The history of the creation of the Liberal Democratic Party briefly. Mister X of Russian politics: Zhirinovsky, the Liberal Democratic Party and the Kremlin. Make the Right Choice
Russian political party
The Russian political party was founded in 1990 as the Liberal Democratic Party of the Soviet Union and received its current name in 1992. It had representation in the State Duma of the Russian Federation of all convocations, and won the 1993 elections, gaining almost 23 percent of the vote. They wrote about the ideology of the LDPR that its central idea was the re-creation of a "great empire." The permanent leader of the party is Vladimir Zhirinovsky.
The Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR), which the media referred to as parties of the "leader" type, has been closely associated with its leader Vladimir Volfovich Zhirinovsky throughout its history. According to Zhirinovsky, whom the media in the early 90s called "the founder of the failed Social Democratic Party of Russia", the idea to create the Liberal Democratic Party belonged to him personally - she herself came up with the name and wrote its program,. According to some reports, the politician used the same program in 1988 as the "Program of a Candidate for People's Deputies of the USSR" and the "Program of the Social Democratic Party of Russia" (even then it contained a demand for the abolition of national-state entities and the establishment of a unitary state,). At the same time, Zhirinovsky noted that an acquaintance, politician Vladimir Bogachev, invited him to take part in the creation of a new party.
1990s, LDPSS and LDPR
On December 13, 1989, the Liberal Democratic Party of the Soviet Union (LDP of the Soviet Union, LDPSS or LDP SS) was established on March 31 In 1990, the Founding Congress of the LDPSS was held in the House of Culture named after Rusakov. By the decision of the congress, Zhirinovsky became the head of the organization, and Bogachev took the post of chief coordinator of the party. At the congress, it was announced that the LDPSS unites "more than three thousand people from 31 regions of the country and is the first opposition party in the USSR." In June of the same year, the leaders of the LDPSS and the Sakharov Union of Democratic Forces (Vladimir Voronin) founded the Centrist Bloc of Political Parties and Movements (TsBPPiD), which included several more "dwarf and semi-mythical movements",.
From the very beginning, the Liberal Democratic Party was associated with the KGB of the USSR. In one of his interviews in 2005, the leader of the Liberal Democrats explained where this information came from: according to Zhirinovsky, the rumor was generated by the statement of KGB Chairman Vladimir Kryuchkov about the organization (in response to a question from Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev about new parties that are appearing in the country, Kryuchkov gave Zhirinovsky's party "the most positive characterization [...], saying that the LDPR is the most loyal in the country, especially the army and the KGB").
On October 6, 1990, the 2nd (extraordinary) congress of the LDPSS opened. At it, the main coordinator Bogachev proposed to expel Zhirinovsky from the party - as "he ruined the work." This was done: with the wording "for pro-communist activities," Zhirinovsky was expelled from the organization, which was then renamed the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP; later, in the spring of 1991, the party split again - into the Russian Liberal Party (RLP) headed by Konstantin Krivonosov and the European Liberal Democratic Party (ELDP) headed by Bogachev). And on October 20 of the same year, a conference of the LDPSS was held in the Rusakov Palace of Culture, which brought together supporters of Zhirinovsky (the so-called "Blue Movement"). By her decision, opponents of the party leader, including Bogachev, were expelled from the party.
April 12, 1991 LDPSS was officially registered by the Ministry of Justice of the USSR. It was noted that this happened a day earlier than the party’s charter was approved at the II Congress of the LDP, which took place on April 13, 1991 (according to some reports, this was done to confirm the provision on a multi-party system enshrined in the Constitution by that time). Subsequently, it turned out that when registering with the Ministry of Justice, the leadership of the LDPSS used the lists of members of other organizations of the TsBPPiD in order to, in accordance with the law, recruit the required number (at least 5 thousand people), after which Voronin announced the exclusion of Zhirinovsky from the TsBPPiD. On August 10, 1992, the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation, for the same reason (the use of false lists), canceled the registration of the charter of the LDPSS.
Liberal Democrats in the early 90s showed themselves as supporters of the State Emergency Committee. On August 22, 1991, Moscow Mayor Gavriil Popov suspended the activities of the LDPSS in Moscow. After the failure of the coup, the party received a warning from the Ministry of Justice. Members of the Supreme Council of the LDPSS reprimanded themselves for supporting the GKChP, after which the parties did not begin to accuse them of supporting the putschists,.
In April 1992, the 3rd Congress of the Liberal Democrats was held, at which the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) was established, declared the legal successor of the LDP of the Soviet Union. Zhirinovsky again became the leader of the party, his deputy was Akhmet Khalitov (according to some sources, he had previously worked for 15 years in the USSR Ministry of Agriculture, according to others, he was a "collective farm water pump operator"). In December of the same year, after a thorough check, the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation issued a registration document for the LDPR and its charter (certificate No. 1332). By that time, Zhirinovsky's party had already gained some popularity, due in large part to the participation of its leader in the 1991 presidential election. The communist businessman Andrey Zavidia then claimed the post of vice-president from the Liberal Democratic Party; according to the results of the elections, they received almost 8 percent of the vote and took third place,.
They wrote about the ideology of the LDPR that its central idea is the re-creation of a great empire: "The main task of the LDPR is the revival and strengthening of the Russian state within the borders of the USSR in 1977," the party's program theses stated. It was noted that the Liberal Democratic Party held the idea of the existence of a "world conspiracy against the Slavic people", according to which "it is planned to surround Russia with the Chinese, Muslims, Germans, Balts and then, squeezing the ring, completely do away with the Russians in the next 50 years" . Such statements gave the media a reason to subsequently write about the party as an "extremist political group" and call its members "fascists",.
In 1993, during the confrontation between Russian President Boris Yeltsin and the Supreme Soviet, the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party called for "early elections for both the president and the Supreme Soviet." During the October events in Moscow, he was at a congress of youth organizations of the Non-Aligned Movement in Iraq. As a result, neither Zhirinovsky himself nor his fellow party members took part in what was happening in those days in the capital.
In the elections to the State Duma in December 1993, the LDPR list received 22.92 percent of the votes,,,, taking first place among other parties. In addition, 5 LDPR candidates were elected deputies in single-member districts, including Zhirinovsky himself. This allowed the Liberal Democratic Party to create the second largest faction in the State Duma after the Communist Party,,,, which the media qualified as a "stunning result". Zhirinovsky became the chairman of the faction, Alexander Vengerovsky and Sergei Abeltsev were elected deputy chairmen, and Sergei Churkin was elected secretary. One of the deputies from the Liberal Democratic Party was the psychic and healer Anatoly Kashpirovsky, who gained fame at the turn of the 1980s and 1990s thanks to his medical television sessions; in fact, he never took part in the work of the State Duma.
After the unexpected confident victory of the Liberal Democratic Party, the question arose of what sources the Liberal Democratic Party was financed from. It was noted that in the documents the party's sponsors were the Stolichny bank and the Menatep concern. However, they denied this and were "ready to prove that they had not given the Liberal Democratic Party a penny." By that time, Zhirinovsky's former ally Andrey Zavidia had already announced his role in financing the party. The press, in particular, Nezavisimaya Gazeta, mentioned the possible provision of financial support to the Liberal Democratic Party by "business structures interested in maintaining the uncertain status of Crimea." They also wrote about possible financial assistance to the Liberal Democratic Party from the head of the Republic of Ichkeria, Dzhokhar Dudayev. However, this did not prevent Zhirinovsky from later becoming "one of the supporters of a forceful solution to the Chechen issue," Nezavisimaya Gazeta noted.
Western intelligence agencies were also interested in the origin of the party's money: for example, information appeared that the Liberal Democratic Party allegedly received money from the far-right German party "German People's Union" (HNS, DVU). The media also discussed the relationship of the party leader with Global Money Management (a Dutch company that was bought by its Russian branch in the early 1990s; in 1995, the company's management fled),. In addition, evidence appeared in the press about financing Zhirinovsky from foreign contributions from the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED). However, all these scandalous assumptions had no consequences for the party.
In April 1994, the 5th Congress of the LDPR was held in Moscow. At it, Zhirinovsky, newly elected chairman, addressed the delegates with a request "to change some clauses of the party's charter and expand the powers of the party chairman." As a result, it was decided to hold party congresses not annually, but once every three years, and in the intervals between them, the party leader was vested with the powers of the congress. The chairman of the LDPR became, according to the new version of the Charter, the only elected body elected by the congress. According to analysts, after the approval of the new version of the charter, "the dictatorship of the chairman was established in the party."
On September 2, 1995, the 6th Congress of the LDPR was held, at which candidates for deputies were nominated in single-member districts and the federal list of candidates from the LDPR was approved. The first three of the list were Zhirinovsky, Abeltsev and Vengerovsky. On December 17, 1995, in the regular elections to the State Duma, the LDPR received 7.7 million votes (11.18 percent of the vote) and took second place. In January 1996, the LDPR nominated its leader as a candidate for the presidency of the Russian Federation. The first round of elections took place on June 16, 1996, but it did not bring victory to the party: Zhirinovsky received 4.3 million votes (5.7 percent) and took only fifth place,,. The victory in the second round of voting was won by the incumbent Russian President Boris Yeltsin.
In April 1998, the 8th Congress of the LDPR was held in the Hall of Columns of the House of Unions. It adopted a new version of the party's charter, and Zhirinovsky was unanimously re-elected chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party for another six years. On April 25, 1999, this time in the hall of the Moscow Palace of Youth, the 9th Congress of the Liberal Democratic Party took place. As noted by the media, its holding, as in the previous year, was timed to coincide with the birthday of the party leader.
The 10th Congress of the Liberal Democratic Party, held on September 11, 1999, approved the list of candidates for deputies of the State Duma of the third convocation. The second place in it, in accordance with the forecasts of experts, was given to an entrepreneur, "aluminum tycoon" Anatoly Bykov, who was wanted at that time (a criminal case was initiated against him on charges of organizing a murder). Zhirinovsky again became the leader of the list. In addition to him and Bykov, Mikhail Musatov, Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Defense Committee, also entered the "top three".
On October 11, 1999, the Central Election Commission refused to register the federal list of the Liberal Democratic Party, since 52 candidates provided false information about their income and property (for example, it was noted that Bykov hid information about his possession of three cars and an income of $ 1.3 million , distorted information about the area of \u200b\u200bhis housing in Russia and did not mention a house in the USA). "It was no longer possible to withdraw the list, correct it and clarify it at an additional congress," as the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party requested, according to the federal law on the election of deputies to the State Duma. After that, it was decided to form a new list within the framework of a new association: on October 13, 1999, the founding congress of the pre-election "Zhirinovsky Bloc" was held, the basis of which was the Party of Spiritual Revival of Russia (leader - Lyubov Zhirinovskaya (Makarova), sister of the LDPR leader by mother) and the Russian union of free youth (head - Gleb Pyataev). A new federal list was formed: Zhirinovsky became the "first number", Oleg Finko, the head of the State Duma information policy committee, the second, and Yegor Solomatin, deputy head of the Liberal Democratic Party, deputy head of the Liberal Democratic Party, third.
However, on December 2, 1999, the CEC at its meeting decided to register the federal list of the LDPR electoral association and at the same time excluded Zhirinovsky himself from it - for providing incorrect information about his income. The CEC excluded from the lists and who was going to run for the State Duma on the party lists of Sergei Mikhailov (Mikhas), who hid Greek citizenship. Thus, members of the Liberal Democrats were represented by two lists at once - the Liberal Democratic Party and the Zhirinovsky Bloc. But already on December 9, 1999, the CEC, guided by the decision of the Presidium of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, canceled the decision to register the federal list of the Liberal Democratic Party.
