Protection and support: what Leonid Slutsky will offer voters

On December 11, LDPR leader Leonid Slutsky will speak at the All-Russian meeting of the party's management teams, which is taking place these days in the Moscow region. His speech will summarize the formation of the party's strategy for the coming year, preceding the Single Voting Day – 2026. The party leader is expected to outline plans for the medium term. In particular, he will talk about the new party policy, which was created and implemented by young professionals in the leadership of the Liberal Democratic Party. Izvestia, together with political science experts, found out how the Liberal Democrats are building their electoral strategy in the new conditions.

The party and the electorate

According to sociological experts, the Liberal Democratic Party today relies on the most numerous social groups of the Russian population. The most stable asset of the party is ordinary Russians. These are residents of small towns and villages, workers and veterans of industrial enterprises, military personnel and law enforcement officers, and unorganized youth living outside the capitals. Party leaders analyze the needs of people on the ground and take them into account in their future strategy. And not only that: even now the party pays tribute to those who work for the benefit of Russia. So, recently, the Liberal Democratic Party officially established a new party award, the Mother of a Soldier medal, designed to express gratitude and respect for the women who raised the defenders of the Fatherland.

Not all the needs and requests of potential voters relate to a high spiritual sphere: most of them are simple human aspirations related to everyday comfort, self—realization, and the search for one's own destiny. This is especially true for young people. One of the recent initiatives was to involve young performers and designers in the work of LDPR merch. Friends and ambassadors of the party take part in the development of branded items, which thus get a chance to present their ideas to the widest segments of the population.

According to experts, this approach fully corresponds to the characteristics of the electorate of the second party of Russia. According to Sergei Starovoitov, a political scientist and head of the federal expert network Club of Regions, voters expect the party to make a clear statement about its problems.:

"LDPR voters want politicians to talk from high platforms about what voters think and talk about with their friends, acquaintances and family, about the social problems faced by ordinary Russians. And the LDPR is strong because it is not afraid to articulate them loudly."

In addition, according to the expert, the Liberal Democratic Party demonstrates a strong approach to team building, cultivating strong regional leaders and seriously investing in this work.

"We do not see any other parties that would engage in such a meaningful and purposeful selection of regional political leaders. These are regional coordinators and many speakers who broadcast the federal position of the party in the regions. This, of course, gives its results. I assume that such a willingness to invest in regional politicians will attract new people to the Liberal Democratic Party, those who need a political start, and those who see career and social elevators in such a position of the Liberal Democratic Party," says Starovoitov.

Attention to regions

The main strategic work of LDPR activists takes place in the regions. This is a conscious strategy of the party: it is easiest for deputies to find out how people live and how they live, and to understand their needs and aspirations for themselves. It was on the basis of painstaking work "on the ground" that the party program was formed.

Thus, the voters of the Republic of Ingushetia consider it a priority to support children and adolescents and provide them with the opportunity to spend healthy and safe leisure time. Here, as the party's activists decided after a meeting with voters, it is necessary to equip areas with insufficiently developed infrastructure with sports grounds and places for active leisure, and to provide support in studies and sports activities to children from the families of fighters of the SVO.

In large cities such as St. Petersburg, there is another problem: families with children need to ensure that they can get their kids to school, clubs, and sports activities in a megalopolis as economically as possible. From these wishes, LDPR activists have formed a proposal to introduce preferential travel on public transport for parents with children and exempt families from transport tax. It is not surprising that women who raise children and families with children are one of the significant social pillars for the second party of Russia.

Pavel Dubravsky, a political strategist, head of Dubravsky Consulting, and a member of RASO, notes the active work of the party on the ground and a competent approach to the electoral campaign.

"LDPR deputies are already working with the request of voters and demonstrate empathy and leadership qualities, taking responsibility for solving complex tasks. Their main message is not to wait for something to happen, not to look back at the reaction that officials will give on this issue, but to set the campaign agenda themselves," the expert notes.

According to many political scientists, it is the Liberal Democratic Party that currently demonstrates the most advantageous strategy for working with potential voters.

