Anton Bolotnikov
Anton Bolotnikov | |
|---|---|
| File:AntonBolotnikov.jpg | |
| Born | Anton Ilyich Bolotnikov 9th of June, 1948 |
| Nationality | Venadian |
| Alma mater | Viniyagorod State University |
| Occupation | Politician, Dentist |
| Political party | Socialist Party |
| Spouse(s) | Yelena Bolotnikova |
| Children | Peter Bolotnikov, Ivana von Thirin |
Dr. Anton Bolotnikov (Venadian: Антон Болотников) is a Venadian politician and current leader of the Socialist Party. He was elected leader of the SP during its government in 2009 and successfully led the party to victory in the 2011 election, but was booted out from government in the 2015 election. He is known in Venadia as a quiet and professional man, but his popularity and reputation suffered after reveals of his family's excessive spending in the midst of the 2010-2014 recession.
Background
Bolotnikov was born to Boris Bolotnikov and Svetlana Bolotnikova in Saragorod on the 9th of June, 1944. His father was a member of the partisans during the occupation of Saragorod during the Second Ardanian Great War, and was a carpenter by trade. Both his parents were Socialists, and Bolotnikov joined the party in 1956 in the Young Socialist Pioneers. With the post-war build-up of the Venadian welfare state, Bolotnikov had the means to attain higher education, and received a PhD in Dental Surgery in 1974. He opened a dental clinic in Saragorod in 1976, which his son took over in 1995.
Bolotnikov met Yelena Ivanova during his studies in 1971, and in 1977 received their first child, Peter Bolotnikov, who would follow in his father's footsteps. Their second child, Ivana von Thirin, was born in 1984 and studied economics at the University of Kury where she met Hans von Thirin, a Somerian nobleman who became Anton's son-in-law in 1991. Bolotnikov was active in politics even in this period and sat on the Saragorod Local Veche from 1977 to 1985, in the Viniya Regional Veche from 1985 to 1989 and has sat in the Great Veche since 1989.
Leader of the Socialist Party
Bolotnikov was elected leader of the Socialist Party in 2009, managing a surprise win against incumbent Borislav Norin despite Borislav having taken the party to victory in the 2007 election. Bolotnikov was seen as the candidate of the Democratic Socialist wing of the party, and even after his election as leader the Socialist Party became marked by infighting. Despite being the new leader of the party, Borislav remained Prime Minister due to crossbench support. Bolotnikov did lead the party to victory in 2011, albeit with a reduced plurality, but in 2015 the party lost and became the official opposition.
Bolotnikov has attempted to reform the party to adopt more leftist policies, partially in an attempt to counter the growth of the Communist Party of Venadia. While the Socialist Party has trended more to the left than they've been in past decades, this does not seem to have reduced losses to the Communists, and indeed might have amplified their loss of support towards the Liberal-Republicans. Bolotnikov only barely managed to defeat Yekaterina Aratova in 2015 after the SP's loss in the national election, with Bolotnikov gaining 49.6% in the leadership vote compared to Aratova's 48.8%.
Political Views
Bolotnikov considers himself to be a part of the Democratic Socialist tendency within the Socialist Party, and supports the Venadian system of mixed-market economics with an active and expansive state. He is a liberal on social issues, and have attempted to get the Socialist Party to support full rights to gay marriage. He has described himself as a conservationist rather than an environmentalist, and is a support of the petroleum industry.
Criticism
Criticism of Bolotnikov both from within his party and outside of it have been relatively significant, especially his actions during the 2010-2014 recession. Bolotnikov's visible conflict with the social-democratic and third way wing of the Socialist Party has garnered the party a significant amount of bad press, and only 24.1% of Venadians think Bolotnikov would be fit to run the country. His affluence has also been criticized, and in 2013 when it was revealed that his wife had more than fifty million rubles in Vesan and Trescian banks, he was put under investigation by the Constitutional Committee for suspicion of corruption. While the investigation cleared Anton Bolotnikov from all charges, he has still been accused of hypocrisy.
While his daughter, Ivana von Thirin, is not a member of the Socialist Party her behaviour in public has also garnered her father detractors. She married into Somerian nobility, and wealthy one at that, with the LRP and Communist Party both actively using her extravagant lifestyle to attack Bolotnikov and the Socialist Party.