The bloc went to the polls with the slogan "The Zhirinovsky Bloc is the Liberal Democratic Party!" .. As a result of voting on December 19, 1999, he won about 4 million votes (5.98 percent) and took fifth place among six associations that entered the State Duma of the Russian Federation,. The bloc's deputies formed a faction in parliament, which they called "LDPR", with which the Duma Committee on Regulations agreed, which registered the faction under that name. Zhirinovsky's son, Igor Lebedev, became the leader of the faction (he took his father's place because he was appointed vice speaker, and in accordance with parliamentary regulations, it was forbidden to combine these posts). "When a blacksmith gives his anvil to his son or a milkmaid gives his cows to his daughter, no one takes it negatively," the LDPR leader commented on Lebedev's appointment.
The press noted that the LDPR deputies in the State Duma "behaved extremely pragmatically and quite predictably": they voted on the budget, as the Kremlin needed, frustrated a number of resolutions on the issue of Chechnya, opposed the resignation of Defense Minister Pavel Grachev and helped to fail the impeachment attempt President Yeltsin. "There is already a stereotype in the media: the executive branch can always come to an agreement with the LDPR, the only question is the price," Nezavisimaya Gazeta noted in 1999. Similar assessments were given to the party in the 2000s: according to experts, the party "localized" protest moods through populist rhetoric, and was useful to the authorities,.
LDPR, 2000s
In January 2000, Zhirinovsky was nominated as a candidate for the presidency of Russia. On February 17, 2000, the CEC refused to register him due to the provision of false information about his property. On February 22, 2000, Zhirinovsky appealed to the Supreme Court with a complaint against the actions of the CEC: on February 25, 2000, the court denied the LDPR leader's complaint, but on March 5, 2000, the cassation board of the Supreme Court ordered the CEC to register him as a candidate for the presidency of the country. On March 26, 2000, Zhirinovsky received over 2 million votes (2.7 percent) in the Russian presidential election, finishing fifth out of 11 candidates, the first being Vladimir Putin.
In 2003, in the elections to the State Duma, the LDPR received 6.9 million votes (11.45 percent) and took third place. The LDPR faction was again led by Lebedev, while Zhirinovsky again became deputy chairman of the State Duma of the Russian Federation from the LDPR.
In the 2004 presidential election, Zhirinovsky did not run. Instead, the party nominated Oleg Malyshkin, a deputy of the State Duma from the Liberal Democratic Party and a former bodyguard of the permanent chairman of the party, as a candidate for the post of head of state. On March 14, 2004, Malyshkin took the penultimate place among six candidates, receiving 1.4 million votes (2.02 percent). Putin won the victory for the second time,,.
April 25, 2006, again timed to coincide with the next birthday of Zhirinovsky, the 18th Congress of the Liberal Democratic Party took place. It was already held in the State Kremlin Palace. Meanwhile, the press noted that in the ranks of Zhirinovsky's supporters in the State Duma, as the 2007 parliamentary elections were approaching, disagreements were clearly outlined. It was noted that during the political cycle, the leader of the LDPR lost 10 percent of the faction: in October 2006, the well-known deputy Nikolai Kuryanovich was expelled from the party and the faction, and in April 2007 Malyshkin left the faction and the LDPR party. In the same month, millionaire Suleiman Kerimov wrote a statement about leaving the LDPR faction (soon he wrote a statement about joining the United Russia party faction),. Vladimir Churov also threw out the faction, though without scandal: in March 2007, he was elected head of the Central Executive Committee of Russia (subsequently, Churov repeatedly emphasized that, having been elected from the Liberal Democratic Party and joining the party faction, he remained non-partisan).
In August 2007, Mitrofanov, a member of the Supreme Council of the LDPR, announced that he was negotiating with representatives of A Just Russia regarding the inclusion of his candidacy in the federal list of the party in the elections to the State Duma of the Russian Federation (as a result, he headed the party list in the elections of deputies of the State Duma of the fifth convocation in Penza region,). The deputy expressed doubts about the successful future of his party and said: "Of course, I would like the Liberal Democratic Party to fight for second place. But the river went in a different direction," . Contrary to the fears of experts, Mitrofanov's departure did not lead to a split within the faction itself: Zhirinovsky's supporters condemned the "defector" and unanimously supported their leader.
In September 2007, the pre-election congress of the LDPR was held, at which party lists were approved for the elections to the State Duma of the Russian Federation of the fifth convocation. The federal list was headed by Zhirinovsky himself. The second was Andrey Lugovoy, a former FSB officer, an entrepreneur accused by the British authorities of involvement in the murder of another ex-FSB officer, Alexander Litvinenko, who was granted political asylum by the UK,. The third number on the list was Igor Lebedev. The congress also adopted the program of the Liberal Democratic Party, which proposed a reduction in the working day to 7 hours, the introduction of an additional day off - Wednesday, the abolition of entrance exams to universities, the reduction of military service by conscription to 9 months, the introduction of a luxury tax, the liquidation of the Stabilization Fund and the announcement " deep amnesty", providing for the release of 500,000 convicts.
According to the results of the voting held on December 2, 2007, the LDPR successfully overcame the electoral barrier, gaining 8.14 percent of the votes of Russian voters. At the first session of the Parliament, held on 24 December 2007, Zhirinovsky was elected one of Boris Gryzlov's nine Deputy Chairman of the State Duma. The son of the LDPR leader again headed the party faction in the State Duma,. Received a mandate in the lower house of parliament of the new convocation and Lugovoi; he was subsequently re-elected to the State Duma of the sixth convocation,,,.
In November 2010, the media wrote a lot about the scandal around the deputy of the State Duma of the fifth convocation from the Liberal Democratic Party, Ashot Yeghiazaryan, who was deprived of parliamentary immunity by an overwhelming majority of parliamentarians. In the same month, a criminal case was initiated against him on suspicion of committing a crime under Part 4 of Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ("Fraud on an especially large scale"),. Yeghiazaryan was put on the international wanted list.
Preparations for the elections to the State Duma of the sixth convocation were marked by a series of scandals related to nationalist rhetoric. On January 20, 2011, Zhirinovsky appeared on Vladimir Solovyov's Duel TV program, the theme of which was formulated as "Do Russians need to be protected in Russia?" and stated that "there is only one problem - Moscow and the North Caucasus. And not the entire North Caucasus, but three republics - Dagestan, Chechnya, Ingushetia." In response, the Chechen parliament condemned the statements of the LDPR leader as extremist, and the leadership of the Chechen branch of the LDPR announced its withdrawal from the party, saying that "practically all local Eldperites will follow their example",,.
In May 2011, a round table organized by the Liberal Democratic Party on the topic "The Russian Question on the Eve of the Elections" attracted a lot of media attention. At this event, party members and representatives of nationalist movements in Russia called for the abolition of Article 282 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ("Extremism") and a reduction in financial injections into the North Caucasus. Igor Lebedev's report "The New National Policy of Russia" released in the fall of the same year attracted the attention of the CEC, whose working group recommended that the party refrain from distributing it as promoting xenophobia and nationalism,.
The election campaign of the LDPR to the Duma of the sixth convocation was held under the slogan "For the Russians",. In the fall of 2011, the party formed electoral lists: Zhirinovsky was the first number, deputy Alexei Ostrovsky was the second, Igor Lebedev was the third,. According to the results of the voting held on December 4, the party won 11.67 percent of the votes. In the renewed State Duma, father and son switched places: Zhirinovsky took over as leader of the LDPR faction, and Lebedev was approved as vice speaker.
LDPR in regional authorities
By the end of the 2000s, the Liberal Democratic Party had its representatives in various legislative assemblies of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, in many of them they managed to form small factions. Elections to regional parliaments on October 11, 2009 were called scandalous by the press. In almost all subjects of the federation, United Russia won the majority of votes, and in addition to it, only one party passed to the Moscow City Duma - the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (receiving 3 seats out of 35). The Duma opposition - the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, the LDPR and Just Russia - announced massive falsifications, demanded a recount and a meeting with Medvedev, and left the hall of the State Duma in protest,. However, this demarche did not affect the activities of the parliament in any way, since the number of United Russia deputies was enough to pass any laws; in the end, the opposition returned. In 2010, it was reported that there were 165 deputies from the LDPR in various legislative assemblies, in 2012 there were already 205 people. As of 2012, in particular, the Liberal Democratic Party had a faction of four in the Moscow Regional Duma, of five in the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg, of four in the Legislative Assembly of the Leningrad Region,.
In April 2012, Alexei Ostrovsky was approved by the governor of the Smolensk region. It was noted that in mid-2012 he was one of three governors in the country "not from the ruling party" (meaning the Kirov governor Nikita Belykh and the head of the Vladimir region Nikolai Vinogradov),. In August 2012, the media wrote that Ostrovsky became the "tacit head of the branch" of United Russia in the Smolensk region, which, however, was officially refuted,.
Party media, youth organizations
The press mentioned the party publications of the LDPR - its own monthly newspaper "LDPR" and the magazine "For the Russian people". Since its inception, the organization has had its own youth wing. In the early 2000s, it was reported that the LDPR youth organization, as well as the party Center for Support of Youth Initiatives, was headed by Igor Lebedev,. Since 2009, the youth policy of the party has been supervised by deputy Vadim Dengin. In 2010, the organization received the name "Time of the Young", but sometimes the youth wing of the Liberal Democratic Party was also called "Zhirinovsky's Falcons",. The youth organization held its own summer camps at sea, its members took part in various actions.
Scandals around deputies from the Liberal Democratic Party
The media's attention was attracted by the theme of the property of the Liberal Democratic Party. After the 1996 elections, information appeared in the press that Zhirinovsky in 1995-1997, on his own behalf, acquired more than 100 apartments in different cities of Russia and 200 cars for the needs of the party. The source of the funds was unknown . In 2000, this gave observers a reason to call Zhirinovsky and his son Igor Lebedev the actual owners of the LDPR. According to some reports, in the late 1990s, all this property was transferred to the party. Subsequently, in the declarations, Zhirinovsky and his son indicated only their own real estate and cars,,, and the structure of the property of the party did not arouse the interest of the press, with rare exceptions: in 2011, an article was published on the website "Vazhno.Ru" under the heading "Zhirinovsky became impoverished" with a reference to the portal of the United Russia party, which briefly described the situation with the purchases of the LDPR leader's family, in particular, in the mid-1990s, and their discrepancy with real incomes.
The press noted that deputies from the Liberal Democratic Party, including Zhirinovsky, more than once became participants in fights in the meeting room of the State Duma,. The most famous of them were the fights in the fall of 1995, when Zhirinovsky pulled the hair and began to strangle the deputy Yevgenia Tishkovskaya, as well as the episode when in the spring of 2005 Zhirinovsky, Lebedev, Abeltsev and Ostrovsky fought with Andrey Savelyev from the Rodina faction. On this occasion, the Prosecutor General's Office sent a submission to the Duma with a request to agree to deprive the parliamentary immunity of the participants in the fight; deputies did not support this initiative,,,.
Members of the party have repeatedly proposed to submit to the State Duma bills that obviously could not be adopted. The press wrote that such proposals "have long become the calling card of the Liberal Democratic Party." In particular, Zhirinovsky proposed putting all drug addicts in jail for a year, introducing suffrage for young people from the age of 16; Deputy Kuryanovich - to deprive the citizenship of women who married foreigners; Ostrovsky proposed introducing a restriction on bad news on television so that they do not take up more than 10 percent of the news broadcast; Mitrofanov voiced the idea of giving a diploma of higher legal education to all deputies who have served a full term in the Duma,,.
