View source for Union of Right Forces

{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2021}}
{{Expand Russian|Союз правых сил|topic=gov|date=February 2009}} 
{{Infobox political party
| colorcode        = #1356AF
| name             = Union of Right Forces
| native_name      = Союз правых сил
| logo             = [[File: Союз правых сил.svg|200px]]
| abbreviation     = SPS (English)<br>СПС (Russian)
| leader1_title    = President (s)
| leader1_name     = [[Sergey Kiriyenko]]<br>{{small|(1998–2001)}}<br>[[Boris Nemtsov]]<br>{{small|(2001–2004)}}<br>[[Viktor Nekrutenko]]<br>{{small|(2004–2005)}}<br>[[Nikita Belykh]]<br>{{small|(2005–2008)}}<br>[[Leonid Gozman]]<br>{{small|(acting, 2008)}}
| leader2_title    = Founders
| leader2_name     = [[Yegor Gaidar]]<br>[[Anatoly Chubais]]<br>[[Sergey Kiriyenko]]<br>[[Boris Nemtsov]]<br>[[Irina Khakamada]]<br>[[Konstantin Titov]]
| predecessor      = [[Right Cause (coalition)]]
| foundation       = {{start date|df=yes|1999|10|24}} ''(as bloc)''<br>{{start date|df=yes|2001|5|26}} ''(as party)''
| merger           = [[Democratic Choice of Russia]]<br>[[Conservative Movement "New Force"]]<br>[[Young Russia (liberal movement)]]<br>[[Democratic Russia]]<br>[[Voice of Russia]]<br>[[Common Cause (Russian political party)|Common Cause]]<br>[[Party of Economic Freedom]]
| dissolution      = {{end date|df=yes|2008|11|15}}
| successor        = [[Right Cause]]<ref name="PEE">{{cite web |last=Nordsieck |first=Wolfram |date=2008 |url=http://www.parties-and-elections.eu/russia.html |title=Russia |website=Parties and Elections in Europe |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090409114201/http://www.parties-and-elections.de/russia.html |archive-date=9 April 2009 |url-status=dead}}</ref><br>[[Solidarnost]]<br>[[Democratic Choice (Russia, 2010)|Democratic Choice]]
| slogan           = "Our Cause is Just/Right"<br />({{langx|ru|"Наше дело правое!"}})<br/>"Liberty, Property, Legality"<br />({{langx|ru|"Свобода, Собственность, Законность"}})
| headquarters     = [[Moscow]]
| newspaper        = Just Cause
| membership_year  = 2007
| membership       = 57,410
| ideology         = [[Liberal conservatism]]<br>[[Conservative liberalism]]<br>[[Neoliberalism]]<br>[[Economic liberalism]]<br>[[Pro-Europeanism]]<br>[[Atlanticism]]
| position         = <!--The party has also been described as [[Centrism|Centre]]<ref>{{cite news|last=Stephen|first=Chris|date=30 November 2005|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/hardline-ads-and-dirty-tricks-mar-end-of-moscow-campaign-1.522690|title=Hardline ads and dirty tricks mar end of Moscow campaign|work=[[The Irish Times]]}}</ref> and [[Right-wing]]<ref>{{cite journal|last=White|first=David|date=2005|title=Going their own way: The Yabloko Party's opposition to unification|journal=[[Journal of Communist Studies and Transition Politics]]|volume=21|issue=4|pages=462–486|doi=10.1080/13523270500363395}}</ref>. -->[[Centre-right]]<ref>{{cite book |author-link=Taras Kuzio |last=Kuzio |first=Taras |date=2007 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F2MZBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA111 |title=Ukraine–Crimea–Russia: Triangle of Conflict|publisher=ibidem Press |page=111 |isbn=978-3-89821-761-3 |issn=1614-3515}}</ref>
| anthem           = "[[Patrioticheskaya Pesnya]]"
| international    = [[International Democracy Union|International Democrat Union]]
| colours          = {{Color box|#1356AF|border=darkgray}}{{Color box|#F50200|border=darkgray}}{{Color box|#FFFFFF|border=darkgray}} [[Blue]], [[red (color)|red]], [[white]]
| seats1           = {{Composition bar|29|450|hex=#1356AF}}
| seats1_title     = [[3rd State Duma of the Russian Federation|Seats in the 3rd State Duma]]
| seats2           = {{Composition bar|3|450|hex=#1356AF}}
| seats2_title     = [[4th State Duma of the Russian Federation|Seats in the 4th State Duma]]
| website          = {{URL|https://web.archive.org/web/20130117081730/http://sps.ru/|www.sps.ru}}
| country          = Russia
| flag = Logo SPS.PNG
}}{{Liberalism in Russia|all}}{{Conservatism in Russia|Parties}}
The '''Union of Right Forces''' ('''SPS'''){{efn|{{lang-rus|Союз правых сил|r=Sojuz pravyh sil|p=sɐˈjus ˈpravɨx ˈsʲil (ˌɛsˌpɛˈɛs)}}.}} was a Russian [[liberal-conservative]]<ref name="PEE"/> 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 "young reformers" of the 1990s: [[Anatoly Chubais]], [[Boris Nemtsov]], [[Sergey Kiriyenko]] and [[Yegor Gaidar]]. The party officially self-dissolved in 2008. [[Nikita Belykh]] was the party's last leader from 2005 to 2008.

