Russia's Democratic Choice - United Democrats

Back in November 1994, the Council of the FER Party decided to prepare for the elections and create a broad democratic coalition. However, the active formation of the coalition began only in the spring of 1995.

By the beginning of 1995, it was clear that the situation was not very favorable for a democratically oriented market reform force. The plight of a large part of the country's population reinforced sympathy for conservative, pro-communist groups. There were even proposals to postpone the parliamentary elections to a later date, so that they would be held in more favorable conditions for democratic parties. Moreover, the terms of office of the State Duma of the first convocation were reduced - only two years instead of the "ordinary" four years. nevertheless, such proposals did not find serious support. In particular, the FER leader Yegor Gaidar categorically condemned any calls to “postpone” the election. He emphasized that “democratic power cannot, for the sake of any reasonable tactical considerations, abandon normal democratic methods, from elections. You can’t hide from the elections. We must go on them ” ^[1]

By June 1995, the election campaign began to enter a more active phase. FER accepts the basics of its information policy, including in the area of ​​work with the electorate ^[2] , and the election program was also approved ^[3] . At the Second Extraordinary Congress of the Far Eastern Democratic Republic, important decisions were made regarding the construction of the election coalition. On the one hand, proposals to conclude a bloc with a successively pro-presidential bloc Our Home Russia , led by Viktor Chernomyrdin , were rejected. On the other hand, the course was supported on an attempt to create a broad “democratic coalition”, with the inclusion of the Yabloko party there ^[4] .

During this period, Yegor Gaidar strongly advocated an alliance with the Yabloko party , including stating that "the split of the Democrats will lead to disaster" and that he hopes for a "healthy instinct for the self-preservation of colleagues from the democratic camp" ^[5] . Nevertheless, despite active negotiations with representatives of the Yabloko party and its leader Grigory Yavlinsky , it was not possible to reach a consensus on the basis of the unification. The Social Democratic Party, Yabloko, and oriented towards the liberal market model, the Russian Democratic Choice could not agree and went to the polls separately from each other. Personal conflicts between party leaders could also play a role in the failure of such an alliance. However, Yegor Gaidar and Grigory Yavlinsky denied any personal hostility or conflict, but spoke exclusively about ideological incompatibility. At the same time, the FER leader has repeatedly stated that the absence of a coalition between the two parties is a serious mistake: “Without a doubt, we can and are ready to be allies of a wide range of democratic organizations with long-term ideological or economic priorities that differ from us in many respects. That is why I was convinced that a broad democratic bloc, including the two strongest parliamentary factions today - Russia's Choice and Yabloko - would be useful to Russian democracy, despite all our past and future disagreements. Unfortunately, as you know, this work did not bring results. I'm sorry about that. I think this is a serious mistake made by our potential partners ” ^[6] .

As a result, in August 1995, an election bloc was nevertheless formed. It was called "FER - United Democrats." Headed the election association Yegor Gaidar . In addition to the FER itself, the bloc included a number of small democratically oriented parties, including the Peasant Party of Yuri Chernichenko , the Russian Party of Social Democracy, Alexander Yakovlev , the Congress of National Associations of Russia (chairman - Alexander Rudenko-Desnyak ). In addition to Yegor Gaidar, Sergey Kovalev and actress Lidia Fedoseeva-Shukshina also entered the first three of the general federal list of the block.

The election campaign took place in a situation where the main opponent of the bloc saw the danger of "red revenge." Yegor Gaidar highly appreciated the importance of the upcoming parliamentary and presidential elections and their role in the fate of Russia and repeatedly emphasized this. So he stated: “In the current campaign - I mean, the cycle of parliamentary and presidential elections - is solved much more than was decided in the past. In general, it is not so common in the world that much is decided in democratic elections ... In Russia, there have probably not been such cases ... But in this cycle of elections - 1995-1996 - Russia really turned out to be at the fork of two very important roads, and even that which she chooses will have a very important influence on her fate in the 21st century ” ^[7]

Quite quickly, the election platform of the electoral bloc “Peace to All. Security for everyone. The Prosperity of Russia ” ^[8] . The main slogan of the election campaign was the famous slogan "Make smart choices." he distinctly referred the voter to the danger of an unreasonable alternative. It was primarily a conservative-communist alternative. The slogan was repeated on all the campaign materials of the block ^[9]

In addition, “Make a smart choice” was also a refrain in the block’s election campaign on television. In the form of television spots, words of support for the election bloc of such prominent figures of Russian culture as, for example, Zinovy ​​Gerdt , Bulad Okudzhava , were presented

The electoral bloc never managed to get into the Duma, breaking the necessary 5% barrier. The block gained only 3.86% of the vote. Nevertheless, in the single-mandate constituencies, 9 nominees of the bloc - members of the FER party, including Yuli Rybakov , Sergey Kovalev , Alexander Pochinok , Sergey Yushenkov , Viktor Pokhmelkin who formed the same-named deputy group, became deputies.

Vladimir Boxer notes that despite the fact that the deterioration of the electoral support of FER was in many respects a logical process, nevertheless, the possibility of overcoming the 5% barrier was still not possible - for a number of reasons: the lack of a broad coalition, as well as extremely unsuccessful FER election campaign ("The concept itself became a central problem - it was built on a purely anti-communist line. At that time this movement was completely wrong, it was some kind of" retro "") ^[10]

A team of Russian liberal reformers and democrats, members of the Democratic Choice of Russia Party