Used materials
Alexander Asadchiy, Anton Prusakov. Smolensk governor became a multi-party leader. - Kommersant, 28.08.2012. - № 159 (4944)
EP denies that the Smolensk branch of the party is headed by a governor. - RIA News, 28.08.2012
The LDPR youth camp has completed its work. - All-Russian public organization "Time of the Young" (molvremya.ru), 30.07.2012
Alexander Kynev. Opposition governor as an anomaly: Belykh and others. - Slon.ru, 26.07.2012
Subscribe to the newspaper "LDPR" and the magazine "For the Russian people"! - Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, Sverdlovsk regional branch (ldpr-ural.ru), 11.07.2012
Alexei Ostrovsky took office as governor of the Smolensk region. - IA REGNUM, 26.04.2012
Kashpirovsky "sets" Zhirinovsky. - NEWSru.com, 16.02.2012
State Duma deputies from the Irkutsk region became members of 6 parliamentary committees. - RIA Siberian News, 23.12.2011
Zhukov and Melnikov were elected first vice-speakers of the Duma. - Interfax, 21.12.2011
Four factions are registered in the State Duma of the VI convocation. - RBC, 21.12.2011
The CEC of the Russian Federation announced the official results of the elections to the State Duma. - RBC, 09.12.2011
The CEC asked the Liberal Democratic Party not to distribute pamphlets on national politics. - RIA News, 18.11.2011
Maxim Ivanov. The LDPR was urged to refrain from nationalism. - Kommersant, 17.11.2011. - № 215 (4756)
Vladimir Shishlin. The Caucasus was offended by Zhirinovsky. - Interfax, 27.10.2011
Zhirinovsky became impoverished. - Important.Ru, 12.10.2011
Information about the property and income of registered candidates included in the federal list of candidates of the Political Party "Liberal Democratic Party of Russia". - , 07.10.2011
The federal list of candidates for deputies of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation of the sixth convocation, nominated by the political party "Political Party" Liberal Democratic Party of Russia "". - Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation (www.cikrf.ru), 05.10.2011
Zhirinovsky is required to be punished for the election slogan "For the Russians!". - NEWSru.com, 14.09.2011
Zhirinovsky with his son and deputy Ostrovsky topped the list of the Liberal Democratic Party in the elections to the State Duma. - Newspaper.Ru, 13.09.2011
The round table "The Russian question on the eve of the elections" was held in the State Duma. - Political News Agency, 24.05.2011
Nashi is the most famous political movement in Russia. - Levada Center, 10.02.2011
Kadyrov: Zhirinovsky should be expelled from the State Duma. - Voice of Russia, 31.01.2011
The leadership of the LDPR branch in Chechnya is leaving the party, condemning Zhirinovsky's statements. - Press Service of the Head and Government of the Chechen Republic, 21.01.2011
Deputy Yeghiazaryan has been put on the international wanted list. - Interfax, 27.12.2010
Vladimir Pravdin. Falcons Zhirinovsky. - Moskovsky Komsomolets - Smolensk, 15.12.2010. - № 44
Oleg Rubnikovich, Viktor Khamraev. The State Duma gave the deputy to the investigation. - Kommersant, 08.11.2010. - No. 205/P (4505)
The UPC opened a case against Yeghiazaryan. - Newspaper.Ru, 06.11.2010
The State Duma will consider a draft law that will allow drug addicts to be imprisoned for three years. - NEWSru.com, 25.03.2010
Irina Lapechenkova. Experts: Zhirinovsky's success is in "spitting" towards the authorities. - BaltInfo, 14.12.2009
The Communist Party returned to the State Duma. - IA Rosbalt, 21.10.2009
Ivan Rodin, Alexandra Samarina. MP demarche. - Independent newspaper, 15.10.2009
In protest, three of the four factions left the meeting room of the State Duma of the Russian Federation. - IA REGNUM, 14.10.2009
Zhirinovsky earned four times less than his wife in four years. - RIA News, 29.12.2007
The Central Election Commission published information about Zhirinovsky's income. - Newspaper.Ru, 29.12.2007
Boris Gryzlov: The main task of the Duma of the fifth convocation is the solution of social issues. - United Russia (official website of the party), 24.12.2007
List of registered deputies of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation of the fifth convocation. - Russian newspaper, 19.12.2007
LIBERAL-DEMOCRATIC PARTY OF RUSSIA (LDPR)- a political party of the Russian Federation that won the elections of the State Duma of the Russian Federation in 1993 on party lists (22.92%), and then overcame the 5% barrier in the elections of the State Duma of the Russian Federation in 1995 and 1999 (in 1999 under the auspices of the Zhirinovsky Bloc). The central figure that determines the political and ideological nature of the LDPR is its leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky, who holds the post of Deputy Chairman of the State Duma of the third convocation. In general, the political positions of the LDPR are contradictory and have repeatedly changed depending on the political situation; traditionally, the LDPR is considered a populist-nationalist party. The elements of the political image of the Liberal Democratic Party are political shocking, initiating scandalous events that attract the attention of the media and the public, constant sharp non-standard statements against political opponents, preparing volunteer detachments to be sent to Iraq and Serbia, organizing an action to publicly destroy McDonalds products, etc. d.
The party was formed at the end of 1989, established on March 31, 1990 as the Liberal Democratic Party of the Soviet Union (LDPSS). On April 12, 1991, the charter of the LDPSS was registered by the USSR Ministry of Justice. LDPSS became the first officially registered party of the USSR after the CPSU. Renamed LDPR in April 1992. On December 14, 1992, the party was re-registered by the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation under its current name (registration number 1332). The initial initiative group called the "Liberal Democratic Party" was created in May-June 1989 by Vladimir Bogachev, who left the Democratic Party of Lev Ubozhko. Soon Bogachev was joined by V. Zhirinovsky, the author of the draft “Program of the Social Democratic Party of Russia”, dating back to May 1988. The program was renamed and became the “Project of the Program of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia” in December 1989, after an organizational meeting at V. Bogachev. At the Constituent Congress on March 31, 1990, which was held in the Palace of Culture. Rusakov, the Bogachev-Zhirinovsky group became known as the Liberal Democratic Party of the Soviet Union (LDPSS). Certificates of congress delegates, along with membership cards of the LDPSS, were distributed at the congress to everyone. The Program and Charter were approved, the Central Committee of the Party (13 people), the Chairman (V. Zhirinovsky) and the Chief Coordinator (V. Bogachev) were elected. On June 8, 1990, V. Zhirinovsky, together with Vladimir Voronin, founded the Centrist Bloc of Political Parties and Movements (CBPPiD), which included several minor parties. On October 6, 1990, during the trip of the chairman of the party to the Congress of the Liberal International in Helsinki, where he was invited as an observer, a group of members of the Central Committee headed by V. Bogachev, K. Krivonosov, E. Smirnov and V. Tikhomirov gathered an Extraordinary Congress, expelled V. Zhirinovsky "for pro-communist activities" and renamed the LDPSS into the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). On October 20, 1990, V. Zhirinovsky and his supporters, in turn, gathered the “All-Union Conference with the Rights of the Congress” and expelled oppositionists from the party, made changes to the Charter, expanded the composition of the Central Committee to 26 people and formed a new governing body - the Supreme Council of the Party of 5 people: party chairman V. Zhirinovsky, deputy chairman Leonid Alimov (left the party in 1991), Stanislav Zhebrovsky, Viktor Bogaty, Akhmet Khalitov (left the party in 1995).
In 1989-1990 the party acted under democratic slogans. In 1991, she changed her ideology to national-patriotic and anti-Western. In December 1990 - January 1991, V. Zhirinovsky repeatedly spoke in favor of the introduction of a state of emergency and the temporary dissolution of all political parties. On February 16, 1991, V. Zhirinovsky, together with Voronin, organized a conference at the Central Tourist House of the TsBPPiD, at which he advocated the introduction of direct presidential rule in the USSR, the dissolution of the Congress of People's Deputies of Russia and the parliaments of the Baltic republics, as well as a temporary ban on all political parties. On February 27, 1991, the LDPSS took part in the conference “For a great, united Russia!” organized by the Communist Party of the RSFSR.
On April 13–14, 1991, the II Congress of the LDPSS took place in Moscow. The "Russian link" LDPSS was formed. At the LDPSS conference on May 10, 1991, V. Zhirinovsky was nominated as a candidate for the President of Russia. Further, his candidacy collected the required number of votes at the IV Congress of People's Deputies of the RSFSR and was included in the list of official contenders for the presidency of the RSFSR. Zhirinovsky took a businessman, a member of the CPSU, Andrei Zavidy, as a candidate for vice president. V. Zhirinovsky ran for the presidency of the Russian Federation under the slogan "I will lift Russia from its knees." In the presidential elections of the RSFSR, the candidacy of V. Zhirinovsky received 7.81% of the votes (more than 6 million 211 thousand people), taking third place after B. N. Yeltsin and N. I. Ryzhkov, which became a political sensation: the bright unusual image of the party leader caused many have irony, but at the same time undoubted interest. On the eve of the elections, the party consisted of less than 200 people. After the elections, LDPSS organizations emerged in many cities of the country.
During the coup attempt in August 1991, V. Zhirinovsky made a statement about "support for the transfer of all power in the USSR to the USSR State Emergency Committee, the restoration of the USSR Constitution throughout the country." On August 22, 1991, Moscow Mayor Gavriil Popov suspended the activities of the LDPSS in Moscow. After the failure of the coup, the party received a warning from the Ministry of Justice, after which the members of the Supreme Council of the LDPSS reprimanded themselves for supporting the GKChP. In December 1991, the LDPSS condemned the Belovezhskaya Accords and held rallies against the collapse of the USSR. Together with the former people's deputies of the USSR, who did not recognize the dissolution of the Union, Zhirinovsky participated in the so-called. "VI Extraordinary Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR" and in a solemn meeting on December 30, 1992.
On April 18–19, 1992, the III Congress of the LDP was held in Moscow, which was attended, according to official figures, by 627 delegates from 43 regions. The party was renamed the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR). V. Zhirinovsky was re-elected chairman of the party, A. Khalitov - his deputy. On August 10, 1992, the Russian Ministry of Justice annulled the registration of the LDPSS, since it was made "with gross violations of the law, according to falsified documents." However, in December 1992 the party was registered again (now as a Russian one).
In a referendum on April 25, 1993, the Liberal Democratic Party called for voting against confidence in the president, against government reforms, and for early elections of both the parliament and the president.
IV Congress of the Liberal Democratic Party, held April 24-25, 1993 in Moscow again elected Zhirinovsky chairman of the party. The new Supreme Council included S. Abeltsev, A. Vengerovsky, S. Zhebrovsky, V. Kobelev (later Vladimir Gvozdarev, who was also appointed deputy chairman of the party for economic issues, was co-opted to the Supreme Council). During the IV Congress of the LDPSS, Minister of Defense P. Grachev congratulated Zhirinovsky in writing on his 47th birthday.
In the summer of 1993, the party took part in the Constitutional Conference convened by President B. Yeltsin and supported the "presidential" draft of the new Constitution of Russia. In September 1993, V. Zhirinovsky approved the decree of President Yeltsin on the dissolution of the Supreme Council, and then condemned the violent actions of both sides, and he accused President Yeltsin of both violating the Constitution and "unprofessionalism" in carrying out the coup.
On November 3, 1993, the Supreme Council of the LDPR put forward a federal list of candidates from the LDPR to the State Duma. During the period of the 1993 election campaign and until the spring of 1994, V. Kobelev played a particularly prominent role in Zhirinovsky's entourage and in directing the practical activities of the LDPR. On the eve of the elections and the referendum on December 12, 1993, V. Zhirinovsky supported the expansion of the president's powers in the draft Constitution and called on his supporters to vote for the new Constitution. The campaign of 1993 was carried out by the Liberal Democratic Party and V. Zhirinovsky in an active offensive manner, a series of pre-election speeches by Zhirinovsky on central television channels played a special role. During the 1993 election campaign, the Liberal Democratic Party bought 149 minutes on television and was thus the third in terms of the amount of air time (Choice of Russia - 224, Party of Russian Unity and Accord - 154). Another noisy public action by V. Zhirinovsky was regular meetings and meetings near the Sokolniki metro station in Moscow.