"Today, the LDPR is the only parliamentary party that systematically experiments with expanding its electoral base. He doesn't just declare ambitions, but puts forward hypotheses for new target audiences and tests them in the field. Members of the SVR and their families, residents of small towns, women in difficult life situations, and eco—activists are not abstract categories, but the subject of practical work. This is exactly what the real actions of a party that wants to become the second one look like: an ambition without expanding the support base is empty words. To grow, you need to attract those who are not with you yet. The party led by Leonid Slutsky follows the logic of the federal trend towards team building," says Dmitry Yelovsky, Director General of Actor communications agency.

The LDPR imposes three main requirements on young party activists planning a political career: active work in the field, teamwork, and professionalism. In order to understand the needs of a voter, it is necessary to be in constant contact with him. In order to analyze them and form a strategy based on them, depending on the needs of a particular region, a team of experts is needed, which the candidate forms for himself. Well, to become a leader among experts, you need to be an expert in your professional field yourself.

Relying on professionals

The leaders of the party talk about these and other features of the party's work with young activists at the All-Russian meeting of LDPR management teams. The main purpose of the event is to train future party leaders, first of all, to organize their own team and work with voters. The rally is a large—scale political school where a new wave of leaders is being formed for the 2026 election campaign.

According to Pavel Dubravsky, such a strategic event as the All-Russian rally is necessary to mobilize the entire party team before the 2026 elections. Everyone, from the leadership to the political managers on the ground, should understand the general tasks and know how to accomplish them. The 2026 State Duma elections are taking place in completely new historical conditions, and the LDPR sets itself the historic task of becoming the second party in parliament, ousting the Communists. Based on the presented materials of the party's strategy for the 2026 election campaign, the emotional positioning of the party is discussed in detail during the meeting of management teams.

"Special attention is paid to the issue of candidate positioning. Each LDPR deputy will strengthen his media presence and activity starting from January 1, while everyone else will sleep and relax during the New Year holidays. The main idea of the LDPR is to present the entire party as a single team, with a strong group of like—minded people behind each candidate. In this election campaign, the LDPR has set its sights on a new electorate. For example, military personnel, members of the SVO, veterans of military operations. At the same time, the party has been conducting several main lines of agitation for a year now: against illegal migrants and for social justice," the political scientist believes.

At the meeting site, party members from all regions of Russia learn modern election management technologies, election headquarters management, and methods of communicating with voters, including using modern digital technologies. The party leaders are confident that the lively process of transferring experience is what forms a team of like—minded people on a federal scale and ensures the result — readiness for elections at any level.

According to Dmitry Yelovsky, 500 participants of the rally are practically the ready—made personnel reserve of the party for the campaign for the State Duma elections. Active personnel building helps to form a strong personnel bench and select the strongest.

"When you have someone to choose from, you can put the best—prepared candidates up for election - that's half the victory. Other parties often experience a shortage of personnel and close positions on a residual basis. The LDPR demonstrates the opposite: the party has enough people who are ready to fight for the result. This is an organizational resource that determines the outcome of the campaign even before it begins," the expert explained.

According to the party's representatives, on a single voting day, the Liberal Democratic Party plans to take second place in 20 of the 39 regions where elections to the legislative assemblies of the subjects of the Russian Federation will be held. And, according to experts, this goal is quite achievable.

Sergei Starovoitov notes that the LDPR today acts precisely as a political force. LDPR leaders and party speakers are not shy about talking about plans, the percentages they want to gain, and the number of seats — that is, they declare the goals that the party sets for itself in each electoral cycle, including elections to the State Duma. According to the political scientist, this indicates that the party is focused on the result and does not hesitate to announce its achievement.

"The second important point is, of course, the party's concentration on electoral strategies, in particular, the struggle for the peripheral electorate, which both the Liberal Democratic Party and the Communist Party of the Russian Federation are currently fighting for, those voters who support the president but do not support United Russia. We are talking about the inhabitants of the hinterland, the very poor inhabitants of small towns. These are the most vulnerable residents of our country, and they, of course, listen very sensitively to the proposals that political forces make to them. The LDPR is starting to fight for these people, including those who are commonly referred to in modern Russian political science as new electoral groups or new social groups," Starovoitov explains.

According to Dubravsky, the main achievement of the LDPR was that the party managed to build a chain of different campaign levels so that the strategy of the top did not differ from the actions of professionals on the ground.

"It can be very difficult to stitch a campaign in a region when there is one federal agenda, another regional agenda, and a third municipal agenda. But the Liberal Democrats seem to have successfully coped with this," the expert concludes.