Two Communist Parties appeared in Russia. Which one is for real?

Gennady Zyuganov, the leader of Communist Party of Russian Federation since 1993, was required to resign by the 16th Plenary Session of the Communist Party Central Committee on July 1.
92 out of 158 members of the Central Committee voted for dismissing Gennady Zyuganov and his deputies.

The member of the Central Committee Aleksander Potapov claims that the Plenary Session decision is legitimate and Gennnady Zyuganov must comply with it. The Meeting appointed Vladimir Tikhonov (the governor of Ivanovo region) the chairman of the Communist Party Central Committee.

Meanwhile, Gennady Zyuganov called the decision of the “alternative” Plenary Session of the Communist Party Central Committee “provocation” conducted by orders of Zyuganov’s opponent, leftist businessman Gennady Semigin.

Simultaneously with the alternative Plenary Session, there was a “regular” Plenary Session of the Communist Party Central Committee organized by Zyuganov. He claims that 91 members of the Central Committee participated, and the Plenary Session dismissed Central Committee Secretary Sergey Popov and Tatiana Astrakhankina for their disagreement with the party line.

The supporters of Zyuganov were not ready for such a course of events. The press department of the Communist Party denounced the reports on the alternative Plenary Session as disinformation contributing to the efforts of the opposition within the party to replace its leaders and turn the Communist Party into some Social-Democratic entity affiliated with the Kremlin officials.

Later the press department admitted that the alternative Plenary Session took place, but claimed that its decisions were not legitimate as “18,000 party organizations in Russian regions unanimously supported Gennady Zyuganov. The future of the party will be determined by the 360 delegates of Х Party Congress on July 3-4”.

However, on July 3 there were two party Congresses as well. “Zyuganov’s Congress” supported him as the party leader and claims that 214 out of 246 delegates participated.

The “alternative” Congress participants appointed Zyuganov’s opponents the party leaders. The opponents claim that 146 out of  262 delegates participated in their Congress. Some of the two parties is lying, Utro.ru writes.

Meanwhile, the number of supporters of Russian Communist Party is decreasing, VCIOM public opinion polls reveal. About 66% of the respondents believe that the party leadership is weak, while only 24% of those surveyed claim that Gennady Zyuganov is a strong leader.