The LDPR list received 12 million 318 thousand 562 votes (22.92%) in the elections, taking first place. The LDPR received 59 seats under the proportional system, 5 candidates from the LDPR were also elected deputies in single-member districts. The success of the Liberal Democratic Party caused a shock reaction among the so-called. "democratic public" and the mainstream media (it came as a clear surprise to the authorities), was regarded by many as a sign of the threat of fascism.
Psychotherapist A. Kashpirovsky, ecologist M. Lemeshev, O. Finko (editor-in-chief of Yurydicheskaya Gazeta), E. Zhuk (deputy manager of Aura-Bank), A. Zuev ( adviser to the GMM campaign), V. Zhuravlev (editor of the Opposition newspaper and leader of the minor Social Justice Party). On January 13, 1994, the LDPR parliamentary faction was registered, consisting of 63 deputies, V. Zhirinovsky became the chairman of the faction, A. Vengerovsky and S. Abeltsev became the deputy chairmen, and S. Churkin became the secretary. On January 13, 1994, the faction nominated Zhirinovsky for the post of Chairman of the State Duma, but he withdrew his candidacy. Subsequently, Zhirinovsky ran several times for the post of Deputy Chairman of the State Duma, but unsuccessfully.
In the coalition list approved on January 17, 1994, the LDPR faction received the positions of Deputy Chairman of the State Duma (this post was taken by A. Vengerovsky), chairmen of the committees for labor and social support (S. Kalashnikov), for ecology (M. Lemeshev), for industry, construction, transport and energy (V. Gusev), natural resources and environmental management (N. Astafiev) and geopolitics (V. Ustinov).
In the spring of 1994, 5 deputies from the Liberal Democratic Party, headed by V. Kobelev, left the LDPR faction and in June 1994 formed an unregistered group "Derzhava". The chairman of the committee on geopolitics, V. Ustinov, also left the LDPR.
The LDPR congress, held on April 2, 1994, approved the new party charter, Zhirinovsky was elected chairman of the party for a period of 10 years. He was given the right to single-handedly form the composition of the Supreme Council and other governing bodies of the LDPR. On April 8, 1994, Zhirinovsky appointed S. Abeltsev, A. Vengerovsky and S. Zhebrovsky as members of the Supreme Council and deputy chairmen of the Liberal Democratic Party. In 1993-1994, the LDPR created a dense network of regional and local organizations throughout the Russian Federation, in the most significant regions of the Russian Federation, party offices were opened even in regional centers. However, due to the de facto declarative nature of membership in the party, it is difficult to establish the exact number of LDPR members.
In May 1994, Zhirinovsky signed the Agreement on Public Accord, although the day before he put forward various preconditions for this (which were ignored by the government). On October 6, 1994, Zhirinovsky announced the withdrawal of the Liberal Democratic Party from the Treaty on Public Accord in protest against the actions of the head of the administration of the Kemerovo region, Mikhail Kislyuk, who, according to Zhirinovsky, illegally closed the airport in Kemerovo in order not to allow the plane with the LDPR delegation to land.
In December 1994, the Liberal Democratic Party supported the government's attempt to restore federal control over Chechnya by force of arms, and in July 1995 condemned the peace talks with the Chechen leadership and called for the resumption of full-scale hostilities. In general, by the end of the State Duma of the first convocation, the positions of the Liberal Democratic Party, while maintaining the same oppositional rhetoric, became more and more pro-government.
On September 2, 1995, the 6th Congress of the LDPR was held in Moscow in the premises of the Parliamentary Center, at which candidates were nominated for deputies in single-member districts and the federal list of candidates from the LDPR was approved (the first three of the list: V. Zhirinovsky, S. Abeltsev, A. Vengerovsky).
In the elections of the State Duma of the Russian Federation on December 17, 1995, the Liberal Democratic Party collected 7 million 737 thousand 431 (11.80%) votes, taking second place in the proportional system and receiving 51 mandates in the new composition of the State Duma (50 in the federal district and 1 - in the majority district in Novosibirsk - E. Loginov). The LDPR faction included all 51 deputies elected from the LDPR. On January 18, 1995, a member of the Liberal Democratic Party, a major businessman Mikhail Gutseriev, was elected Deputy Chairman of the State Duma. In accordance with the package agreement, the LDPR received in the State Duma of the second convocation the posts of chairmen of the committees on labor and social policy (S. Kalashnikov) for industry, construction, transport and energy (V. Gusev, former deputy chairman of the USSR Council of Ministers under N. Ryzhkov), Information Policy and Communications (O.Finko), Geopolitics (A.Mitrofanov). In the elections for the chairman of the State Duma in January 1996, the candidacy of V. Zhirinovsky was again nominated, but he withdrew it before the start of voting, in fact, the Liberal Democratic Party supported the candidacy of I. Rybkin, who was loyal to the presidential administration of the Russian Federation, in the election of the speaker. In February 1996, the former deputy chairman of the State Duma of the Russian Federation A. Vengerovsky resigned from all posts in the party, shortly after that he was expelled from the Liberal Democratic Party and filed an application for withdrawal from the Duma faction of the Liberal Democratic Party.
On January 11, 1996, the VII Congress of the Liberal Democratic Party took place, at which Zhirinovsky was nominated as a presidential candidate.
In the first round of the presidential elections on June 16, 1996, V. Zhirinovsky received 4 million 311 thousand 479 votes (5.70%) and took fifth place after Yeltsin, Zyuganov, Lebed and Yavlinsky). On the eve of the second round, V. Zhirinovsky urged his supporters not to vote for Zyuganov and not to vote "against all" - that is, in fact, to vote for Yeltsin, or not to come to the polls.
In the summer of 1996, V. Zhirinovsky made "planned reshuffles" in the leadership of the party. 6 Directorates were created in the Central Office, each of which was headed by one of the deputy chairmen of the party: the Security Directorate - S. Abeltsev, the Directorate for Ideological Work - S. Zhebrovsky, the Central Control Commission - Alexander Zhirinovsky (V. Zhirinovsky's uncle), Information and Economic management - A. Zhukovsky, Administration of Affairs - A. Orlov, Management of organizational and party work - V. Shved. The head of the press service of the LDPR faction in the State Duma, V. Filatov, was appointed head of the faction's apparatus instead of A. Zhirinovsky.
On November 3, 1996, Yevgeny Mikhailov, a member of the LDPR faction in the State Duma of the Russian Federation, was elected head of the administration of the Pskov region, receiving 56.5% of the vote in the second round (22.2% in the first round on October 20). V. Zhirinovsky personally took an active part in the electoral campaign of E. Mikhailov.
In the spring of 1998, the Liberal Democratic Party repeatedly changed its position on the issue of appointing S. Kiriyenko as the new prime minister (instead of the deposed V. Chernomyrdin), but ultimately voted for S. Kiriyenko in order to "preserve" the State Duma. On April 25–26, 1998, the VIII Congress of the Liberal Democratic Party was held in the Hall of Columns of the House of Unions, which was timed to coincide with the birthday of V. Zhirinovsky. The second day of the congress was held behind closed doors. A new edition of the party charter was adopted, V. Zhirinovsky was unanimously re-elected chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party for another six years.
In August 1998, the faction first twice supported the candidacy of V. Chernomyrdin for the post of prime minister and on September 11, 1998 voted against the approval of E. Primakov as the new prime minister (it was obvious that Primakov would be approved even without the votes of the LDPR members). However, this did not prevent the representative of the Liberal Democratic Party, the chairman of the State Duma Committee on Labor and Social Policy, S. Kalashnikov, from entering the government of E. Primakov, having received the post of Minister of Labor (he retained this post in the government of S. Stepashin, formed in May 1999, and then in the government of V. Putin, formed in August 1999).
On April 25, 1998, the IX Congress of the Liberal Democratic Party took place, which, as in 1997, was timed to coincide with the birthday of V. Zhirinovsky.
In the spring of 1999, the Liberal Democratic Party actively opposed the impeachment of Russian President B. Yeltsin; during the voting on the indictment of the president on May 12, 1999, members of the faction did not take ballots. After S. Stepashin's resignation in August 1999, 47 deputies of the Duma from the LDPR faction voted for the approval of the new Prime Minister V. Putin.
At the X Congress of the Liberal Democratic Party on September 11, 1999, a list of candidates for deputies of the State Duma was approved, the second place in which was received by the Krasnoyarsk businessman A. Bykov, who was wanted. The first three of the list were: V. Zhirinovsky, A. Bykov and deputy of the faction M. Musatov. On October 11, 1999, the Central Election Commission refused to register the federal list of the Liberal Democratic Party, since the information on property and income provided by 82 candidates, including members of the first three, turned out to be unreliable. As a result, the Central Election Commission refused to register the candidacies of A. Bykov and V. Zhirinovsky himself, since, according to the election law in 1999, the exclusion of one of the top three members of the list meant the cancellation of the registration of the entire list. V. Zhirinovsky said that he considers the decision of the CEC illegal and intends to challenge it in the Supreme Court. To take part in the 1999 elections on October 13, 1999, the founding congress of the Zhirinovsky Bloc (aka the Extraordinary Congress of the LDPR) was held, created by the decision of two public organizations closely associated with the LDPR - the Party of the Spiritual Revival of Russia (PDVR, it is headed by Lyubov Zhirinovskaya - the daughter of her stepfather V. Zhirinovsky) and the Russian Union of Free Youth (RSSM, actually a youth organization under the Liberal Democratic Party). On October 18, 1999, the CEC registered the Zhirinovsky Bloc and certified the federal list and the list of candidates for the bloc in single-member districts (an electoral deposit was made to register the list). In contrast to the list of the Liberal Democratic Party, there was no candidacy of A. Bykov in the list of the Zhirinovsky Bloc, but a number of figures associated with Bykov remained. The first three of the federal list were V. Zhirinovsky, O. Finko and E. Solomatin. On December 2, 1999, the CEC canceled its decision to refuse registration of the federal list of the Liberal Democratic Party, however, V. Zhirinovsky himself was excluded from the list. The incident that arose, when both the LDPR list and the Zhirinovsky Bloc were registered at the same time, was resolved on December 8, 1999 by the Presidium of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, which recognized the refusal to register as legitimate, and on December 9, the LDPR list was finally deregistered.
In the elections of December 19, 1999, the list of the Zhirinovsky Bloc received 3 million 989 thousand 932 votes (5.98% of the voters who took part in the elections) and 17 mandates on the party list; several candidates closely associated with the LDPR passed in single-member districts ( A. Klyukin in Krasnoyarsk, former members of the LDPR faction M. Kuznetsov in Pskov, E. Ishchenko in Volgograd, M. Gutseriev in Ingushetia). The deputies on the list of the bloc were, in particular, the well-known banker A. Yeghiazaryan and the brother of M. Gutseriev Sait Gutseriev. The passage of the Zhirinovsky Bloc to the State Duma of the third convocation took place despite the disappointing forecasts of sociologists for the party, who predicted its defeat. After the elections, by a special decision of the Duma, deputies from the Zhirinovsky Bloc were allowed to call their faction the Liberal Democratic Party.
During the election of the leadership of the State Duma of the Russian Federation in January-February 2000, the LDPR actually supported the agreement between the Communist Party and Unity factions on the distribution of posts. As a result of this agreement, V. Zhirinovsky was elected deputy chairman of the State Duma of the Russian Federation, in addition, the faction received the post of one chairman of the committee - on information policy (it was headed by Konstantin Vetrov). Instead of V. Zhirinovsky, his son, Igor Vladimirovich Lebedev, was elected chairman of the LDPR faction in the State Duma.
