Union of Right Forces
Encyclopedia
The Union of Right Forces, or SPS (Сою́з Пра́вых Сил, СПС/Soyuz Pravykh Sil), was a Russia
n democratic opposition party associated with free market
reforms, privatization, and the legacy of the 'Young Reformers' of the 1990s: Anatoly Chubais
, Boris Nemtsov
, and Yegor Gaidar
. Nikita Belykh
was the last party's leader (since 2005). The Party was considered by western media organs The Economist
and the BBC
to be one of the few Russian parties that support western-style capitalism
, socio-politically the party was more conservative
. Its headquarters are located in Moscow
. It was affiliated with the International Democrat Union
.
The Union of Right Forces was established in 1999, following a merger of several smaller liberal parties, including Democratic Choice of Russia
and Democratic Russia
. In the 1999 parliamentary elections
the Union of Right Forces won 8.6% of the vote and 32 seats in the Russian State Duma
(lower house of Parliament
).
From 2000 to 2003 the Union of Right Forces was led by former Deputy Prime Minister Boris Nemtsov
. Under Nemtsov's leadership SPS strongly opposed what they saw to be the authoritarian policies of President Vladimir Putin
and argued that political and media freedoms in Russia had been curtailed.
In the 2000 Presidential election, the SPS supported Vladimir Putin's candidacy, though many of the party leaders supported Grigory Yavlinsky.
In the 2003 parliamentary elections
the Union of Right Forces, according to official results, received 4% of the vote and failed to cross the 5% threshold necessary for parliamentary representation. A number of SPS candidates came second in single-mandate electoral districts the party had previously held, such as Irina Khakamada in St. Petersburg, Vladimir V. Kara-Murza
in Moscow, or Boris Nadezhdin in the Moscow region.
Despite allegations of fraud, Boris Nemtsov
accepted responsibility for the election defeat and resigned as SPS leader in January 2004. On May 28, 2005 Nikita Belykh
was elected as the new leader of the party.
Plans to merge with Yabloko
were shelved in late 2006.
The party won 0.96% of votes in the 2007 elections
, not breaking the 7% barrier, and thus no seats in the Duma
.
In 2008 Nikita Belyh left his chair to Leonid Goizman. On October 1, 2008, Federal political council of the party voted to dissolve the party to merge it with Civilian Power
and Democratic Party of Russia
and form a new liberal-democrat party called Right Cause
.
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n democratic opposition party associated with free market
Free market
A free market is a competitive market where prices are determined by supply and demand. However, the term is also commonly used for markets in which economic intervention and regulation by the state is limited to tax collection, and enforcement of private ownership and contracts...
reforms, privatization, and the legacy of the 'Young Reformers' of the 1990s: Anatoly Chubais
Anatoly Chubais
Anatoly Borisovich Chubais is a Russian politician and business manager who was responsible for privatization in Russia as an influential member of Boris Yeltsin's administration. From 1998 to 2008 he was the head of the state owned electrical power monopoly RAO UES. The 2004 survey by...
, Boris Nemtsov
Boris Nemtsov
Boris Efimovich Nemtsov is a Russian politician who was Deputy Prime Minister of Russia from 1997 to 1998. He was a co-founder of the Russian political party Union of Right Forces and is an outspoken critic of Vladimir Putin.-Early life:...
, and Yegor Gaidar
Yegor Gaidar
Yegor Timurovich Gaidar was a Soviet and Russian economist, politician and author, and was the Acting Prime Minister of Russia from 15 June 1992 to 14 December 1992....
. Nikita Belykh
Nikita Belykh
Nikita Yurevich Belykh is a Russian politician and former leader of the Union of Right Forces party. He was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Perm Krai , and now is confirmed as governor of Kirov Oblast....
was the last party's leader (since 2005). The Party was considered by western media organs The Economist
The Economist
The Economist is an English-language weekly news and international affairs publication owned by The Economist Newspaper Ltd. and edited in offices in the City of Westminster, London, England. Continuous publication began under founder James Wilson in September 1843...
and the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
to be one of the few Russian parties that support western-style capitalism
Capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system that became dominant in the Western world following the demise of feudalism. There is no consensus on the precise definition nor on how the term should be used as a historical category...
, socio-politically the party was more conservative
Conservatism
Conservatism is a political and social philosophy that promotes the maintenance of traditional institutions and supports, at the most, minimal and gradual change in society. Some conservatives seek to preserve things as they are, emphasizing stability and continuity, while others oppose modernism...
. Its headquarters are located in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
. It was affiliated with the International Democrat Union
International Democrat Union
The International Democrat Union, abbreviated to IDU, is a centre-right international alliance of conservative and liberal-conservative political parties. Headquartered in Oslo, Norway, the IDU comprises 45 full or associate members...
.
The Union of Right Forces was established in 1999, following a merger of several smaller liberal parties, including Democratic Choice of Russia
Democratic Choice of Russia
The Democratic Choice of Russia was a Russian political party that existed from 1994 to 2001.-Background and Establishment:...
and Democratic Russia
Democratic Russia
Democratic Russia was generic name for several political entities that played a transformative role in Russia's transition from Communist rule:...
. In the 1999 parliamentary elections
Russian legislative election, 1999
Legislative elections were held in the Russian Federation on 19 December 1999. At stake were the 450 seats in the State Duma , the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia...
the Union of Right Forces won 8.6% of the vote and 32 seats in the Russian State Duma
State Duma
The State Duma , common abbreviation: Госду́ма ) in the Russian Federation is the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia , the upper house being the Federation Council of Russia. The Duma headquarters is located in central Moscow, a few steps from Manege Square. Its members are referred to...
