Yabloko

The Russian United Democratic Party Yabloko (RUDP Yabloko) is a social-liberal political party in Russia. The party consequently participated in the elections of deputies of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation of all eight convocations. Until 2003, Yabloko was represented by a faction in the State Duma and later until 2007 by individual deputies. In March 2002, the party became a full member of the Liberal International, and since November 1998, it had been in observer status. The founder of the party Grigory Yavlinsky is an honorary vice-president of the Liberal International and winner of its Prize for Freedom. Since 2006, Yabloko has been a member of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE). As of 2021, the party was represented by factions in 4 regional parliaments of the Russian Federation. In addition, members of the party were deputies of 13 administrative centers of the subjects of the Russian Federation, 183 representatives of the party were municipal deputies in Moscow, 84 in Saint Petersburg. The party also advocates for the protection of the rights of LGBT people in Russia. History The party dates back to the early 1990s. Originally established as a public organization in 1993, it transformed into a political party in 2001. In 1993–2003, the party had a small faction in the State Duma; in 2003 four single-mandate deputies passed from Yabloko to the Duma: one of them joined United Russia, three joined the informal group of independent democrats. After the tightening of Russian legislation by 2011 only 7 registered political parties remained in Russia, among which was Yabloko. In 2011 the party managed to obtain the right to state funding, which allowed further functioning of the organization. As a result of the 2016 elections, the party is not receiving any state funding any further. Emergence of the Party (1993–2002) The immediate predecessor of the Yabloko party was the electoral bloc Yavlinsky-Boldyrev-Lukin, formed for the legislative elections of 1993. "Yabloko" is an acronym of the names of its founders: "Я" (Ya) for Grigory Yavlinsky; "Б" (B) for Yury Boldyrev, and "Л" (L) for Vladimir Lukin, with the full name meaning "Apple" in Russian.