United Russia

Infobox_Political_party
party_name = United Russia
name_native = Единая Россия
party_
leader = Vladimir Putin
membership = 1.98 million
colorcode = blue
foundation = 1 December 2001
ideology = Centrism, Centralism
headquarters = Moscow
international =

United Russia ( _ru. Единая Россия, "Yedinaya Rossiya") is a major political party in the Russian Federation. United Russia supports President Dmitry Medvedev, and is currently the largest political party in the Russian Federation. On April 15 2008, Vladimir Putin accepted the nomination to become chairman of the party. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7347124.stm Putin to lead United Russia party] , from the BBC. Published April 15 2008; accessed April 24 2008.]

History

United Russia was founded in April 2001 as a merger of centrist Fatherland - All Russia party led by Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov and the pro-government Unity Party of Russia led by emergency minister Sergey Shoygu. United Russia made rapid gains in federal and local elections due to the popularity of its leading figure, Vladimir Putin.

A number of Ministers in Putin's Government and many regional governors and other senior government officials in Russia are members of the party. The longtime head of United Russia was Speaker of the State Duma and former Interior Minister Boris Gryzlov, elected party leader in November 2002. In April 2008, Putin accepted an offer to become the party's chairman.

As of April 2008, United Russia claims 1.98 million members. [ [http://www.er.ru United Russia Website] .] According to United Russia's register dated 2005-09-20, the party has 2,600 local and 29,856 primary offices in all Russia's regions.

tructure

On 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 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.

Party platform

The party follows the policies outlined by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. The official party platform defines the ideology as centrist, conservative, pragmatic and opposed to radicalism [http://www.edinros.ru/news.html?id=112414] . The party calls itself conservative, as they regard themselves to be heirs to Russia's tradition of statehood, both czarist and socialist [http://www.edinros.ru/news.html?id=112414] . Some analysts describe the party as populist or nationalist. Foreign media and observers describe United Russia as a pure "presidential party" with the main goal of just securing the power of the Russian President in the Russian parliament. The vast majority of office bearers in Russia are member of the party, hence it is sometimes described as a "public official party" or "administration party". Because of this, it is also often labeled a 'party of power' [e.g. http://fpc.org.uk/publications/151, http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/news/russia/2005/russia-050616-rianovosti02.htm] (just like Our Home of Russia in 1990s). Within Russia, the party follows a centralist course.

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 negative 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.

The state-owned media and nearly all privately owned media are more or less politically in line with the United Russia policies.

Leaders

*Boris Gryzlov, former interior minister and current speaker of State Duma
*Vladimir Putin, prime minister and former president
*Yuri Luzhkov, Mayor of Moscow, founder of Fatherland party.
*Sergey Shoigu, the emergency minister, former leader of Unity party
*Mintimer Shaymiev, president of Tatarstan
*Vladislav Surkov, First Deputy Chief of Staff of the President
*Alexander Zhukov, Deputy Prime Minister

Election results

In the 2003 parliamentary elections it polled 37% of the party vote. In the 2004 presidential election United Russia supported Vladimir Putin and contributed to his victory. As of January 2005 it controls 305 seats out of 450, which gives it a Constitutional majority. United Russia members also make up 88 out 178 delegates in the Federation Council of Russia, (The Upper House of Parliament).

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. [ [http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/12/02/europe/EU-POL-Russia-Election-Violations.php Russians complain of being pressured to vote - International Herald Tribune ] ] Russian authorities dismissed accusations as "emotional" rather than fact-based. [ [http://www.rbc.ru/rbcfreenews.shtml?/20071204190826.shtml Federation Council Says Criticism of Past Elections Shall Be Treated Calmly] , December 4, 2007, Rbc.ru] According to preliminary election results, United Russia won 64.24% of the popular vote in December 2007 elections. [ [http://www.rbc.ru/rbcfreenews.shtml?/20071204122205.shtml PНЯаХГМЕЯйНМЯЮКРХМЦ - мНБНЯРХ ДМЪ - жхй: оН ХРНЦЮЛ НАПЮАНРЙХ 99,8% АЧККЕРЕМЕИ "еп" МЮАПЮКЮ 64,24% ЦНКНЯНБ МЮ БШАНПЮУ Б цд ] ] This means that the party has sufficient power to change the constitution and pass all laws it deems necessary, unless these are vetoed by the Federation Council or the President of Russia.

The party supported the successful candidacy of Dmitry Medvedev in the 2008 presidential election.

ee also

*Politics of Russia

References

External links

* [http://www.er.ru/ Official web site of the party] ru icon
* [http://www.er-duma.ru/ Official web site of the Duma fraction]
* [http://www.moledin.ru/ Youth wing of the party]
* [http://www.vvp.ru/ Forum of party supporters]