Yabloko

Russian United Democratic Party "Yabloko" Российская объединённая демократическая партия «Яблоко»
Leader	Emilia Slabunova[1]
Founder	Grigory Yavlinsky Yury Boldyrev Vladimir Lukin
Founded	1993
Merger of	Union of Greens of Russia (faction) (2016–present)
Headquarters	Moscow
Ideology	Social democracy[2] Social liberalism[2] Centrism Green politics[3] Green liberalism[3][2] Liberalism Non-interventionism[4] Pro-Europeanism[2] Progressivism[5] Rhine capitalism[6][7] Third Way[8]
Political position	Centre (majority)[9][10] Centre-right to centre-left (factions)
European affiliation	Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party (full member) European Green Party (associate member for Green Russia faction of Yabloko)[11]
International affiliation	Liberal International
Colours	Green, Red
Federation Council	1 / 170
State Duma	0 / 450
Seats in the Regional Parliaments	7 / 3,928
Website
http://www.yabloko.ru/
Politics of Russia Political parties Elections

The Russian United Democratic Party "Yabloko" (Russian: Росси́йская объединённая демократи́ческая па́ртия «Я́блоко» Rossiyskaya obyedinyonnaya demokraticheskaya partiya "Yabloko") is a Russian social-liberal political party founded by former Soviet Deputy Prime Minister Grigory Yavlinsky and currently led by Representative Emilia Slabunova. The party's logo consists of a red circle and a green isosceles triangle, suggesting an apple in a constructivist style, a nod to the party's acronym which is a Russian word for "apple" (Russian: я́блоко, translit. jábloko/yábloko). Yabloko’s party platform stands for a social market economy, fair competition in politics and the economy, is for the inviolability of private property, and for equal opportunity. On a federal level, the party is represented by one senator, Vladimir Lukin.

History

The party dates back to early 1990s. The immediate predecessor of the Yabloko party was the electoral cartel Yavlinsky-Boldyrev-Lukin, formed for the legislative elections of 1993. "Yabloko" is an acronym of the names of its founders: "Я" (Ya) for Grigory Yavlinsky; "Б" (B) for Yury Boldyrev, and "Л" (L) for Vladimir Lukin, with the full name meaning "apple" in Russian. The party stands for free markets and civil liberties in Russia, better relations with the United States and membership in the European Union. The party opposed president Boris Yeltsin's and his prime ministers' policies, earning the reputation of a determined opposition movement that nevertheless was devoted to democratic reforms (in contrast, most of the opposition was communist or far right at that time).^[12] Similarly, it has continued to oppose Vladimir Putin for what they see as his increasing authoritarianism and has called for the removal of his government "by constitutional means."

Originally established as a public organization in 1993, it transformed into a political party in 2001. It contested the legislative elections of 1993, 1995, 1999, and 2003.

It is argued that the vote-count in the 2003 Russian parliamentary election was marred by fraud. Some exit-polls and parallel recounts conducted by opposition observers showed that Yabloko crossed the 5% threshold needed for parliamentary representation, gaining 6% of the vote, which should have been translated into some 20 parliamentary seats. Vladimir Putin himself telephoned Yavlinsky on the night of the election to congratulate his party on making it back into the Duma. However, most of these polls had a high margin of error (plus or minus three percent) and only showed Yabloko obtaining seats by a tiny margin. Official results announced by the Central Election Commission gave Yabloko 4.30% of the vote and no seats on the proportional party-list system. Only four Yabloko candidates won in individual district races and were elected to the Duma.

On 4 December 2005 Yabloko-United Democrats, a coalition formed by Yabloko and the Union of Rightist Forces, won 11% of the vote in the Moscow municipal elections and became one of only three parties (along with United Russia and the Communist Party) to enter the new Moscow City Duma. This success was seen by Yabloko leaders as a hopeful sign for the 2007 Russian parliamentary election, and reinforced the view that Yabloko and the Union of Rightist Forces need to unite in order to be elected to the State Duma in 2007.

The Commission on the Unification of Democratic Forces, under the chairmanship of Boris Nemtsov, was established by the Union of Rightist Forces on February 16, 2006. However, the merger plans were discarded in December 2006 since the differences seemed too large.^[13]

The Russian Democratic Party Yabloko had been an observer of the Liberal International since 2002, and became a full member after the ELDR Bucharest congress in October 2006. The party's central office is located in Moscow.

In the Russian legislative election, 2007, Yabloko lost its representation in the State Duma.

In the Russian Regional elections on 4 December 2011 Yabloko won a few places in regional parliaments of Russia: 6 of 50 in Legislative Assembly of Saint Petersburg, 4 of 50 in Legislative Assembly of the Republic of Karelia and 1 of 44 in Pskov legislative body.

Election results

Regional parliamentary elections

Regional parliaments of Russia in which Yabloko is represented.

Regional Parliament	Election year	Seats
		#	Position
Republics
Karelia	2016	3 / 36	#2[lower-alpha 1]
Oblasts
Kostroma Oblast	2015	1 / 36	#3[lower-alpha 1]
Pskov Oblast	2016	1 / 44	#5
Federal cities
Saint Petersburg	2016	2 / 50	#3

1. 1 2 Tied with other parties.

See also

• Liberal democracy
• Liberalism in Russia

Further reading

• Hale, Henry (2004). "Yabloko and the Challenge of Building a Liberal Party in Russia". Europe-Asia Studies. 56 (7): 993–1020. doi:10.1080/1465342042000294338.
• White, David (2006). The Russian Democratic Party Yabloko: Opposition in a Managed Democracy, Burlington: Ashgate.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Yabloko.

• Yabloko Official website (in English)