Political club “Rosbalt”: After Zhirinovsky, the LDPR could be headed by Vladimir Solovyov or Ivan Urgant (video)

In the event that Vladimir Zhirinovsky, due to illness or other reasons, will be forced to leave the post of head of the Liberal Democratic Party, the best candidates for this position could be TV presenters Vladimir Solovyov or Ivan Urgant. This opinion was expressed by political scientists at a meeting of the Rosbalt political club on Wednesday.

The head of the Political Expert Group, Konstantin Kalachev, spoke in favor of the candidacy of Vladimir Solovyov. “We discussed with political scientist Alexander Kynev who could replace Zhirinovsky,” Kalachev said. “It was about the fact that the ideal option is Vladimir Solovyov, like Zhirinovsky in his younger years.”

“What will happen to the Liberal Democratic Party against the background of the fact that the imperial idea is still in demand, but the authorities have pulled this imperial idea under themselves? asked Kalachev. – The niche of the Liberal Democratic Party has narrowed. After 2014, her ideas were adopted by the authorities. The future of the Liberal Democratic Party is in the fog. But a holy place is never empty – there will be another populist project with an imperial filling. Or the Liberal Democratic Party will undergo some kind of rebranding.

Konstantin Kalachev also expressed the opinion that in the near future it would be good for the Communist Party of the Russian Federation if it were headed by such a leader as Pavel Grudinin, “who will raise the degree of opposition, but at the same time be ready to negotiate with the authorities.”

For his part, the director of the Center for Eastern European Studies, Andrei Okara, considered showman Ivan Urgant more suitable for the post of leader of the Liberal Democratic Party. “Who will be the driver and motor of such a reboot, if Zhirinovsky, for example, gets tired of politics – let’s call it that? Okara asked. – It seems to me that we can talk not about the second Zhirinovsky, but about a new bright populist. For example, my candidate in this situation is Ivan Urgant as a person who ideally matches the model of the Liberal Democratic Party that suits the authorities.”

“The name of Vladimir Solovyov was pronounced,” the political scientist noted further. – It seems to me that Vladimir Rudolfovich, firstly, has stated many times that he does not want a political career for himself, he is not interested in it. Secondly, his current status is much cooler than the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party. And such a hypothetical career transition is not a step up, but down.”

In addition, Okara described Solovyov as “an intelligent, thoughtful person, moreover, a candidate of economic sciences.” “I think if such a reboot is being modeled by the authorities, then it definitely does not need a meaningful person at the head of a party with such a large infrastructure, who claims to be his own project and subjectivity. Who will say: “In my opinion, it is necessary to do not this way, but that way,” Okara suggested. “But a person who is not a humanitarian intellectual, but is a showman – and a popular, charming, charismatic showman – this is for the LDPR that exists now.”

“There are all prospects for the rebranding of the Liberal Democratic Party,” said Andrey Okara. – The question is how this is solved at the level of the structures of the party itself. If the state is interested in this, it can be done with minimal losses and quite effectively. Although it seems to many that Zhirinovsky’s clowning is quite unprecedented, that he is an artistic genius and gave rise to all post-Soviet populism.

Broadcast from the political club “Rosbalt” .