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Union of Right Forces

Союз правых сил
Union of Right Forces Союз правых сил
Abbreviation	SPS (English); СПС (Russian)
President (s)	Sergey Kiriyenko; (1998–2001); Boris Nemtsov; (2001–2004); Viktor Nekrutenko; (2004–2005); Nikita Belykh; (2005–2008); Leonid Gozman; (acting, 2008)
Founders	Yegor Gaidar; Anatoly Chubais; Sergey Kiriyenko; Boris Nemtsov; Irina Khakamada; Konstantin Titov
Founded	24 October 1999 (as bloc); 26 May 2001 (as party)
Dissolved	15 November 2008
Merger of	Democratic Choice of Russia; Conservative Movement "New Force"; Young Russia (liberal movement); Democratic Russia; Voice of Russia; Common Cause; Party of Economic Freedom
Preceded by	Right Cause (coalition)
Succeeded by	Right Cause; Solidarnost; Democratic Choice;
Headquarters	Moscow
Newspaper	Just Cause
Membership (2007)	57,410
Ideology	Liberal conservatism; Conservative liberalism; Neoliberalism; Economic liberalism; Pro-Europeanism; Atlanticism
Political position	Centre-right
International affiliation	International Democracy Union
Colours	Blue, red, white
Slogan	"Our Cause is Just/Right"; (Russian: "Наше дело правое!"); "Liberty, Property, Legality"; (Russian: "Свобода, Собственность, Законность")
Anthem	"Patrioticheskaya Pesnya"
Seats in the 3rd State Duma	29 / 450
Seats in the 4th State Duma	3 / 450
Party flag
Website
	www.sps.ru
	Politics of Russia; Political parties; Elections;

The Union of Right Forces (URF)^[a] was a Russian liberal-conservative^[1] political public organization and former party, initially founded as an electoral bloc in 1999 and associated with free market reforms, privatization, and the legacy of the "young reformers" of the 1990s: Anatoly Chubais, Boris Nemtsov, Sergey Kiriyenko and Yegor Gaidar. The party officially self-dissolved in 2008. Nikita Belykh was the party's last leader from 2005 to 2008.

In 2011, the SPS was refounded by some of its former members as the Union of Right Forces Movement. In 2012, it was registered as a political public organization, a type of NGO. In Russia, participation in elections requires being accepted into the list of political parties controlled by the Ministry of Justice.

Both the former SPS and the refounded SPS were accepted as a member of the International Democracy Union (IDU).

Political party (1999–2008)

The SPS 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 SPS won 8.6% of the vote and 32 seats in the Russian State Duma (lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia).^{[citation needed]}

In the 2000 presidential election, the SPS supported Vladimir Putin's candidacy, though many of the party leaders supported Grigory Yavlinsky. The SPS parliamentarians overwhelmingly voted against reintroducing the Soviet-era national anthem in 2000.^{[citation needed]}

The SPS was led by former Deputy Prime Minister Boris Nemtsov from 2000 to 2003. During this time SPS strongly opposed what it saw to be the authoritarian policies of President Vladimir Putin, and argued that political and media freedoms in Russia had been curtailed.^{[citation needed]}

In the 2003 parliamentary elections, the SPS, according to official results, received 4% of the vote and failed to cross the 5% threshold necessary for parliamentary representation. In single-mandate constituencies, SPS candidates Pavel Krasheninnikov, Arsen Fadzaev, and Alexey Likhachyov were elected to the State Duma of the fourth convocation (all three moved to the United Russia faction).^[3]^[4] State Duma deputy Anton Bakov joined the SPS. 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 Oblast. Despite allegations of fraud, Boris Nemtsov accepted responsibility for the election defeat and resigned as SPS leader in January 2004. On 28 May 2005 Nikita Belykh was elected as the new leader of the party.^{[citation needed]}

Plans to merge with Yabloko were shelved in late 2006.^{[citation needed]}

The party won 0.96% of votes in the 2007 elections, not breaking the 7% barrier, and thus received no seats in the Duma.

In 2008, Nikita Belyh left his chair to Leonid Gozman. On 1 October 2008, the federal political council of the party voted to dissolve the party and merge it with Civilian Power and Democratic Party of Russia, forming a new liberal-democratic party called Right Cause,^[5] which succeeded the SPS as a member of the International Democracy Union.

Political public organization (2011–present)

In 2011, a group of former members accused the Right Cause of being too close to the Russian government under Vladimir Putin and refounded the SPS, registering it as a political public organization. As a consequence, the International Democracy Union suspended the membership of the Right Cause and returned it to the new SPS.^{[citation needed]}

On 27 February 2014, the SPS formally condemned the 2014 Russian invasion of Ukraine.^[6]

Electoral results

Presidential

Election	Candidate	First round		Second round		Result
Election	Candidate	Votes	%	Votes	%	Result
2000	Endorsed Vladimir Putin	39,740,434	52.94	—		Won
2004	Irina Khakamada	2,671,313	3.84	—		Lost
2008	Boris Nemtsov	Withdrew from the elections, supported Kasyanov

State Duma

Election	Party leader	Performance					Rank	Government
Election	Party leader	Votes	%	± pp	Seats	+/–	Rank	Government
1999	Sergey Kiriyenko	5,677,247	8.52%	New	29 / 450	New	4th	Coalition
2003	Boris Nemtsov	6,944,322	3.97%	4.45	3 / 450	26	6th	Opposition
2007	Nikita Belykh	2,408,535	0.96%	3.01	0 / 450	3	8th	Extra-parliamentary