(I. Lebedev graduated from the Moscow State Law Academy (1990-1996), specialty by education - a lawyer. He speaks English. 1994 - Assistant to a deputy of the State Duma. 1997 - Specialist-expert of the apparatus of the LDPR faction in the State Duma. 1998 - Advisor to the Minister of Labor and social development of the Russian Federation. Married. Has two sons.)
V. Zhirinovsky ran for president of the Russian Federation on March 26, 2000, showing the worst result for himself in all his election campaigns (including LDPR campaigns) - 2.7% of the votes, while during the campaign he actually supported V. Putin.
In general, in the State Duma of the third convocation, the LDPR faction almost completely supports the activities of the government of M. Kasyanov and President of the Russian Federation V. Putin. Moreover, after the bombing of the World Trade Center in New York on September 11, 2001, the positions of the Liberal Democratic Party became much less anti-Western than before. A significant part of the deputies elected from the LDPR joined the Unity faction or other right-of-centre factions. As of September 1, 2002, there were 12 deputies in the LDPR faction. As the analysis of the results of voting in the State Duma of the third convocation shows, the positions of the LDPR faction are closest to those of the centrist deputy associations, the most far from the positions of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation and the Agro-industrial deputy group.
On December 13, 2001, the XIII (transformative) Congress of the LDPR was held in Moscow, which officially transformed it into a political party in accordance with the requirements of the new federal law on political parties. 221 delegates from 61 regional organizations of the LDPR were elected to the Congress. The Charter and Program of the Liberal Democratic Party were approved by open voting. By secret ballot on an alternative basis, V. Zhirinovsky was re-elected Chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party. Also elected by secret ballot as members of the Supreme Council of the party: V. Zhirinovsky, E. Afanasyeva, S. Zhebrovsky, V. Kornienko, I. Lebedev, M. Maksimov, O. Malyshkin, M. Musatov, A. Novikov, V. Ovsyannikov, E .Solomatin, O. Finko. The Central Control and Auditing Commission (CCRC) was elected as a member of: E. Solomatin, D. Gusakov and O. Lavrov.
The Charter of the LDPR was adopted at the I Congress of the LDPR on April 19, 1992. The new version of the Charter was approved at the V Congress of the LDPR on April 2, 1994. Changes and additions were made at the VIII Congress of the LDPR on April 25, 1998 and the XIII Congress of the LDPR on December 13, 2001.
According to the charter, the congress is the supreme body of the party. The agenda, the norms of representation at the congress and the procedure for electing delegates are determined by the Supreme Council of the Liberal Democratic Party. The LDPR Congress elects the Supreme Council and the Central Control Commission for a period of 3 years.
To manage the activities of the party, party management bodies are formed, which include the Party Chairman, the Supreme Council, the Central Committee of the Party, the Central Office of the Liberal Democratic Party, the Central Control Commission (CCC), Coordinators (secretaries) of regional, city, district party organizations and the corresponding Coordinating Councils.
The chairman of the party is elected at the congress for a term of 6 years. The chairman of the party ex officio heads the Supreme Council and the Central Committee of the LDPR, appoints the deputy chairmen of the party, the head of the Central Office of the party, the editor-in-chief, forms the Shadow Cabinet of the LDPR, approves or appoints and dismisses the heads of regional organizations, he has the right to dismiss the heads of city and district organizations of the Liberal Democratic Party, as well as authorized representatives of the Supreme Council, the chairman of the party (in his absence, one of the deputy chairmen appointed by the chairman of the party) exercises general management of the party's activities between congresses, determines the ideology, strategy and tactics of the party. The chairman also performs representative functions.
The Supreme Council is elected at the party congress and is a permanent collegial body of the party leadership of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia. The Supreme Council is entrusted with the discussion and solution of topical problems of the party's activities, consideration of personnel issues of the nomenclature of the party chairman, as well as the appointment of authorized representatives of the Supreme Council, hearing reports and messages from the Central Control Commission and Coordinators on the work of regional LDPR party organizations. The decisions of the Supreme Council are binding on all party organizations, members of the Liberal Democratic Party, regardless of their positions in the party.
The Central Committee (CC) of the LDPR in the period between party congresses at plenums determines the strategy and tactics of the LDPR, taking into account the political situation in the country and the tasks facing the party. The Central Committee consists of members and candidate members of the Central Committee of the Party. Candidates for the Central Committee of the party are considered and approved by the Supreme Council of the Liberal Democratic Party. Plenums of the Central Committee of the LDPR are convened by decision of the chairman of the party, issues for consideration at the plenum of the Central Committee are determined by the Supreme Council of the party.
The Central Apparatus of the LDPR is the executive body of the chairman of the party.
Candidates for coordinators of regional organizations are discussed at party conferences, considered at a meeting of the Supreme Council and approved by the chairman of the party. The coordinators of regional party organizations maintain constant interaction with the LDPR Central Office and are personally responsible for the accurate and timely implementation of orders and instructions of the party chairman, the Supreme Council and the LDPR Central Office, the rational use of party financial resources and the safety of party property, the maintenance and functioning of headquarters.
At present, the basis of the LDPR program is the “10 points of Zhirinovsky”, according to them “for a normal life of people, it is necessary:
1. a strong army, a powerful KGB, a reliable Ministry of Internal Affairs, because without a strong army, the West will command the Russian economy in its own interests, which has already captured many of our enterprises for nothing. Without a powerful KGB, terror will flourish in the country, as well as corruption and bribery of officials, money from Russia will go to Western banks to the accounts of officials and thieves. Without a reliable Ministry of Internal Affairs, criminal elements, including those from the southern regions, will be in charge on the streets of cities, personal property and the lives of ordinary citizens and their children will be under constant threat. Taxes will not be levied, there will be problems with salaries for doctors, teachers, employees of defense enterprises, scientists, the military, there will not be enough money to pay normal pensions.
2. food security of the country, because the satisfaction of the population with basic food products of their own production is the key to the independent development of Russia. Only if this condition is met, the Russian economy will work to improve the living standards of our citizens, and not provide cheap raw materials and cheap labor for the needs of Western countries and the United States, which are absolutely not interested in raising the standard of living of the population of our country.
3. other foreign policy , for Russian foreign policy should be directed primarily to the South, and not to America. It is in the South that the states that can and are ready to become our strategic allies are located, it is the states of the South that are ready to establish mutually beneficial trade relations with Russia, it is from the South that the threat of war encouraged by America can come to us. Good relations with the South mean huge savings, full-fledged operation of factories and a real increase in the standard of living of our citizens.
4. new administrative division of the country, because the rejection of the division of the country on a national basis in favor of the territorial (7 provinces) will reduce management costs. Corruption will be sharply reduced and real equality of citizens will be ensured throughout Russia.
5. state support for science, scientific schools and new technologies, because only in this case it is possible to improve Russian industry and ensure the production of competitive goods, which means creating reliable conditions for the growth of the living standards of Russian citizens and bringing it closer to the living standards of Western countries.
6. economic amnesty, i.e. exemption from criminal liability of those citizens who transfer their deposits from Western banks to Russian ones. This will create conditions for returning to Russia from 200 to 400 billion dollars, which will begin to help the development of the Russian economy and thereby ensure an increase in the living standards of the population of our country, and not of Western countries.
7. a firm guarantee of the state for the safety of bank deposits of the population, because only the belief of people that the practice of depreciating deposits will be forever put an end to, will make it possible to attract up to 50 billion dollars to the country's economy, now in the hands of the population. We will be able to refuse ruinous loans, which will have a beneficial effect on raising the living standards of our citizens.
8. state monopoly on alcohol, tobacco and sugar, because strict state control over the production and supply of alcohol, tobacco products and sugar is a real measure to fill the budget, to create conditions for raising salaries, pensions, benefits, normal financing of our army.
9. The state program for the sale of weapons and military equipment, because this is one of the conditions for maintaining the Russian defense potential, the normal functioning of defense enterprises, the development of advanced technologies, and therefore the restoration of normal living conditions for millions of people. Russia's withdrawal from the arms market did not lead to peace in any region - Western countries began to supply weapons there, and as a result, they, and not our workers, began to receive high wages.
10. The unity of the Orthodox and Slavic peoples is necessary, because alone it will be difficult for us to resist the pressure of the united West. We will have to bear increased military spending, which will have a negative impact on the standard of living of our peoples. Unity is our strength."
The LDPR program was adopted at the XIII Congress of the LDPR on December 13, 2001. According to the LDPR program, it is “the party of true patriots of Russia, the party of resistance to anti-national comprador forces. Its social support is mainly the middle strata of society, residents of small and medium-sized cities and towns with a predominantly Slavic population, patriotic citizens, most of whom are people of working age and a significant part of the youth. The LDPR is also proclaimed as “a centrist, democratic party. It builds its policy on common sense, on the historical moral values of our people and taking into account world practice. Its main goal is the revival of a powerful democratic and prosperous Russian state. In modern conditions, the Liberal Democratic Party brings the idea of patriotism to the fore, which is connected, first of all, with the need to act in the national interests of the Russian state.
In the interpretation of the Liberal Democratic Party, liberalism is true, not imaginary freedom. This is, first of all, the protection of civil rights and personal freedoms of people of any nationality inhabiting the Russian state. Democracy in the interpretation of the Liberal Democratic Party implies a democratic structure of the state in the form of a presidential republic, the democratic nature of all branches of government - legislative, executive and judicial.
In a society of social justice, the desire of people to achieve a high level of well-being in an honest way should be encouraged.
Achieving true freedom, democracy and the well-being of citizens is impossible if the country does not establish the rule of law based on the strict observance of the laws by the authorities and citizens (“dictatorship of the law”). No one can rise above the law, no one has the right to ignore it!
The LDPR put the problem of restoring the Russian state at the center of its activities. The Liberal Democratic Party will always welcome the voluntary, through referendums, unification around Russia of parts of the USSR that were torn away from it against the will of the peoples
According to the LDPR, the first steps have also been taken towards the administrative-territorial structure of Russia and the strengthening of the vertical of state power - seven federal districts have been formed in strict accordance with the proposals of the Liberal Democratic Party, the State Council has been created, and a new procedure for the formation of the Federation Council has been established.
The LDPR seeks to reform Russia from a federal to a unitary state. This process should take place in a constitutional way. The Liberal Democratic Party believes that the national-territorial principle of government is ineffective and dangerous, because it leads to an increase in interethnic conflicts, violation of the rights of citizens on a national basis and to the further collapse of the state. In addition, the current administrative boundaries of the subjects of the Federation are artificial, since they do not and cannot reflect either the national composition of the population or the economic self-sufficiency of the regions. Russia must be transformed from a federal to a unitary state without any national republics or national districts as subjects of the state. All national questions should be decided only in the field of culture, not territory. For citizens of different nationalities live throughout Russia, and not in one separate region. It is also necessary to consolidate territorial administrative units by merging small subjects of the Federation into larger entities. The Liberal Democratic Party proposes to introduce in Russia about thirty provinces of equal rights and equal in status, formed according to the territorial principle, completely economically self-sufficient, with a population of approximately 5 million people in each province and having no constitutions of their own and national state languages.
Each province is subdivided into voivodeships (out of 2-3 current districts), which include urban settlements, towns, villages, etc. The president appoints governors and mayors, governors appoint governors, and governors appoint elders of individual settlements.
According to the LDPR program, Russia should be a presidential republic with a unicameral parliament - the State Duma with 300 deputies, each of whom is elected by approximately 300,000 voters. Bodies of representative power are also elected at the provincial level - Provincial Dumas. Elections of the President of Russia and deputies of the State Duma are held simultaneously once every five years. Provincial Dumas are also elected for five years, but with an interval of two years from the elections to the State Duma. The leader of the parliamentary majority that won the elections to the State Duma is appointed as the first minister (Chairman) of the Government of Russia, who is entrusted with its formation. The ministers of power (defense, security, internal affairs, justice, tax police), the minister of foreign affairs and the minister of finance are appointed by the President of Russia and are accountable only to him in their activities. The mechanisms for the dissolution of the State Duma, the resignation of the Government and the President of Russia are excluded from the Constitution.
