UNITED RUSSIA
UNITED RUSSIA
UNITED RUSSIA (UR) – All-Russian political party, which was formed on the initiative of the President of the Russian Federation V.V. Putin on December 1, 2001, and soon became the largest political organization in Russia, with a majority of seats in the Russian federal parliament and in almost all regional parliaments of the Russian Federation. The party’s membership, according to the organization’s official website data for 2016, exceeds 2 million 100 thousand people. The starting point of the party's development was the unification of three large political organizations of the Russian Federation in 2001. The “Yedinstvo” political party, the “Otechestvo” social and political organization and the “All Russia” movement created a political union, which in 2003 was officially transformed into the United Russia party. Since 2003, the party has occupied more than 50% of the seats in the State Duma of the Russian Federation. Out of 450 mandates, United Russia received 304 mandates in the elections in 2003, 315 mandates in 2007, and 238 in 2011. In 2004, United Russia supported the nomination of V. Putin as a candidate for the post of President of the Russian Federation, in 2008 - D. Medvedev, and in 2012 - again, V. Putin (at that time - the party chairman). In all three electoral cycles, the listed candidates were successful. The last elections (2016) to the lower house of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation ended in victory for the party, which received a constitutional majority. United Russia won 140 seats on party lists and 203 seats in single-mandate constituencies, for a total of 343 seats - 76.2%. At the presidential elections in the Russian Federation in 2018, the party supported the nomination of V. Putin as a candidate for public office. Putin won with 76.69% of the vote. According to the data for 2020, in 74 out of 85 constituent entities of the Russian Federation, governors are persons who were nominated or supported in the elections by United Russia. The post of the Party Chairman is currently held by the Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation - Dmitry Medvedev. The Secretary of the General Council of the Party is the First Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council of the Russian Federation - Andrey Turchak. United Russia is the only political organization in the Russian Federation that uses the primaries procedure to determine party candidates for elective positions in government. In 2020, the preliminary voting procedure was carried out online via a special platform. The social and political activities of the party are concentrated in social projects aimed at the development of society and the state in most spheres of life. Also, since 2018, United Russia has been implementing the “Higher Party School” platform for training potential candidates for elections, party managers and political consultants. The youth wing of the party is represented by the youth organization "Young Guard of United Russia", which has existed since 2005. Young people implement social projects throughout the country, volunteer and participate in elections to representative government bodies. Official site of the party: http://er.ru