(lower house of Parliament
Parliament
A parliament is a legislature, especially in those countries whose system of government is based on the Westminster system modeled after that of the United Kingdom. The name is derived from the French , the action of parler : a parlement is a discussion. The term came to mean a meeting at which...
).
From 2000 to 2003 the Union of Right Forces was led by former Deputy Prime Minister Boris Nemtsov
Boris Nemtsov
Boris Efimovich Nemtsov is a Russian politician who was Deputy Prime Minister of Russia from 1997 to 1998. He was a co-founder of the Russian political party Union of Right Forces and is an outspoken critic of Vladimir Putin.-Early life:...
. Under Nemtsov's leadership SPS strongly opposed what they saw to be the authoritarian policies of President Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin served as the second President of the Russian Federation and is the current Prime Minister of Russia, as well as chairman of United Russia and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Union of Russia and Belarus. He became acting President on 31 December 1999, when...
and argued that political and media freedoms in Russia had been curtailed.
In the 2000 Presidential election, the SPS supported Vladimir Putin's candidacy, though many of the party leaders supported Grigory Yavlinsky.
In the 2003 parliamentary elections
Russian legislative election, 2003
Legislative elections were held in the Russian Federation on December 7, 2003. At stake were the 450 seats in the State Duma , the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia ....
the Union of Right Forces, according to official results, received 4% of the vote and failed to cross the 5% threshold necessary for parliamentary representation. A number of SPS candidates came second in single-mandate electoral districts the party had previously held, such as Irina Khakamada in St. Petersburg, Vladimir V. Kara-Murza
Vladimir V. Kara-Murza
Vladimir V. Kara-Murza is a Russian journalist, historian and politician. He studied in Great Britain at the John Lyon School in Harrow, London, and graduated with an B.A. and M.A. in History from Cambridge University...
in Moscow, or Boris Nadezhdin in the Moscow region.
Despite allegations of fraud, Boris Nemtsov
Boris Nemtsov
Boris Efimovich Nemtsov is a Russian politician who was Deputy Prime Minister of Russia from 1997 to 1998. He was a co-founder of the Russian political party Union of Right Forces and is an outspoken critic of Vladimir Putin.-Early life:...
accepted responsibility for the election defeat and resigned as SPS leader in January 2004. On May 28, 2005 Nikita Belykh
Nikita Belykh
Nikita Yurevich Belykh is a Russian politician and former leader of the Union of Right Forces party. He was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Perm Krai , and now is confirmed as governor of Kirov Oblast....
was elected as the new leader of the party.
Plans to merge with Yabloko
Yabloko
The Russian United Democratic Party "Yabloko" The Russian United Democratic Party "Yabloko" The Russian United Democratic Party "Yabloko" (Russian: Росси́йская объединённая демократи́ческая па́ртия «Я́блоко» Rossiyskaya obyedinyonnaya demokraticheskaya partiya "Yabloko"; is a Russian social...
were shelved in late 2006.
The party won 0.96% of votes in the 2007 elections
Russian legislative election, 2007
Legislative elections were held in the Russian Federation on 2 December 2007. At stake were the 450 seats in the State Duma, the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia . Eleven parties were included in the ballot, including Russia's largest party, United Russia, which was supported by...
, not breaking the 7% barrier, and thus no seats in the Duma
State Duma
The State Duma , common abbreviation: Госду́ма ) in the Russian Federation is the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia , the upper house being the Federation Council of Russia. The Duma headquarters is located in central Moscow, a few steps from Manege Square. Its members are referred to...
.
In 2008 Nikita Belyh left his chair to Leonid Goizman. On October 1, 2008, Federal political council of the party voted to dissolve the party to merge it with Civilian Power
Civilian Power
Civilian Power was a liberal political party in the Russian Federation, which prior to February 2007 was called Free Russia.According to data from Rosregistration, the party has 55,063 members...
and Democratic Party of Russia
Democratic Party of Russia
The Democratic Party of Russia or DPR is a former Russian political party that existed between 1990 and 2008. It was founded by Nikolai Travkin. It initially featured Stanislav Govorukhin and Sergey Glazyev, was a prominent democratically-oriented party, member of the Democratic Russia coalition,...
and form a new liberal-democrat party called Right Cause
Right Cause
Right Cause is a political party in Russia with representatives in several local legislatures. Founded on 18 February 2009 as a merger of the Union of Right Forces, Civilian Power and the Democratic Party of Russia, the party's main policy stances are liberal free market economy, democracy and...
.
See also
- LiberalismLiberalismLiberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...
- Liberalism worldwideLiberalism worldwideThis article gives information on liberalism in diverse countries around the world. It is an overview of parties that adhere more or less to the ideas of political liberalism and is therefore a list of liberal parties around the world....
- List of liberal parties
- Liberal democracyLiberal democracyLiberal democracy, also known as constitutional democracy, is a common form of representative democracy. According to the principles of liberal democracy, elections should be free and fair, and the political process should be competitive...
- Liberalism in RussiaLiberalism in RussiaThis article gives an overview of liberalism in Russia. It is limited to liberal parties with substantial support, namely those that have had a representation in parliament. The sign ⇒ denotes another party in the scheme. The listed parties didn't necessarily label themselves as...