As a collective body of power, the State Council is formed, which includes ex officio the President of Russia, the First Minister (Chairman) of the Government, the Chairman of the State Duma, power ministers, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Minister of Finance, the Chairman of the Constitutional Court and governors. There is no need for a Federation Council.
According to the LDPR, the main television channels should be state-owned and operate under multi-party control.
The strategic goal of the Liberal Democratic Party is to restore the power of Russia as a world superpower, which corresponds to its geopolitical and historical mission. It is necessary to achieve the abolition of all discriminatory laws that infringe on the rights of Russians, anywhere; guarantees to Russians of a normal life anywhere in the world. Russia must take responsibility for the fate of our compatriots in the former Soviet republics, protect them from humiliation and bullying, arbitrariness and lawlessness.
The LDPR believes that Germany can become Russia's main economic and political partner in Europe. In European policy, the Liberal Democratic Party seeks to correct its attitude towards the OSCE, NATO, the European Parliament, the Council of Europe as structures that can interfere in Russia's affairs and act contrary to its national interests. Russia should build relations with the United States taking into account the fact that this country has been and remains the main force in the Western world and is interested in further weakening Russia. At the same time, Russia needs some interaction with the United States in various areas, especially in the field of maintaining international security, as well as in the fight against international terrorism.
The Liberal Democratic Party considers it necessary to use tough methods of economic, administrative and other measures of state coercion to stop and eliminate "ethnic aggression" from China, to prevent the actual rejection of a significant part of Russian territory.
Russia should put an end to ideological approaches in foreign policy and develop cooperation with such "blockade" countries as Iraq, Libya, Sudan, Cuba, and North Korea. Allied relations with Iran and India must be revived and strengthened in every possible way. Russia must fully restore and develop its relations with India as its natural ally and partner in the Asian region.
In the Near and Middle East it is necessary to show solidarity with the Arab peoples in their struggle for Arab unity. It is also important to take into account that since the end of the 20th century, there has been a noticeable intensification of Turkey's expansionist policy in the Caucasus and Central Asia, which seriously threatens Russia's strategic interests, as well as peace and tranquility in this region and its democratic development.
It is necessary to stop any gratuitous aid to other countries, including members of the CIS. Eliminate organized crime. Create three large ministries within the structure of the Government: the Ministry of Fuel and Energy (combining in this department everything that produces heat and electric energy), the Ministry of Railways (all types of transport), the Ministry of Defense Industry (the entire military-industrial complex). Write off all debts to industrial and agricultural enterprises.
The Liberal Democratic Party is also seeking to reduce the age of civil capacity to 16 years. In the era of acceleration, a person at the age of 16 is not only physically, but also intellectually ready for a full-fledged adult life. That is why the Liberal Democratic Party is in favor of lowering from 18 to 16 the age at which a citizen acquires the right to vote in elections at all levels. The Liberal Democratic Party twice submitted a draft of the relevant law to the State Duma, and twice the majority of deputies refused to support this initiative of the Liberal Democratic Party.
In order to improve the demographic situation in Russia, the Liberal Democratic Party proposes to legislatively take a number of emergency measures, including suspending abortion for 10 years, except in special cases (age, illness, etc.), lowering the age of marriage for girls (women) to 16 years, raising the amount of benefits for low-income children. The Liberal Democratic Party also proposed amending the Family Code, allowing the opportunity to enter into a new marriage without terminating the previous one. This would make it possible to consolidate the care of a man in case he has a new family, both about the first and about other families. The Liberal Democratic Party believes that it is necessary to simplify and facilitate the granting of Russian citizenship to the Russian (Russian-speaking) population of the CIS and Baltic countries, to provide them with assistance for resettlement to Russia, and to help the social adaptation of refugees and internally displaced persons from the former Soviet republics.
Among the bills submitted to the State Duma by deputies from the LDPR or with their participation is a draft law on amending paragraph 1 of Article 81 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation (on increasing the term of office of the President of the Russian Federation), as well as bills About licensing of television broadcasting, radio broadcasting and broadcasting of additional information in the Russian Federation, On Amendments to the Federal Law« On the Basic Guarantees of Electoral Rights and the Right to Participate in a Referendum of Citizens of the Russian Federation”(on reducing the age of exercising voting rights by citizens of the Russian Federation from 18 to 16 years old), on introducing amendments and additions to Article 9 of the Federal Law On the procedure for covering the activities of public authorities in the state media(in terms of changing the frequency and time of speeches on TV by deputies of the State Duma and members of the Federation Council), on making additions to Article 41 of the Law of the Russian Federation About the media(on the right of minors who have committed an antisocial act or offense, or who have become victims of violence, to confidentiality), On state regulation of the export of scrap and waste of non-ferrous metals, About foreigners in the Russian Federation, On the cancellation of the results of the privatization of RAO Norilsk Nickel and on the specifics of the disposal of shares in RAO Norilsk Nickel and others.
On December 13, 2001, the XIII Congress of the LDPR was held, at which it was decided to transform the All-Russian socio-political party "Liberal Democratic Party of Russia" into the Political Party "Liberal Democratic Party of Russia".
On September 8, 2003, the XIV Congress of the Liberal Democratic Party took place in the Hall of Columns of the House of the Unions, at which V.V. Zhirinovsky declared that the Liberal Democratic Party was ready to govern Russia, as it was able to give a correct analysis of history, give a correct assessment, make a diagnosis and give a correct forecast for the future . The congress approved the federal list of candidates from the Liberal Democratic Party and the list of candidates for deputies of the State Duma of the fourth convocation in single-mandate constituencies in the upcoming Duma elections. The LDPR went to the polls with the slogan: “LDPR for the poor! Liberal Democratic Party for the Russians!
In the elections of deputies to the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation of the fourth convocation on December 7, 2003, about seven million voters cast their votes for the Liberal Democratic Party. 36 deputies of the LDPR faction were elected.
In the elections to the fifth State Duma of the Russian Federation on December 2, 2007, the Liberal Democratic Party has already held 40 deputies. V.V. Zhirinovsky again became Deputy Chairman of the Duma, and I.V. Lebedev at a meeting of the LDPR faction was elected its leader. Two Duma committees were headed by deputies from the Liberal Democratic Party: A.V. Ostrovsky became chairman of the Committee on CIS Affairs; P. V. Tarakanov as chairman of the Committee for Youth Affairs.
In the presidential elections in Russia in March 2008, Vladimir Zhirinovsky received 9.4% of the vote. He carried out his election campaign under the slogans: “You will answer for everything!”, “I will clean up the whole country!”, “I will calm everyone!”.
On December 13, 2009, at the anniversary XXII Congress of the Liberal Democratic Party, the necessity and importance of proposals for amendments to the Constitution and other legislative acts to strengthen the unity of the country and improve its state structure were again substantiated.
Prepared by Alexander Kinev
Way to success Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) started way back in 1989. It was in that year on December 13 in Moscow that an initiative group, including V.V. Zhirinovsky and his associates held a meeting at which it was decided to convene a founding congress of the new Liberal Democratic Party of the Soviet Union (LDPSS).
The beginning of the way
The emergence of this party in that period was inevitable and dictated by the conditions of the collapse of all the fundamental structures of the Soviet Union, the collapse of the one-party system and the loss of people's faith in totalitarian socialism. Residents of small towns, people of working age and young people - these sections of society supported the formation of a new party, which became a breath of fresh air after 70 years of communist omnipotence.
The founding congress of the LDPSS was convened in Moscow on March 31, 1990. It discussed and approved the Program and Charter of the party, and elected a chairman, Vladimir Volfovich Zhirinovsky. And less than 3 months after that, the first issue of the party newspaper "Liberal" was published.
Since the beginning of its history, the Liberal Democratic Party has taken a special position on the main issues and events in Russia and the world. It was this party that, in the difficult year 1991 for our country, stood up in support of the State Emergency Committee, advocating the preservation of the USSR, although it was not a supporter of communism. At that moment it was a very bold step, which required a lot of courage and willpower. The party members were driven by the desire to save the country from Gorbachev's betrayal. The support of the party by the people, despite its "youth" at that time, is evidenced by the fact that V. Zhirinovsky, nominated as a candidate for the President of the Russian Federation in the June 1991 elections, became the third.
The victory of the Liberal Democratic Party in the first elections to the State Duma
The party received its current official name during the 3rd congress on April 18-19, 1992. It was at this congress that it was decided to establish a party under its current name - the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR). During the work of the congress, the Program and the Charter of the party were also approved. V.V. again stood at the helm of the party. Zhirinovsky.
In December 1993, party members once again demonstrated their courage and ability to maintain a bright mind despite the circumstances, calling on the participants in the armed clash near the building of the Supreme Council to come to their senses and again embark on the path of political methods of settling disputes.
On December 12, 1993, during the first Duma elections in the history of the Russian Federation, the LDPR received the largest number of votes, which convincingly proved that the slogans put forward by the party met the expectations of the Russian people and their faith in the LDPR. This is not surprising, because the main goal of the party has always been the revival of democracy in our country. The Liberal Democratic Party has always put forward and puts forward the principle of patriotism, the need to achieve the restoration of Russia within its historical and geopolitical borders. This position does not lose its relevance even today, given that in recent decades the Russian population of our state has been subjected to oppression and reduction.
The activities of the LDPR have always been carried out on the basis of the ideas of liberalism and democracy. In 1993 V.V. Zhirinovsky, representing the Liberal Democratic Party at the Constitutional Conference, introduced the party draft of the Constitution. Many provisions of the project were then included in the new Constitution of the Russian Federation on December 12, 1993, the adoption of which was also largely facilitated by the voices of supporters of the Liberal Democratic Party.
LDPR in the process of strengthening on the political Olympus
Having won the 1993 parliamentary elections, the LDPR gained strength and launched active propaganda activities. V.V. Zhirinovsky and party members regularly held press conferences and explained the policy of the party and its faction in the State Duma.
Standing up for the unity of all Slavs, the chairman of the party and its members repeatedly advocated a struggle with the West in its attempts to subjugate the Orthodox and Christian peoples to their domination. On April 3, 1994, the Slavic Congress was held, in which the Liberal Democratic Party took a direct part, calling on the Slavs of all countries to create a common cultural and geopolitical space for them.
During these years, members of the LDPR party traveled to different parts of our country to talk with ordinary residents of Russian cities and villages. So, in August 1994, the party members went on a trip along the Volga, during which they met with voters in 23 settlements of Russia.
In the same period, V.V. Zhirinovsky, together with party activists, visited a number of foreign countries, meeting with their leaders and promoting their ideas. The chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party and his associates made working trips to Finland, Iraq, the USA, Libya, India and North Korea.
LDPR as a strong and influential party
In the second half of the 1990s, the Liberal Democratic Party did a lot of work to strengthen its party apparatus. Speaking at the Plenum of the Central Committee of the Party in November 1996, V.V. Zhirinovsky noted that by that time the LDPR had already been represented in administrations and local legislative assemblies, which means that it had taken place as a political force, as a party.
During this period, interest in the party and its leader in the media is activated. V.V. Zhirinovsky is increasingly becoming a guest of various television programs, his rating is growing. He publishes a number of works devoted to the analysis of the economic and political problems of Russia, expresses his concept.
The leaders and members of the party pay great attention to the youth, which is becoming the most important pillar of the Liberal Democratic Party. In 1998, a number of events dedicated to this stratum of society took place: the Youth Festival, the Founding Congress of the Center for Supporting Youth Initiatives. In 1999, the Institute of World Civilizations was founded, whose students today are laureates of competitions and conferences at various levels.
