The Democratic Party of Russia (DPR)

Russian Political Party posted November 7, 2016
Origins
The Democratic Party of Russia (DPR) is an officially registered conservative Russian political party, which was one of the first three parties in the RSFSR.

The organizing committee responsible for the creation of the Democratic Party of Russia was formed between April 21 and May 3, 1990.

The main objective of its activity was to create a mass political party capable of competing with the Communist Party, and to destroy its monopoly on power. The Moscow Association of voters, the Leningrad People's Front, a part of the Democratic Platform in the CPSU and the Interregional Deputy Group were to become the base of the party. Nikolai Travkin, a people's deputy of the USSR and RSFSR, became the Chairman of the Organizing Committee.

The All-Russian Establishing Conference of the Democratic Party of Russia was held on May 26-27th, 1990. The conference was attended by 310 delegates from 85 regions of Russia. The Program Theses and the Party Organization Principles were approved on it. These materials were considered the primary basis for the development of the DPR program documents.

The Democratic Party of Russia (DPR) was registered on March 14, 1991.

Nikolay Travkin, who was the DPR's leader until December 1994, was elected as the chairman of the party.

At various times, the party was headed by Sergei Glazyev (1994-1997), Viktor Petrov (1997), Vitaly Nasedkin (1998), George Khatsenkov (1998-2000), Denis Kuzmin (2000-2002), Mikhail Prusak (2002-2003, later he was removed from his post and expelled from the party for inactivity) and Vyacheslav Zhidilyaev (February - September 2003).

From December 2005 to 2014, Andrei Bogdanov was elected the chairman of the party, since 2014 the party has been headed by his brother Timur Bogdanov.

The "DPR Youth Union" was established in March 2006.

Since 2007, the party has been advocating the integration of Russia into the European Union. In 2008, it was disbanded and co-founded the "Pravoye Delo" party. The DPR was transformed into the all-Russian public organization "Andrei Bogdanov's Center".

On February 12, 2012, the party was re-established at the party congress; on May 10, 2012, it was re-registered by the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation. At that time, the DPR became the ninth registered political party in Russia (after the eighth party - the RPR-Parnas).

Elections 1991 - 2011
In 1991, the DPR proposed Boris Yeltsin as a candidate for the post of the President of Russia, however, in December 1991 it organized a rally on Manezh Square against the signing of Belavezha Accords, and went into opposition.

In 1993, at the elections to the State Duma (the 1 convocation) the party list got 5.53%, introducing 14 deputies on party-list system and one on the single-mandate district № 174 of Tomsk region.

In 1995, the DPR did not participate in the elections to the State Duma (2 convocation). Only two members that passed through the single-member districts represented the party in the Duma of 2nd convocation - Stanislav Govorukhin (from the "Party bloc of Stanislav Govorukhin") from district № 53 (Stavropolsky region) and Anatoly Kotka (from the "Transformation of the Fatherland") from district № 164 (Sverdlovsk region).

In the presidential election of 1996 the DPR supported the candidacy of Alexander Lebed.

In 1999, the DPR did not participate in the elections to the State Duma (the 3 convocation) and did not have its representatives.

In the presidential election of 2000 the DPR supported the candidacy of Vladimir Putin.

In 2003, in the elections to the State Duma (4 convocation) the DPR received 0.22%, and did not overcome the electoral threshold. The candidates put forward through single-member districts also failed to get into the parliament.

In 2004, before the presidential elections, the leader of the DPR Vladimir Podoprigora (2003-2005) attempted to initiate a boycott of the upcoming presidential elections.

In 2007, at the elections to the State Duma (5th convocation) the DPR received 0.13%, and did not overcome the electoral threshold.

In 2008, the party nominated and registered its leader, Andrei Bogdanov, for the presidential election. Bogdanov scored 1.30%, taking the last 4th place.

In 2011, the party did not take part at the elections to the State Council (6 convocation), as it had been disbanded, and was a co-founder of the party "Just Cause", which received 0.60% in the elections and did not overcome the electoral threshold.

Dissolution and revival
On November 15, 2008, the DPR party dissolved at an extraordinary congress, and became a part of the co-founders of the party "Just Cause", along with the parties "Civil Force" and "Union of Right Forces", which dissolved themselves to create the united democratic party "Just Cause". Moreover, all three parties retained their brands, transforming themselves from political parties into public organizations.

The party was re-established under its former name on February 12, 2012. Andrei Bogdanov was elected as the chairman, while Vyacheslav Smirnov became the deputy chairman. On March 23, 2012, the State Duma adopted amendments to the Federal Law FL-95 on political parties to simplify the registration of political parties. On April 28, 2012, the party was again officially registered by the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation.

In September 2014, the party was headed by Timur Bogdanov, a brother of Andrei Bogdanov, who headed the "Communist Party of Social Justice" created with his participation.

Elections 2012 - 2016
On October 14, 2012, the party took part in the elections on single voting day in the following subjects: Krasnodar region (3266 votes, 0.19%), North Ossetia (481 votes, 0.21%), Penza region (1469 votes, 0.27%), Tver (236 votes, 0.29%), and to the city council of Kamensk-Uralsky, Sverdlovsk region (366 votes, 1.48%).

In 2016, the DPR did not take part in the elections to the State Duma of the 7th convocation, the party did not have a representative in the regional or municipal parliament and was not exempt from collecting signatures. The party did not carry out collection of signatures for nomination.

Additional Info
In Russian: Демократическая партия России
Founders: Nikolai Travkin
Established: Saturday, 26 May 1990
Official Website