United Russia

United Russia
Единая Россия
Leader Vladimir Putin
Founded 1 December 2001
Headquarters Moscow
Membership 1.98 million
Ideology Russian conservatism
Centrism
International affiliation None (in negotiations to join the Centrist Democrat International[1])
European affiliation None
Official colours White, Blue, Red
Website
http://www.edinros.ru/
Politics of Russia
Political parties
Elections

United Russia (Russian: Единая Россия, Yedinaya Rossiya) is the largest political party in the Russian Federation, currently holding 315 of the 450 seats in the State Duma. It describes itself as a conservative, right-of-center party. It supports the policies of the presidential administration of Dmitry Medvedev. The support of the popular former President and current Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has been key to the party's success. The party was founded in December 2001, through a merger of the Unity and Fatherland-All Russia parties.

Contents

History

Origins

United Russia's predecessor was the Unity block, which was created three months before the December 1999 Duma elections to counter the advance of the Fatherland-All Russia (OVR) party led by Yuri Luzhkov. Its creation was heavily supported by Kremlin insiders, who were wary of what looked like a certain OVR victory. They did not expect Unity to have much chance of success, since President Boris Yeltsin was very unpopular and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's ratings were still minuscule. The new party attempted to mimic OVR's formula of success, placing an emphasis on competence and pragmatism. Charismatic Minister of Emergency Situations Sergei Shoigu was appointed as the party leader.[2]

In the autumn of 1999, Prime Minister Putin's popularity soared to double digit figures after he decisively sent troops to the rebellious Chechnya republic as a retaliation for terrorist bombings in Moscow and other cities and in response for the Chechen invasion of Dagestan. Putin's war effort was hugely popular and portrayed positively by the Boris Berezovsky-owned ORT television channel, as well as by state-controlled RTR.[3]

1999 Duma elections

Contrary to its creators' expectations, Unity's election campaign was a huge success, and the party received 23.3% of the votes, considerably more than OVR's 13.3% and within one percentage point of the Communist Party's 24.3%.[2][3] The blessing of the popular prime minister proved decisive for Unity's victory.[3] The election results also made clear that Putin was going to win the 2000 presidential election, which resulted in competitors Luzhkov and Yevgeni Primakov dropping out. Yeltsin also gave Putin a boost by resigning as a president on 31 December 1999.[2]

Creation of United Russia

While Unity had initially had only one narrow purpose, limited only to the 1999 Duma elections, after the victory state officials began to transform the party into a permanent one. A large number of independent deputies who had been elected to the Duma were invited to join the party's delegation. Many OVR deputies also joined, including its leader Luzhkov personally.[2] In April 2001, OVR and Unity leaders issued a joint declaration that they had started the process of unification. In July 2001, the unified party, called "Union of Unity and Fatherland" held its founding congress, and in December 2001, it became "All-Russian Party of Unity and Fatherland", or more briefly, United Russia. In the second party congress in March 2003, Sergei Shoigu stood down and Boris Gryzlov was elected as the new party leader.[4]

Starting in the 1999—2000 electoral cycle, Putin started to emphasize another reason to vote for his party: stability, which was yearned for by Russian citizens after a decade of chaotic revolutionary change. With the exception of the ongoing war in Chechnya, Putin delivered it.[3]

On 13 January 2003, United Russia had 257,000 members, behind Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (600,000) and the Communists (500,000).[4]

2003 Duma elections

Throughout Putin's first years as President, the country's economy improved considerably, growing more each year than in all of the previous decade, and Putin's approval ratings hovered well above 70%. Russia's economic recovery was helped by high prices for its primary exports such as oil, gas and raw materials.[3]

The passage rate of law proposals increased considerably after United Russia become the dominant party in the Duma: in 1996—1999, only 76% of the legislation that passed the third reading was signed by the President, while in 1999—2003 the ratio was 93%. While Yeltsin had often relied on his decree powers to enact major decisions, Putin almost had to. United Russia's dominance in the Duma enabled Putin to push through a wide range of fundamental reforms,[5] including a flat income tax of 13%, a reduced profits tax, an overhaul of the labour market, breakups of national monopolies and new land and legal codes.[6][7][5] United Russia characterized itself as wholly supportive of Putin's agenda, which proved a recipe for success and resulted in the party scoring a major victory in the 2003 Duma elections, receiving more than a third of the popular vote.[3]