By the end of the twentieth century, the Liberal Democratic Party had more than 800 thousand of its members, including youth, women's and other organizations.
"Zhirinovsky Block"
1999 year. The LDPR is preparing to take part and aims to win the elections to the third State Duma. To this end, the chairman and deputies of the party go on a trip and visit 25 settlements of the Far North and the Far East. Elections were to be held in December of that year. However, the political "atmosphere" in the country became increasingly cloudy. However, the LDPR was the only party that offered effective ways to get Russia out of the impasse, so the party had every chance of significant electoral success. Meanwhile, this state of affairs did not suit the then political opponents of the LDPR, and under their pressure, the Central Election Commission banned the party from registering the list of its candidates for deputies. This was illegal and could lead to the collapse of the party.
But the Liberal Democratic Party survived, finding a way out of a seemingly hopeless situation. On October 13, 1999, the Congress of representatives of two related LDPR associations was convened, during which it was decided to create the Zhirinovsky Bloc, a new electoral bloc that could participate in the Duma elections. The list of candidates for deputies, of course, included the "backbone" of candidates from the LDPR list. Registration of the Zhirinovsky Block, despite the intrigues of ill-wishers, nevertheless took place. As a result of the elections held on the appointed day of December 1999, out of 26 associations and blocs, only 6 entered the third State Duma, among them the Zhirinovsky Bloc. This was regarded by V.V. Zhirinovsky as a victory for the Liberal Democratic Party.
The new millennium is a new stage in the development of Russia and the implementation of the proposals of the Liberal Democratic Party
The 21st century has come to our country along with the presidential race. V. Putin, G. Zyuganov, V. Zhirinovsky and other politicians announced their participation in the early elections of the President of the Russian Federation. The unanimous approval of the candidacy of V. Zhirinovsky took place on January 6 this year at the 11th congress of the Liberal Democratic Party. And again, despite the opposition from the CEC, the LDPR candidate was registered to participate in the presidential elections. However, unequal conditions with other candidates led to not the best result: V.V. Zhirinovsky took only 5th place in the elections for the post of President of the Russian Federation, which became, as you know, V.V. Putin.
In those difficult conditions in which Russia found itself at the beginning of the new century, a new political course was needed. The Liberal Democratic Party also spoke with its vision of what the new path of the country should be. And the echoes of her speeches found their realization in many provisions of the message of V.V. Putin to the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation. In particular, on the advice of V.V. Zhirinovsky, 7 federal districts were created in the country in order to strengthen the unity of Russia and the “vertical of power”. But to prevent the country from fragmenting, LDPR activists proposed the creation of large provinces that would be equally equal in status, with the same population and economically self-sufficient, but without national state languages and their own constitutions.
Defending the interests of Russia in the world, the Liberal Democratic Party drew the attention of the country's leaders to an important point - it is necessary to build diplomatic relations not only with Western countries, but also with Arab countries, Korea, Iran, India. The party persistently pointed out the danger from the Middle East and the Central Asian countries. V.V. Zhirinovsky, in fact performing the functions of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, goes on trips to Iraq for negotiations at the highest level.
Despite the attacks on the LDPR and, of course, its leader, the merits of V.V. Zhirinovsky were awarded by the President of the Russian Federation, and on December 29, 2000, Vladimir Volfovich was awarded the honorary title of Honored Lawyer of the Russian Federation.
LDPR in the early years of the XXI century
On December 13, 2001, at the 13th Party Congress, its leader made a report on the need to transform the all-Russian socio-political organization, which until then had been the Liberal Democratic Party, into a political party, in accordance with the new requirements of the law. The decision was made, the new Charter and the Program were approved, and the Chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party was elected, who again became V.V. Zhirinovsky.
The party continued to pay much attention to foreign policy issues. Members of the party advocated the defense of Iraq against aggression by the Americans, for the prevention of an attack on this country and the lifting of sanctions against it. In September 2002, the party leader took part in an international conference in support of Iraq, which was held in Baghdad. A little earlier in the same year, V.V. Zhirinovsky was officially invited to Japan, where he once again spoke about the need to fight international terrorism and the Iraqi problem. Even before the start of the US aggression against Iraq in 2003, the Liberal Democratic Party spoke at the Duma Council with a proposal to condemn the upcoming American aggression, but the members of the Duma Council did not support the party members. Then the supporters of the Liberal Democratic Party took to the streets with the people to protest against American aggression in front of the US Embassy in Moscow.
She paid great attention to the Liberal Democratic Party and the rallying of patriotic organizations from different countries. Much effort was put into this cause, which resulted in the World Congress of Patriotic Parties of Europe and Asia, which was first held on January 18, 2003 in Moscow.
In the State Duma of the third convocation (2000-2003), I. Lebedev was elected the leader of the LPDR faction, and V.V. Zhirinovsky became deputy chairman of the Duma. During the four years of the Duma's work, the party continued its line: it focused on economic and social issues, foreign policy and national security. The deputies of the faction advocated radical ways of reforming the statehood of the Russian Federation: for the abolition of the election of leaders of large cities in favor of their appointment by the President. In the economic sphere, the Liberal Democratic Party advocated the adoption of laws that would limit the lawlessness on the part of the oligarchs. The result of repeated criticism of the members of the faction of the privatization process was a new version of the law on privatization. Discussing financial issues, the faction advocated an increase in budgetary funds for social needs and defense. In order to protect domestic agricultural producers, the Liberal Democratic Party sought assistance in marketing their products and restricting imports. The work of the deputies of the faction continued to ensure the rights and interests of various segments of the population: women, children, veterans, pensioners. Thanks to their efforts, the minimum wage was introduced into the labor legislation, which from now on should not be lower than the subsistence level.
From the beginning of 2003, the party began to prepare for the next parliamentary elections under the slogan: “We are for the poor! We are for the Russians!” At the same time, the party clarified that this slogan does not call for ethnic hatred, but only reminds of the existence of the Russian people, which was not even mentioned in the country's Constitution. The LDPR has always stood up for the Russian people, without prejudice to the national interests of other nationalities living in our country. In particular, even during the work of the third convocation of the Duma, the LDPR proposed to adopt a resolution on the right of Russians to self-determination and sovereignty throughout the Russian Federation, but most of the Duma deputies spoke out against considering this issue at meetings.
For agitation and propaganda purposes, LDPR activists made many trips to the regions of the country. In August 2003, the leadership and members of the party went by train from Moscow to Vladivostok and back. The trip lasted 24 days, during which the party members visited 168 settlements of our country.
On September 8, 2003, the 14th Party Congress took place in the capital of the Russian Federation, at which V.V. Zhirinovsky. Vladimir Volfovich reminded all those present of the importance of the Liberal Democratic Party in the history of Russia, that it is the oldest party in the country that is fully prepared to govern Russia. Here, at the congress, the list of candidates from the party for the future Duma elections was approved.
During the election campaign, the party managed to win the trust of a huge number of our citizens. As a result, in the elections to the State Duma of the 4th convocation, which took place on December 7, 2003, about 7 million inhabitants of our country voted for the Liberal Democratic Party. In general, the role of the LDPR as an opposition party has increased.
The Liberal Democratic Party has been guarding the interests of Russians for 15 years!
On December 13, 2004, the Liberal Democratic Party celebrated its 15th anniversary. On this day, the 16th Party Congress was held in Moscow. During the congress, the results of the party's activities over the period of its existence were summed up, and amendments were made to the Charter.
A year later, on the Party Day, the 17th Congress of the Liberal Democratic Party was held. On it, as part of a political report, V.V. Zhirinovsky, noting the stabilization of the situation in the country and calling for special attention to be paid to agriculture. In addition, the party proposed to supplement 4 national projects put forward by the Russian government with 2 more programs: "Roads" and "Culture".
Over the years that have passed before its 15th anniversary, the LDPR has released many publications (the newspapers Liberal, Sokol Zhirinovsky, Pravda Zhirinovsky, LDPR, the magazines Great Russia, For the Russian People). These publications, together with regional publications, provided complete material on the activities of the party in the center and in the regions. Also, the Liberal Democratic Party distributed many books, brochures, leaflets, video and audio recordings throughout the country. This testified to the growing influence of the party and its ability to influence the government's course.
By this time, the number of LDPR members had risen to almost 90,000. More than 1,400 local party branches operated throughout the country.
LDPR in 2006-2008
2006 was a busy year for Russia. This is bird flu, and large fires, and an emergency in the army. The situation on the world stage also became more complicated: the Americans began preparing aggression against the strategic ally of our country - Iran. V.V. Zhirinovsky and members of the Liberal Democratic Party actively participated in the settlement of complex issues, expressed their ideas on what course the Russian government should follow.
For V.V. Zhirinovsky this year was an anniversary: on April 25, 2006, the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party turned 60 years old. On the eve of the politician's birthday, the President of the Russian Federation solemnly awarded the head of the LDPR with the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, 4th class. On the same day, the 18th congress of the Liberal Democratic Party was assembled, at which the hero of the day delivered a bright report of a political orientation called “Another Look at History”.
During the work of the Fourth State Duma (starting from December 29, 2003), a new Chairman was elected - B.V. Gryzlov. V.V. became the Deputy Chairman again. Zhirinovsky. At meetings of the Duma of the 4th convocation, the LDPR made various proposals to maintain the unity of the country. It was proposed to establish a vertical of power so that the governors were appointed by the President. The LDPR faction was in favor of updating and replacing the government of M.E. Fradkov, and in 2007 the President proposed a new candidate for the highest post in the government - V.A. Zubkov.
In May 2005, one of the party's program guidelines was implemented: the State Duma made adjustments to the law on the election of deputies, according to which only political parties should participate in them. Now governors and heads of administrations are no longer elected by the population, but are elected on the proposal of the President of the country by the legislative body of the subject. When discussing laws on the state budget, the LDPR faction proposed paying special attention to social policy issues and increasing defense spending, demanded that funds be included in the 2007 budget to increase wages and pensions, to finance demographic and other priority projects. Deputies of the LDPR faction spoke out against the abolition of benefits, against the closure of vocational schools. The party leader repeatedly raised the question of the need to increase the monthly allowance for children, which finally found its solution, albeit in an insufficient amount. A faction of the party opposed the "adjustment" of the education system to foreign standards.
In the same year, the Liberal Democratic Party took a direct part in the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the First State Duma in the history of Tsarist Russia.
In 2007, the Liberal Democratic Party began active preparations for the elections to the State Duma of the fifth convocation and for the upcoming presidential elections. The party was still supported by a huge number of residents of various parts of Russia. Candidates from the Liberal Democratic Party in the elections to the Fifth Duma on December 2, 2007 were able to secure 8.14% of the vote. V.V. was re-elected as Vice-Chairman. Zhirinovsky.
On September 17 of this year, the 19th Party Congress opened, at which those present heard a report by V.V. Zhirinovsky on the topic: "World Civil War". The chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party called Britain and its "spawn" - America - the main enemy of Russia.
On the next anniversary of the creation of the Liberal Democratic Party, on December 13, the 20th Party Congress was held, on the agenda of which was the issue of electing a candidate from the Liberal Democratic Party to the highest post in the country. By unanimous decision, V.V. was elected a candidate for the presidential elections scheduled for March 2008. Zhirinovsky, who received 9.4% of the votes of the country's citizens.
On May 17, 2008, the 11th Party Congress was held. At the congress V.V. Zhirinovsky voiced the LDPR's proposal to move from a presidential to a parliamentary republic. Such a step would mean a transition to the next form of democracy. Proposals were also made to improve the Constitution.
During this period, the LDPR continued to act in constructive opposition to the government. The party focused particular attention on issues of economic and social policy. Emphasis was placed on the need to improve agriculture and develop road construction. Attention was drawn to the danger of the US globalist course and proposals were made to strengthen national security.
