Civilian Power

Civilian Power
Leader	Mikhail Barshchevsky
Founded	2003
Headquarters	Moscow
Ideology	Liberalism
International affiliation	None
Website
www.Gr-Sila.ru

Civilian Power (or Citizens' Force, Russian: Гражданская сила) was a liberal political party in the Russian Federation, which prior to February 2007 was called Free Russia.

According to data from Rosregistration, the party has 55,063 members. The symbol of the party is a sunflower.

The main ideological postulates are:

• A Free citizen is the highest value.
• Private property is the base of economical development of Russia.
• The state is a defender of its citizens and a guarantor of stability.

According to the chairman of the Federal Political Council Alexander Ryavkin, "the party expresses interests of Russian responsible business, Russian intelligentsia — people of science and culture, technical intelligentsia, people who form the Russian middle class". The party enjoys good relations with Vladimir Putin's government.^{[citation needed]}

The organization was called the Network Party for Support of the Small and Middle Business in 2003/2004, then renamed Free Russia, and in 2007 changed to Civilian Power.

Members of the political council include:

• Mikhail Barshchevsky
• Valdis Pelsh
• Tatyana Ustinova
• Maxim Kononenko

History

The "Free Russia" party was created in 2004, based on small and medium-sized Russian businesses. On October 8, 2006, the party overtook the 7% barrier on the legislative elections in Novgorod District. In November 2006, the 6th party conference was held. On February 27, 2007, Mikhail Barchevsky, the chairman and plenipotentary of the High Council of the Russian government, held a press conference. This was in aid of the party principles of Civilian Power. In the middle of April 2007, an organizational conference was held.

The chairman of the High Council is plenipotentiary of the Government of Russia in Constitutional, Supreme and Highest Arbitral Courts Mikhail Barshchevsky (a member since December 2006). The chairman of the Federal Political Council is Alexander Ryavkin.

The party won 1.05% of votes in the 2007 elections, not breaking the 7% barrier, and thus no seats in duma.

Civilian Power supported Dmitri Medvedev as their candidate in the presidential election in 2008.

It merged with Union of Right Forces and the Democratic Party of Russia to form Right Cause on 16 November 2008.

External links

• Civilian Power, official site (in Russian)