All provisions of United Russia’s election program will have to be translated into government decisions after United Russia’s victory in the 2026 State Duma elections. Such an attitude at the fourth reporting forum “There is a result!” in St. Petersburg on May 1, was announced by party chairman Dmitry Medvedev. According to him, voters have already made 850 thousand proposals to the document. The party members themselves are not far behind them, and at the next forum they focused on the family and medical agenda.
The United Russia (UR) forum in St. Petersburg opened with several thematic panels, and at each of them they remembered May Day. “We are the only ones who celebrate as it should be – with work,” Senator Inna Svyatenko, for example, told her colleagues. Labor, however, comes in different forms, noted State Duma Deputy Speaker Anna Kuznetsova, and “the most important is the work of parenthood, motherhood and fatherhood.”
Encouraging compatriots to do such work is a state, and therefore a party priority, United Russia members reminded each other at round tables. At one of them they spoke in detail about “family-centric” infrastructure, especially for large families. The efforts of United Russia have already helped increase the number of such families to 2.9 million (29% of all children grow up in such families), Ms. Kuznetsova said, but support measures, of course, need to be scaled up and adjusted.
At the round table of the “Young Guard of United Russia” they talked more about “family-centric thinking.”
There are enough support measures, information is lame, student and young husband Ivan Smirnov reported to his comrades: “We (with the same young wife. – Kommersant) ourselves told our classmates about them (support measures. – Kommersant.” “What is the situation with the children?” asked the comrades. “The secret of the company,” the speaker snapped. “Career and study are cool, but waiting for super-ideal conditions is wrong. First the child – then everything to him,” mother of many children, TV presenter Natalya Moskvitina tried to convince the student.
There were enough initiatives from the round tables, especially since medicine was also discussed in the neighborhood. Party Chairman Dmitry Medvedev praised the work of his comrades-in-arms on Spring and Labor Day: “Our political opponents are trying to appropriate this holiday, citing the past. But it’s much more important to dedicate this day to taking care of the future, as United Russia does.” At the same time, United Russia should boast more often, the politician urged. The authorities, even in difficult times, are increasing social spending, expanding the coverage of support, indexing maternity capital and extending preferential mortgages, Mr. Medvedev cited positive examples: “These laws were adopted thanks to the position of the United Russia party, and not some other party – don’t be shy about talking about it! This is the meaning of the party, but this is also the responsibility if something is done wrong.”
“Take it”, meanwhile, was suggested enough at the forum.
Only on the family topic, among such initiatives are a “single window” for large families, additional measures to support second, third and subsequent children in regions that are lagging behind in terms of demographics, childbirth preparation centers, bonuses for “family-centric” enterprises and voluntary certification of nannies, listed the mother of 12 children Marina Kuznetsova. “It is important that the first child appears as soon as possible,” Young Guard member Alexander Amelin recalled the main thing and added “from his desk” university infrastructure, psychological support for mothers (possibly a group of volunteer nannies) and “courses for young dads.”
The medical and cultural workers who met separately brought no fewer ideas to the party. The latter, for example, proposed to print textbooks “History of the Native Land” in each region. Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova, following Dmitry Medvedev, thanked the party members for their activity: “You are pushing us – in a good way – to new initiatives. No one knows better than you what worries citizens.”
Most of the proposals look realistic, Dmitry Medvedev appreciated the efforts of his comrades, however, everything should be “analyzed again,” because United Russia will then have to control their implementation themselves. It is easier for other parties to write programs, the United Russia chairman reasoned, because “in pursuit of votes” they “take on obligations that are, in principle, unfulfillable.” Nevertheless, what will be in the United Russia program will have to be translated into government decisions, Mr. Medvedev predicted: “The value of our program, the document, should lie precisely in this – if we want, of course, to retain the position of the ruling party.”
