Party of Growth

Right Cause was founded in November 2008 as a merger of three parties: Union of Right Forces (SPS), Civilian Power and Democratic Party of Russia. SPS and Civilian Power were both regarded as liberal parties, supporting free market reforms, protection of private property and a decentralized federal government. The Democratic Party also supported liberal values, but its programme was more conservative and nationalistic.[4]

By 2008, the three parties were all in a state of decline. While SPS had achieved 8.7% of votes in the 1999 Duma election, in the 2007 election it only received 0.96%. Support for the Democratic Party (0.13%) and Civilian Power (1.05%) in the 2007 election was also low.[4] SPS—highly critical of Vladimir Putin and United Russia in its 2007 election campaign—was losing voters because Putin had adopted many of the market reforms championed by SPS, and also because companies started to withdraw their financial support from the party. With falling support and votes being lost to United Russia, the three parties, among others, considered mergers in order to survive. The decision to initiate the merger was made in October 2008, and in November the unification was completed. The new party, called Right Cause, was officially registered on 18 February 2009. The party's creation was supported by the presidential administration of Dmitry Medvedev.[5]

The merger was opposed by SPS founding member and former Deputy Prime Minister Boris Nemtsov, who believed the new party would not offer true political opposition, while another SPS founding member Anatoly Chubais, widely considered architect of Russia's privatization programme, voiced strong support for the merger, saying that "a political party is one that participates in elections with chances to win."[4]

Despite allegations that the party is too close to the Kremlin be a real opposition party, Right Cause was involved in controversy, finding itself in opposition to the authorities. In January 2009, an arrest warrant was issued for Yevgeny Chichvarkin, founder of leading mobile phone retailer Euroset and anticipated head of Right Cause for the Moscow Region.[6] The warrant was issued in absentia, as Chichvarkin is currently in London, England.,[7] to proclaim its support for Chichvarkin, and according to The Moscow Times, the party suggests that the legal action is "an example of the authorities unjustly targeting business."[8]

The first major election where Right Cause took part was the Moscow City Duma elections in October 2009. The party was predicted to receive between 5-8% of the vote, but only managed to register one candidate, who was soundly defeated. Many commentators that assumed that this was part of an effort by city officials of Yury Luzhkov's administration to restrict the chances of opposition parties, many Right Cause members blamed the party leadership for not properly organizing the registration and campaign.[9]

The party currently has representation in several city legislatures, but lacks representation on the regional level.[9] According to a survey conducted in March 2008, less than 2% of the Russian population were loyalists of the party.[5] In April 2011, support for Right Cause was 2.9%. The party's performance has been a disappointment, with analysts attributing its low popularity to the lack of a charismatic leader.[10]

In May 2011, billionaire businessman Mikhail Prokhorov announced a plan to join the leadership of Right Cause.[10] Prohkorov promised to make Right Cause Russia's second largest party on a pro-business platform that will "totally transform" the country. In a television interview, Prokhorov said: "we have got to return to a 14 percent tax, leave small business alone, simplify paperwork and let small business work in peace... I think we won't recognize the country in five to 10 years."[11] On 25 June 2011, Prokhorov was elected to the leadership of the party at the party congress of 2011. At the acceptance ceremony, Prokhorov officially criticized the present ruling tandem of Medvedev-Putin, the structure of Russia, and vowed to bring Russia back to a stable development course.[12] In September 2011, Prokhorov said he had quit Right Cause, "condemning it as a 'puppet Kremlin party' micromanaged by a 'puppet master' in the president’s office..., Vladislav Y. Surkov," according to a report in The New York Times.[13]

On 23 September 2011, the International Democrat Union suspended the associate member status of the Right Cause, lamenting that the party was under "direct control" of the Kremlin and all "liberal voices" had been silenced.[14] Instead, the re-founded Union of Rightist Forces was made a new associate member.[15]

Boris Titov, party leader since 2016 and 2018 presidential nominee

On 26 March 2016, the party was renamed to the "Party of Growth".[16] In the 2016 State Duma election, the party scored 1.21%, not breaking the 5% barrier and did not pass to the State Duma.

In July 2017, Party of Growth announced that it would hold primaries to nominate a presidential candidate for 2018 election. Four candidates participated in the primaries: Oksana Dmitriyeva, Dmitry Potapenko, Dmitry Marinichev and Alexander Huruji. Voting was conducted via the internet from August to November 2017.[17] On 10 August 2017, the party's press secretary told the media that the results of the primaries will be taken into account at the party congress which will be held to decide the candidate for Party of Growth. However, the winner of the primaries would not guarantee themselves the right to run on behalf of the party.[18] On 26 November, it was announced that the party would nominate party leader Boris Titov, who was not involved in the primaries. According to a person from the party leadership, none of the proposed candidates were able to obtain sufficient support.[19] Titov scored 0.8% in the election.

• Georgy Bovt, journalist
• Leonid Gozman, former leader of Union of Right Forces
• Boris Titov, former leader of the civic organisation Delovaya Rossiya [22][23] (until 24 December 2009)

• Moscow – Igor Trunov
• Moscow Region – Boris Nadezhdin
• Primorskiy Krai – Nikolai Morozov
• Amur Region – Sergei Kukharenko
• Mordovia – Stanislav Aranovich
• Tyumen Region – Alexander Bezdelov
• Nizhegorodskaya Oblast – Denis Labuza