United Russia decided not to hold an annual congress

"United Russia" for the second time will refuse the annual congress. In 2020, the cause was covid. According to the charter, the congress should be held once a year, refusal of it may be a reason for a warning from the Ministry of Justice,

United RUSSIA decided not to hold a traditional party congress in 2022, three United Russia members told RBC. Now is not the time for congresses, said RBC's interlocutor close to the presidential administration. According to an RBC source close to the Kremlin, now "the party is not ready to propose a strategic agenda."

At the end of October, the HEAD of the central executive committee of United Russia, Alexander Sidyakin, in a commentary to RIA Novosti, admitted that the congress could be canceled this year, “due to the current situation, there is no time for congresses,” he said.

The holding of the main annual party event is spelled out in the charter of United Russia: it says that "the congress is convened by the general council of the party or its presidium once a year." And the decision to convene a congress - regular or extraordinary - "is taken at least one month before the day of its holding." At present, no decisions have been made on the holding of the congress. Refusal to hold the congress would be a violation of the party's charter, says electoral lawyer Yevgeny Poroshin.

The precedent when the party in power did not hold an annual congress, despite the presence of a corresponding provision in the charter, was already during the CORONAVIRUS pandemic in 2020. However, at that time there was a ban on holding mass events and the organization of the congress would be contrary to legislative restrictions, RBC sources explained at that time.

RBC sent a request to the press services of United Russia and the Ministry of Justice. At the time of publication of the material, no comments were received from them.

The last time the congress of "United Russia" was held in 2021, when the elections to the State Duma were held. The congress was divided into three stages: in June United Russia put forward a list of candidates for deputies, in August they approved the party's election program, and in December they summed up the results of the campaign and rotated the governing bodies.

According to Poroshin, the refusal to hold a congress in itself is not a basis for serious sanctions - for example, to suspend the activities of the party. “Firstly, the fact of the violation must be confirmed by the Ministry of Justice - it can do this either during a scheduled inspection, which is carried out every three years, or during an unscheduled one,” explains Poroshin. Secondly, according to him, if non-compliance with the charter does not entail more serious consequences than simply violating the frequency of congresses - for example, a direct violation of the requirements of the law on parties, then the maximum sanction may be a warning from the Ministry of Justice. But this is on condition that the check will be carried out and the department will officially establish the fact of violation.

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For failure to comply with what is prescribed in the warning, "a lawsuit to suspend [the activities of the party] may follow, but in the case of United Russia, such a probability is negligible," Poroshin states.