Throughout its history, United Russia has been successful in using administrative resources to weaken its opponents. For example, state-controlled news media portrayed the Communist Party as hypocritical for accepting money from several "dollar millionaries" during the 2003 Duma election campaign.[2] United Russia also introduced tougher party, candidate and voter registration reguirements, and increased the election threshold from 5% to 7% for the 2007 elections.[3]

Opposition parties also made several strategic mistakes. For example, Yabloko and the Union of Right Forces seemed to spend more effort attacking each other than Putin, which made it easier for United Russia to win over liberal voters on the strength of market reforms under Putin.[2] The opposition parties faltered in the 2003 elections, with the Communists gaining just 52 seats, a drop from 113 in 1999. Liberal opponents fared even worse, with Yabloko and Union of the Right Forces failing to cross the 5 percent threshold.[3]

2007 Duma elections

Promoters in Saint Petersburg during the 2007 election

As the economy continued improving and Putin executed several popular moves, such as reining in the unpopular oligarchs, Putin's approval ratings stayed high and he won the 2004 presidential election with over 70% of the votes. The 2007 Duma elections proved a stunning victory for United Russia, which won 64.3% of the votes. The Communist Party became a distant second with 11.57% of the votes. Vladimir Putin was the only name on United Russia's party list, and his popularity helped the party to ensure victory.[3]

During the December 2007 election, the party was accused by voters and election monitoring group GOLOS of numerous election law violations banned in the Russian Constitution.[8]

The legislative agenda shifted somewhat after the 2007 elections. Anti-terrorism legislation, large increases in social spending and the creation of new state corporations became the dominant issues, while less energy was devoted to economic reform.[5]

Post-2007

For the 2008 presidential election, United Russia nominated Dmitry Medvedev to succeed Putin. Medvedev received Putin's blessing and scored a clear victory, receiving 71% of the votes. As President, Medvedev nominated Putin has his Prime Minister. On April 15, 2008, Putin accepted a nomination to become the party's chairman, but declared that this didn't mean he would become a member. Medvedev has also refused to become a member.[2]

During regional elections of October 11, 2009 United Russia won a majority of seats in almost every Russian municipality. Opposition candidates claim they were hindered from campaigning for the elections and some were denied places on the ballot.[9][10] There are also accusations of widespread ballot stuffing and voter intimidation, as well as statistical analysis results supporting these accusations.[9]

Support for United Russia was 53% in a poll held in October 2009.[11]

Election results

1999 Duma elections (Unity) 2003 Duma elections (United Russia) 2007 Duma elections (United Russia)
Votes Percentage Seats Votes Percentage Seats Votes Percentage Seats
15,549,182 23.3% 73 22,779,279 37.6% 225 44,714,241 64.3% 315

Membership

In April 2008, United Russia was claiming 1.98 million members.[12] According to a study conducted by Timothy J. Colton, Henry E. Hale and Michael McFaul after the March 2008 Presidential elections, 30% of the Russian population are loyalists of the party.[2]

Party platform

According to the party's 2003 political manifesto, The Path of National Success, the party's goal is to unite the responsible political forces of the country, aiming to minimize the differences between rich and poor, young and old, state, business and society. The economy should combine state regulation and market freedoms, with the benefits of further growth distributed for the most part to the less fortunate. The party rejects left-wing and right-wing ideologies in favour of "political centrism" that could unite all sections of society.[4] In addition, the official party platform emphasizes pragmatism and anti-radicalism. The party regards itself to be one of the heirs to Russia's tradition of statehood, both tsarist and communist.[13]

United Russia has always characterised itself as wholly supportive of the agenda of the popula former President and current Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, and this has proved key to its success. A survey, whose results were presented by Henry E. Hale in 2008 at the Annual Meeting of American Political Science Association, indicates that the Russian population associates the party with a market economic orientation, opposition to communism, a moderately pro-Western foreign policy and a tough stance on rebellious minority regions like Chechnya. Voters who support such values are significantly more likely to vote for United Russia. Survey results also provide clear evidence that Russians tend to credit United Russia (as well as Putin) for improvements in the economy.[2]

