Fair Russia

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Fair Russia


Image:Logo spravidlivaya.gif

Leader	Sergey Mironov

Founded	October 2006
Headquarters	Moscow

Official ideology/ political position	Socialism, Social-democracy, patriotism, populism
International affiliation	none

Website	www.spravedlivo.ru

Fair Russia: Motherland/Pensioners/Life^[1] (Russian: Справедли́вая Росси́я: Ро́дина/Пенсионе́ры/Жизнь), also translated as Russia of Justice: Motherland/Pensioners/Life,^[2] Justice Russia: Motherland/Pensioners/Life^[3] and Just Russia: Motherland/Pensioners/Life,^[4] was formed on 28 October 2006 as a merger of Rodina, the Russian Party of Life and the Russian Pensioners' Party.^[5] Sergey Mironov, the chairman of the Federation Council of Russia, is the new party's first chairman.

While it wishes to challenge United Russia, it strongly supports the current President Vladimir Putin and has been criticised as being an opposition party in name only.^[6] Mironov, for his part, has argued that the creation of Fair Russia marks the establishment of a two-party system in Russia, and that his new group will provide a much-needed check on United Russia's current hegemony over the Duma's proceedings. Fair Russia is also politically more to the left than United Russia, which is considered more politically to the right and generally more in favour of cautious economic liberalism. The ex-leader of United Russia, Boris Gryzlov, has stated that he regards his party as a conservative party, while Fair Russia's website carries the slogan "We are the party of the man of work".

Fair Russia did well in regional elections held in Russia on Sunday 11th March 2007 but didn't manage to become the second most voted party, a place that is still held by the Communist Party of the Russian Federation. It scored second place in six of the fourteen regions where elections were taking place, and took first place in Stavropol Krai. Preliminary results showed that Fair Russia won an average of 15% across the fourteen regions arriving third after CPRF's 16% and United Russia's 45%^[7].

On 14 April 2007, the People's Party officially merged into Fair Russia.^[8]

In May 2007 Mironov proposed a merger between the Communist Party of the Russian Federation and Fair Russia in order to create a new unified socialist party.[1] Mironov invited all "honest socialists" to join Fair Russia. However, his proposal was rejected by Gennady Zyuganov, leader of the KPRF, who claimed that Fair Russia's claim to be a leftist party was a charade.[2]

Aleksey Mitronfanov, a deputy affiliated with the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, defected to Fair Russia in August 2007, claiming that the dominance of United Russia in the Duma required all opposition forces and other parties to unite around Mironov's attempt to create a two party system. Opinion polls in August found that Fair Russia's popularity had increased from seven percent to eleven percent, assuring it of representation at the 2007 Russian parliamentary election, mainly at the expense of the LDPR. On December 8, 2007 it was announced that the party has obtained 38 seats at the Duma.

On 22 December 2007, the party central council unanimously voted to support the candidacy of Dmitry Medvedev in the 2008 presidential election.^[9]

[edit] References

^ Staff writer. "Putin backs idea of forming several large political parties — Gryzlov", Interfax, 2006-11-17. Retrieved on 2006-11-21.
^ Staff writer. "Three Russian Parties Merge into Single “Russia of Justice” Faction", MosNews, 2006-10-29. Retrieved on 2006-11-21.
^ Staff writer. "3 Russian political parties merge into nominal opposition bloc, Putin ally elected head", International Herald Tribune, 2006-10-28. Retrieved on 2006-10-28.
^ Staff writer. "Federation Council speaker elected head of new Russian party", RIA Novosti, 2006-10-28. Retrieved on 2006-10-28.
^ Staff writer. "Three Russian parties endorse merger into single party", ITAR-TASS, 2006-10-28. Retrieved on 2006-10-28.
^ Abdullaev, Nabi. "New 'Just Russia' Party Says Putin Knows Best", St. Petersburg Times, 2006-10-31. Retrieved on 2006-11-01.
^ http://en.rian.ru/russia/20070312/61843059.html
^ http://english.people.com.cn/200704/15/eng20070415_366565.html
^ (Russian) http://spravedlivo.ru/news/5260.smx

[edit] External links

Official website of the party (Russian)
Website of Moscow oblast regional committee (Russian)

v • d • e Political parties in Russia Image:Flag of Russia.svg
Major parties	United Russia • Communist Party of the Russian Federation • Liberal Democratic Party of Russia • Fair Russia
Minor parties	Agrarian Party of Russia • Civilian Power • Democratic Party of Russia • Green Alternative • Russian Libertarian Movement • Party of Russia's Rebirth • Patriots of Russia • Peace and Unity • People's Union • Russian Ecological Party "The Greens" • Russian Social Justice Party • Union of Right Forces • Yabloko
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