In 2011, the SPS was refounded by some of its former members as the '''Union of Right Forces Movement'''. In 2012, it was registered as a ''political public organization'', a type of [[Non-governmental organization|NGO]]. In Russia, participation in [[Elections in Russia|elections]] requires being accepted into the [[List of political parties in Russia|list of political parties]] controlled by the Ministry of Justice.

Both the former SPS and the refounded SPS were accepted as a member of the [[International Democracy Union]] (IDU).

== Political party (1999–2008) ==
The SPS was established in 1999, following a merger of several smaller liberal parties, including [[Democratic Choice of Russia]] and [[Democratic Russia]]. In the [[1999 Russian legislative election|1999 parliamentary elections]] the SPS won 8.6% of the vote and 32 seats in the Russian [[State Duma]] (lower house of the [[Federal Assembly of Russia]]).{{citation needed|date=May 2021}}

In the 2000 presidential election, the SPS supported [[Vladimir Putin]]'s candidacy, though many of the party leaders supported [[Grigory Yavlinsky]]. The SPS parliamentarians overwhelmingly voted against reintroducing the Soviet-era national anthem in 2000.{{citation needed|date=May 2021}}

The SPS was led by former Deputy Prime Minister [[Boris Nemtsov]] from 2000 to 2003. During this time SPS strongly opposed what it saw to be the [[authoritarian]] policies of President Vladimir Putin, and argued that political and media freedoms in Russia had been curtailed.{{citation needed|date=May 2021}}

In the [[2003 Russian legislative election|2003 parliamentary elections]], the SPS, according to official results, received 4% of the vote and failed to cross the 5% threshold necessary for parliamentary representation. In single-mandate constituencies, SPS candidates [[Pavel Krasheninnikov]], [[Arsen Fadzaev]], and [[:ru:Лихачёв, Алексей Евгеньевич|Alexey Likhachyov]] were elected to the State Duma of the fourth convocation (all three moved to the [[United Russia]] faction).<ref>[http://www.regnum.ru/news/916594.html Североосетинский депутат представлял в Госдуме интересы двух Осетий] // [[REGNUM News Agency]], 16 December 2007</ref><ref>[http://www.yabloko.ru/Publ/2004/2004_06/040628_ved.html «Яблочники» и правые мало востребованы государством и бизнесом] // [[Vedomosti]], 28 June 2004</ref> State Duma deputy [[Anton Bakov]] joined the SPS. A number of SPS candidates came second in single-mandate electoral districts the party had previously held, such as [[Irina Khakamada]] in [[St. Petersburg]], [[Vladimir V. Kara-Murza]] in [[Moscow]], or [[Boris Nadezhdin]] in the [[Moscow Oblast]]. Despite allegations of fraud, [[Boris Nemtsov]] accepted responsibility for the election defeat and resigned as SPS leader in January 2004. On 28 May 2005 [[Nikita Belykh]] was elected as the new leader of the party.{{citation needed|date=May 2021}}

Plans to merge with [[Yabloko]] were shelved in late 2006.{{citation needed|date=March 2023}}

The party won 0.96% of votes in the [[2007 Russian legislative election|2007 elections]], not breaking the 7% barrier, and thus received no seats in the Duma.

