The Democratic Choice of Russia (DCR), known before 1994 as the "Choice of Russia" Bloc (CR), was a Russian centre-right conservative-liberal political party. Later the party was self-disbanded and most members would merge into the

Union of Right Forces The Union of Right Forces (URF). was a Russian liberal-conservative 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 "yo ...

Background and establishment

At the elections to the

State Duma The State Duma is the lower house of the Federal Assembly (Russia), Federal Assembly of Russia, with the upper house being the Federation Council (Russia), Federation Council. It was established by the Constitution of Russia, Constitution of t ...

held on 12 December 1993, the Choice of Russia bloc (the predecessor to the Democratic Choice of Russia) received 15.51% of the vote, and consequently, 40 seats in the State Duma. On 20 January 1994, having lost influence over making economic decisions and opposed to the increase of budget expenditure, the leader of the Choice of Russia,

Yegor Gaidar Yegor Timurovich Gaidar (; rus, Егор Тимурович Гайдар, p=jɪˈɡor tʲɪˈmurəvʲɪtɕ ɡɐjˈdar; 19 March 1956 – 16 December 2009) was a Soviet and Russian economist, politician, and author, and was the Acting Prime Min ...

, resigned from the government headed by

Viktor Chernomyrdin Viktor Stepanovich Chernomyrdin (, ; 9 April 19383 November 2010) was a Soviet and Russian politician and businessman. He was the Minister of Gas Industry of the Soviet Union (13 February 1985 – 17 July 1989), after which he became first chairm ...

. At that point the Choice of Russia lost its status as a pro-government faction, yet at the same time it continued to support president

Boris Yeltsin Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin (1 February 1931 – 23 April 2007) was a Soviet and Russian politician and statesman who served as President of Russia from 1991 to 1999. He was a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) from 1961 to ...

and Chernomyrdin's government by providing constructive criticism of their policies. On 12 and 13 June 1994, the founding meeting of the party Democratic Choice of Russia was held. At the meeting, the party's programme was adopted and its governing bodies were set up. Yegor Gaidar was elected as party chairman. In 1995, the party contested the

election An election is a formal group decision-making process whereby a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold Public administration, public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative d ...

in a coalition of (minor) like-minded groups, forming the

Democratic Choice of Russia – United Democrats Democratic Choice of Russia – United Democrats (Russian: Демократический выбор России — Объединенные демократы) was a bloc that contested the 1995 Russian legislative election, winning 3.86% of ...

. Later, in 2001, it merged into the

Union of Rightist Forces The Union of Right Forces (URF). was a Russian liberal-conservative 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 " ...

Values

The party had valued ideas of both

liberalism Liberalism is a Political philosophy, political and moral philosophy based on the Individual rights, rights of the individual, liberty, consent of the governed, political equality, the right to private property, and equality before the law. ...

and

conservatism Conservatism is a Philosophy of culture, cultural, Social philosophy, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, Convention (norm), customs, and Value (ethics and social science ...

. This included human rights,

self-determination Self-determination refers to a people's right to form its own political entity, and internal self-determination is the right to representative government with full suffrage. Self-determination is a cardinal principle in modern international la ...

, a market economy, private capital investment, fair competition and the restriction of government regulations in the economy.

Background and establishment

Values

Election results

Presidential election

State Duma elections

Notes

References

See also