bill was unanimously passed by United Russia deputies earlier this month, but the State Duma sheepishly called the bill back for reconsideration after a public outcry led the Kremlin to pull its support for the measure.
“We have achieved a political victory, so now it’s time for us to be present on the political stage,” Sergei Kanayev, head of FAR’s Moscow branch, told The Moscow Times.
FAR voted to turn the loose federation into a more tightly regulated public movement, which would allow it to create political unions with existing parties, at a congress in Novosibirsk on Sunday.
The group has members in 28 regions, and becoming a movement will allow it to expand into electoral politics, Kanayev said.
The Novosibirsk branch of the Communist Party was the first to offer its support, he said. “Whatever we may think about the Communist Party, they were always supportive of our actions.”
The drivers’ group has never had support from United Russia, which Kanayev called a “technical party, not a real political majority.” But he stopped short of saying they would never work with the ruling party.
“It’s not our place to sack the government, we want to sack the bureaucrats who are guilty of wrongdoings,” Kanayev said, adding that FAR was wary of parties trying to capitalize on the group’s name.
Deputies from A Just Russia, a left-leaning pro-Kremlin party, in the St. Petersburg city legislature have already welcomed FAR members to run on their party list.
“This organization of car owners is not a weak force, and they have a chance in the elections,” Oleg Nilov, head of the city’s Just Russia branch, told the BaltInfo news agency.
Kanayev said the Fellowship of Proactive Citizens of Russia, known by its Russian acronym Tiger, had sent representatives to the FAR congress.
The group has advocated for drivers’ rights in the Far East and is best known for clashing with riot police in December 2008 over major increases to import tariffs on used cars.
With an army of devoted car owners in Russia, FAR has a good chance of winning votes, said Yevgeny Gontmakher, director of the center for social studies at the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Economics.
“Rising gasoline prices, the transportation tax, road safety, all of those factors united people for whom cars are still not a luxury, but a means of transportation,” he said.
Support from the Communists, however, could drive some people away, Gontmakher said. “When Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov talks about Lenin and Stalin, that reminds many of the times when mass ownership of cars was impossible.”
Once the Communists show interest in FAR, United Russia will likely try to co-opt it, said Alexei Mukhin, head of the Center of Political Information. “They are in a dangerous situation because United Russia closely watches their actions.”
Calling FAR a “mobile flash mob” angered by a particular decisions, rather than overall rule, Mukhin said United Russia would eventually be able to negotiate with FAR’s leaders. “United Russia can offer them a way bigger slice of the pie and unique lobbying possibilities,” he said.
Kanayev said the group would submit its registration to the Justice Ministry after New Year’s and that the process would take three months. There’s a good chance that the group will be registered, Mukhin said, especially as President Dmitry Medvedev is promising liberal reforms to the political system.
In 2003, liberal politician Viktor Pokhmelkin merged now-defunct party Liberal Russia, which he co-chaired, with the Movement of Car Owners of Russia, which once claimed 100,000 members, and a few other groups. The party won no seats in 2003 elections.