V.V. Zhirinovsky drew the attention of the Duma to the need for a legal regulation of food prices, limiting the growth in fuel costs.
LDPR from 20th to 25th anniversary
On December 13, 2009, as planned, the 22nd party congress was convened, dedicated to its 20th anniversary. The event was held in a solemn atmosphere. There were many guests, congratulations and greetings from many world figures, including from the top leadership of the Russian Federation. In his report at the anniversary congress, the permanent leader of the Liberal Democratic Party recalled the pages of the party's history, its enormous contribution to the development of our country in the post-Soviet period.
In 2010, the Liberal Democratic Party submitted many bills to the State Duma. Among the most significant, one can note the draft law on the punishment of Duma deputies for absenteeism of meetings, on stating the fact that the Kuriles belong to Russia, and on establishing responsibility for the family of a terrorist. In the same year, on November 1, the Party Department for Work with Citizens' Appeals was created to help Russians in a variety of issues.
The contribution of the party and its leader to the development of Russia was celebrated on July 28, 2011. This is the date when the President of the Russian Federation D.A. Medvedev, the founder of the Liberal Democratic Party, the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, 3rd degree.
On September 13, 2011, at the 23rd Party Congress, the list of candidates for deputies of the Sixth Duma was approved. In the elections held on December 4 this year, the LDPR received 11.67% of the vote, which allowed it to increase its faction to 56 deputies.
In the 2012 presidential election, the LDPR candidate, its permanent leader V.V. Zhirinovsky received just over 6 percent of the vote. In the same year, the party celebrated the 25th anniversary of the start of activities in the political arena of the country V.V. Zhirinovsky.
On December 13, 2012, the 25th Liberal Democratic Party Congress was held, at which proposals were made and adopted to change the Party Charter.
On March 25, 2013, the 26th party congress was held, at which 6,000 people gathered - a record figure.
On December 16 of the same year, the results of a study conducted by the Public Opinion Foundation were announced, according to which V.V. Zhirinovsky was in the top three most influential residents of the Russian Federation. In addition to him, the top three included V.V. Putin and S.K. Shoigu.
2014 is the year of the 25th anniversary of the party. In February of this year, the LDPR leader and deputies from the party in the State Duma made a campaign trip to Crimea. In June, after the All-Russian meeting of its activists, the LDPR began to prepare for a single voting day and the next (scheduled for 2016) elections to the State Duma. On November 4, members of the party took part in the "We are one" procession, which took place in Moscow. The Liberal Democratic Party has once again demonstrated that it defends the interests of Russia throughout the world and fights against the destruction of the state.
On December 13, 2014, a meeting of party activists from all over Russia was held in Moscow. The event was dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the LDPR. The chairman of the party in his speech stressed that the Liberal Democratic Party is a strong party that still follows the slogans put forward a quarter of a century ago.
LDPR today
The LDPR today is a dynamically developing party. It includes 245,468 people. In the elections to the State Duma of the VII convocation on September 18, 2016, the Liberal Democratic Party won 13.3% of the vote. The faction of the party is represented in the State Duma of the seventh convocation by 40 deputies. This is the youngest faction in the Duma and in Europe in general.
It has been 25 years since the LDPR has been represented by a faction in the State Duma. And all the most significant bills (on the protection of Russians and the Russian language, demography, pensions, education, youth, and others) were the first to be voiced by the deputies of this particular party.
On December 20, 2017, at the XXXI Congress of the Liberal Democratic Party, Party Chairman Vladimir Zhirinovsky was approved as a candidate for the President of the Russian Federation.
On December 29, 2017, Vladimir Zhirinovsky received a certificate of a candidate for the President of the Russian Federation, becoming the first registered candidate.
Continuing to grow, the Liberal Democratic Party is purposefully advancing along the political Olympus in order to be able to create a high material and cultural standard of living for the Russian people.
The Liberal Democratic Party is the only force capable of leading our country forward!
LDPR today is the only real party in Russia!
We are often asked the same question: what has the LDPR given Russia since its inception?
Vladimir Volfovich Zhirinovsky:"Today, many people talk about liberalism. It means the free development of society. The LDPR is the first party that even in its name indicated a commitment to liberalism - the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia. It happened in 1989. The rest who talk about liberalism have matured only now. The Union of Right Forces say that they are liberals, and in Yabloko they are liberals, and even in United Russia.
But we were the first. Another phenomenon that is so popular these days is patriotism. It was also put on the agenda by the Liberal Democratic Party at the end of the 1980s. Since May 1991, as a presidential candidate, Zhirinovsky declared patriotism as the basis of the ideology of the Liberal Democratic Party. To love Russia, the main nation is Russian, in order to eliminate discrimination in the national question as a legacy of the proletarian internationalism of the CPSU. In any building, no matter how beautiful the windows, plafonds, the main thing is the foundation. We remove the foundation and the building collapses. So is the national composition. The Russian people must hold the whole country together. He is everywhere. And he created everything.
In the political system of the country, the Liberal Democratic Party became the progenitor of two directions - liberalism along with patriotism. A reasonable combination for Russia. There are liberals in the West, but there are no conflicts, there are no particular problems, they kind of induce a marathon there, there is a polishing of public relations. And our foundation is still trembling, there are still many unresolved issues - the Caucasus is smoking, the forests are burning because there are not enough firefighters, there are many other cataclysms. Therefore, the Liberal Democratic Party has already made a huge contribution to the development of political culture in Russia.
LDPR is a party of patriotic democrats. We are for freedom, but freedom must not turn into anarchy. Taking up arms and shooting, some consider it freedom, but such liberation ends with great sacrifices.
Why is the ideology of the Liberal Democratic Party better than others? Our parents have already outlived the ideology of the left. This is a dead-end ideology, a beautiful fairy tale. Yes, a just society is communism. But it will never be fair, because we are all different. Who is older, who is younger, who is healthier, who is smarter. Therefore, the principle of communism: "Work as you can, but get as you want" - this is superfiction. Then everyone will want to get luxurious houses, cars, beautiful clothes, but they will not be able to work well. This is a dead end, not to say stupid, ideology, a deception of people. Tired of the CPSU. It is impossible for one party to rule the country, because one party under a one-party regime is in fact no longer a party, but part of the state. Now there are many parties. There is a choice. People must choose. Here are four directions.
The first is the leftist ideology, the ideology of the poor. But nobody wants to be poor. Everyone wants to break out of the pool of poverty, so this is a vicious ideology. She lost with us.
Secondly, the ideology of the Democrats is not good, because they again take someone else's formula. They repeat the mistake of the Bolsheviks. They took the theory of communism from the West. It was just a theory. We decided to put us to sleep. Therefore, everything that they do from the West, SPS and Yabloko, does not take root in our country. We have a different civilization, a different way of life, a different history.
Third, the ideology of the ruling party. There are many of these parties, six or seven. These are Gaidar's "Democratic Choice of Russia", Shakhrai's PRESS, Chernomyrdin's NDR, and Luzhkov's Fatherland. Now "United Russia", there are several more. But parties are not made from above. A party is when a part of the citizens unites on the principles of common beliefs, a single ideology. This is how, and not otherwise, and you can hope for the votes of the electorate. And an attempt to make an organization, especially from above, almost to force them to join the party, as they do with United Russia - all television personalities and pop prima donnas were enrolled in the party! - to force these fools called "Walking Together" to go to subbotniks - this means repeating the path of the CPSU in its worst form. This is the third option, which is happening in front of everyone.
The fourth option is the LDPR. We are almost 30 years old. The oldest party We have a clear economic program, foreign policy, national, in terms of education and healthcare, in a word, in all vital positions, allowing not only to pull Russia out of the "democratic" hangover, but also to make the country, all its inhabitants worthy among the most developed countries in the world, to return we have universal respect and honor.
Take a look at us. There are already almost 300,000 of us. WE are a team.
For us - the future of Russia.
Make the right choice!
TASS-DOSIER /Svetlana Shvedova/. The LDPR was founded on December 13, 1989 as the Liberal Democratic Party of the Soviet Union (LDPSS). On March 31, 1990, at the founding congress, the main tasks of the liberal democrats were announced: the creation of a rule of law state with a presidential form of government, a market economy and a multi-party system. The LDPSS declared itself the first opposition party in the USSR. The congress elected its chairman, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, who has led the party for 25 years since then.
In April 1992, the LDPSS was transformed into the all-Russian socio-political organization "Liberal Democratic Party of Russia" (LDPR), in December 2001 it was reorganized into a political party (registered with the Ministry of Justice on April 4, 2002). Since December 2012, it has been called the Political Party of the LDPR (while retaining the former name of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia).
It proclaimed its main goals and objectives to build a legal, "socially oriented state with a diversified economy" and guaranteed exercise of civil rights and freedoms, "restoring the status of Russia as a Great Power." He advocates a presidential republic with a unicameral parliament, for limiting the term of office of any leader, including governors. He proposes assigning to the political opposition the functions of control and supervision over the implementation of the budget, increasing the responsibility of governors for the socio-economic situation in the regions, expanding the functions of local self-government, etc.
The highest governing body is the congress, which is convened at least once every four years. It adopts program documents, elects the leadership of the party, the head of the Supreme Council, the chairman of the Central Control and Auditing Commission, and nominates candidates for elected positions in state and local authorities. Between congresses, the governing body of the LDPR is the Supreme Council (elected for four years; the head since 2009 is Igor Lebedev, son of Vladimir Zhirinovsky).
The LDPR is the only party in modern Russia that has participated in all six presidential election campaigns, but the candidate from it has never risen above third place. Party leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky ran five times for the presidency of Russia. On June 12, 1991, he took third place (7.81% of the vote), which was a record figure. In the first round of elections on June 16, 1996 and in the elections on March 26, 2000, the chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party was in fifth place (5.78% and 2.70% respectively). March 2, 2008 Vladimir Zhirinovsky finished third (9.35%); March 4, 2012 - fourth (6.22%). On March 14, 2004, State Duma deputy Oleg Malyshkin participated in the presidential elections of the Russian Federation from the Liberal Democratic Party, according to the voting results, he received fifth place (2.02%)
The party also took part in all Duma elections. In 1993, 22.92% of voters voted for it - more than for other parties and blocs, which allowed the Liberal Democratic Party to receive 64 mandates and form the second largest faction - after the "Choice of Russia" with 66 mandates. In 1995, the LDPR received 11.18% of the vote (51 mandates, the third largest faction). In 1999, the Zhirinovsky Bloc won 5.98% (17 seats, the fifth largest faction). In 2003, the Liberal Democratic Party was supported by 11.45% of voters (36 mandates, third place). In the elections to the State Duma in 2007, 8.14% of voters voted for the Liberal Democratic Party (40 seats, third place); in December 2011 - 11.68% (56 mandates, fourth place). In the Federation Council, the party is represented by Mikhail Marchenko (from the Bryansk region), Elena Afanasyeva (from the Orenburg region) and Lyudmila Kozlova (from the Smolensk region).
Regional branches of the Liberal Democratic Party operate in all 85 subjects of the Federation. As a result of the elections on September 14, 2014, the Liberal Democratic Party received the most seats in the State Council of Crimea - 5 seats (8.49% of the vote). In the Duma of the Khabarovsk Territory - 3 mandates (13.34%). In the parliaments of Sevastopol, Mari El, the Republic of Altai, Karachay-Cherkessia and the Tula region, the party has two seats each. In the Nenets Autonomous Okrug, in the Volgograd, Bryansk, Moscow Dumas - one mandate each.
At present, there are 217 LDPR deputies in the regional parliaments, and 2,565 party members are deputies of local self-government bodies. 83 representatives of the Liberal Democratic Party - heads of municipalities. Liberal Democrat Alexei Ostrovsky is the governor of the Smolensk region.
The traditional colors of the LDPR are yellow and blue. The party has over 230,000 members (as of December 2014).