In 2008, Nikita Belyh left his chair to Leonid Gozman. On 1 October 2008, the federal political council of the party voted to dissolve the party and merge it with [[Civilian Power]] and [[Democratic Party of Russia]], forming a new liberal-democratic party called [[Right Cause (political party)|Right Cause]],<ref>[http://www.kommersant.ru/doc.aspx?DocsID=1034766 SPS Party Announced Dissolution] [[Kommersant]], 2 October 2008</ref> which succeeded the SPS as a member of the [[International Democracy Union]].

== Political public organization (2011–present) ==
In 2011, a group of former members accused the Right Cause of being too close to the Russian government under Vladimir Putin and refounded the SPS, registering it as a ''political public organization''. As a consequence, the [[International Democracy Union]] suspended the membership of the Right Cause and returned it to the new SPS.{{citation needed|date=May 2021}}

On 27 February 2014, the SPS formally condemned the [[2014 Russian invasion of Ukraine]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.idu.org/contentdoc/SDS140227.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=23 March 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140323210928/http://www.idu.org/contentdoc/SDS140227.pdf |archive-date=23 March 2014}}</ref>

== Electoral results ==
=== Presidential ===
{| class=wikitable style=text-align:center
|-
! rowspan="2" |'''Election'''
! rowspan="2" |Candidate
! colspan="2" scope="col" |First round
! colspan="2" |Second round
! rowspan="2" |Result
|-
!'''Votes'''
!'''%'''
!'''Votes'''
!'''%'''
|-
![[2000 Russian presidential election|2000]]
|align=left| Endorsed   '''[[Vladimir Putin]]'''
|39,740,434
|52.94
|colspan=2 {{N/A}}
|{{yes2|Won}}
|-
![[2004 Russian presidential election|2004]]
|[[Irina Khakamada]]
|2,671,313
|3.84
|colspan=2 {{N/A}}
|{{no|Lost}}
|-
![[2008 Russian presidential election|2008]]
|{{no2|[[Boris Nemtsov]]}}
|colspan=5|Withdrew from the elections, supported [[Mikhail Kasyanov|Kasyanov]]
|}

=== State Duma ===
{| class=wikitable style=text-align:center
|-
! rowspan="2" |'''Election'''
! rowspan="2" |Party leader
! colspan="5" scope="col" |Performance
! rowspan="2" |Rank
! rowspan="2" |Government
|-
!'''Votes'''
!'''%'''
!'''± pp'''
!'''Seats'''
!'''+/–'''
|-
![[1999 Russian legislative election|1999]]
|[[Sergey Kiriyenko]]
|5,677,247
|{{Percentage bar|8.52|hex=1356AF}}
|New
|{{composition bar|29|450|hex=#1356AF}}
|New
|{{increase}} 4th
|{{yes2|Coalition}}
|-
![[2003 Russian legislative election|2003]]
|[[Boris Nemtsov]]
|6,944,322
|{{Percentage bar|3.97|hex=1356AF}}
|{{decrease}} 4.45
|{{composition bar|3|450|hex=#1356AF}}
|{{decrease}} 26
|{{decrease}} 6th
|{{no2|Opposition}}
|-
![[2007 Russian legislative election|2007]]
|[[Nikita Belykh]]
|2,408,535
|{{Percentage bar|0.96|hex=1356AF}}
|{{decrease}} 3.01
|{{composition bar|0|450|hex=#1356AF}}
|{{decrease}} 3
|{{decrease}} 8th
|{{no|Extra-parliamentary}}
|-
|}

==See also==
{{portal|Russia}}
*[[Liberalism]]
*[[Liberal parties by country]]
*[[Liberal democracy]]
*[[Liberalism in Russia]]
*[[Union of Left Forces]]

==Notes==
{{Notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20040720005625/http://www.sps.ru/ Union of Right Forces official site]
{{Russian political movements}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Union of Right Forces}}
[[Category:Union of Right Forces| ]]
[[Category:1999 establishments in Russia]]
[[Category:2008 disestablishments in Russia]]
[[Category:Political parties disestablished in 2008]]
[[Category:Political parties established in 1999]]
[[Category:Classical liberal parties]]
[[Category:Neoliberal parties]]
[[Category:Liberal conservative parties]]