Foreign media and observers describe United Russia as a pure "presidential party" with the main goal of securing the power of the Russian President in the Russian parliament. The vast majority of officeholders in Russia are members of the party, hence it is sometimes described as a "public official party" or "administration party." Because of this, it is also often labeled the 'party of power'.[14]

At the beginning of 2005, a few activists of the party presented projects of creating two 'wings' and a 'centre' inside the party, representing different political directions inside the party. This discussion ended quickly after opposing reactions from the presidential administration. Since 2006, when Vladislav Surkov introduced the term Sovereign democracy, many figureheads of the party have taken usage of the term.

Structure

Vladimir Putin (at the time President of Russia) at the 9th United Russia Party Congress on 15 April 2008.

In April 2008 United Russia amended Section 7 of its charter, changing its heading from “Party Chairman” to “Chairman of the Party and Chairman of the Party’s Supreme Council.” Under the amendments, United Russia may introduce a supreme elective post in the party, the post of the party’s chairman, at the suggestion of Supreme Council and its chairman.

The Supreme Council, led by the Supreme Council chairman, defines the strategy for the development of the party.

The General Council has 152 members, is the foremost party platform in between party congresses and issues statements on important social or political questions. The presidium of the General Council is led by a secretary, consists of 23 members and leads the political activity of the party, for instance election campaigns or other programmatic publications.

United Russia runs local and regional offices in all parts of the Russian Federation, and also operates a foreign liaison office in Israel[15] through a deal with the Kadima party.

As of September 20, 2005, the party has offices in all of Russia's regions, with a total of 2,600 local and 29,856 primary offices.

Leaders

See also

References

  1. ↑ Еп Бярсоюер Б Жемрпхяряйхи Делнйпюрхвеяйхи Хмрепмюжхнмюк | Цюгерю.Ru: Упнмхйю Дмъ
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 Hale, Henry E. (2010). "Russia's political parties and their substitutes". In White, Stephen (in English). Developments in Russian Politics 7. New York: Palgrave McMillan. ISBN 9780230224490. 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 McFaul, Michael; Stoner-Weiss, Kathryn (2010). "Elections and Voters". In White, Stephen (in English). Developments in Russian Politics 7. New York: Palgrave McMillan. ISBN 9780230224490. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 White, Stephen (2005). "The Political Parties". In White, Gitelman, Sakwa. Developments in Russian Politics. 6. Duke University Press. ISBN 0822335220. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Remington, Thomas F. (2010). "Parliamentary Politics in Russia". In White, Stephen (in English). Developments in Russian Politics 7. New York: Palgrave McMillan. ISBN 9780230224490. 
  6. ↑ "The Putin Paradox". Americanprogress.org. 2004-06-24. http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2004/06/b99061.html. Retrieved 2010-03-02. 
  7. ↑ Sharlet, Robert (2005). "In Search of the Rule of Law". In White, Gitelman, Sakwa. Developments in Russian Politics. 6. Duke University Press. ISBN 0822335220. 
  8. ↑ "Russians complain of being pressured to vote". International Herald Tribune. 2009-03-29. http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/12/02/europe/EU-POL-Russia-Election-Violations.php. Retrieved 2010-04-13. 
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Medvedev hails, opponents decry Kremlin party win, Reuters (October 12, 2009)
  10. ↑ Pro-Kremlin party sweeps Moscow elections, Associated Press (October 12, 2009)
  11. ↑ Poll ratings of Russia's Putin, Medvedev tumble, Kyiv Post (November 2, 2009)
  12. ↑ United Russia Website.
  13. ↑ [1]
  14. ↑ e.g. http://fpc.org.uk/publications/151, http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/news/russia/2005/russia-050616-rianovosti02.htm
  15. ↑ "''Russian PM Putin to open official party branch in Israel''". Haaretz.com. http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1013997.html. Retrieved 2010-04-13. 

External links

Registered political parties in  Russia
Represented in State Duma
United Russia (315) · Communist Party of the Russian Federation (57) · Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (40) · A Just Russia (38)
Non-parliamentary parties
Patriots of Russia · Right Cause · Yabloko
Portal:Politics · List of political parties · Politics of Russia