Liberal Democratic Party of Russia
Liberal Democratic Party of Russia
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Liberal Democratic Party of Russia

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Liberal Democratic Party of Russia

LDPR – Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (Russian: ЛДПР – Либерально-демократическая партия России, romanizedLDPR – Liberalno-demokraticheskaya partiya Rossii) is a Russian ultranationalist and right-wing populist political party. It succeeded the Liberal Democratic Party of the Soviet Union (LDPSU) in Russia after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The party was led by Vladimir Zhirinovsky since its inception until his death in April 2022. Opposing both communism and state capitalism of the 1990s, the party scored a major success in the 1993 Duma elections with almost 23% of the vote, giving it 64 seats of the 450 seats in the State Duma. In the 2021 elections, the party received 7.55% of the vote, giving it 21 seats.

Despite the party's name, it has been described as "neither liberal nor democratic nor a party". The LDPR was centered around Zhirinovsky, and is often described as populist, nationalist, or ultranationalist. It has been described as adhering to statism and authoritarianism, and has also been described as fascist, though this label has been disputed. The party, as part of the "systemic opposition", is considered to be traditionally loyal to the Kremlin. Besides the aforementioned accusations, it has also been described as right-liberal. The party has been a part of the federal government since May 14, 2024, with Mikhail Degtyarev serving as Minister of Sport. Its members are generally called "zhirinovets" (Russian: жириновец, lit. 'Zhirinovite').

An effectively multi-party system emerged in the Soviet Union in the late 1980s in wake of Mikhail Gorbachev's reforms. A formal law for this purpose was introduced in October 1990. In April 1991, the Liberal Democratic Party of the Soviet Union (LDPSU) became the second officially registered political party in the country.

Former KGB General Filipp Bobkov has stated that "in line with Zubatov's ideas," the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union "proposed creating a pseudo-party controlled by the KGB" to direct the interests and sentiments of certain social groups, however he said that he was against the idea. Former Politburo member Alexander Yakovlev described how KGB director Vladimir Kryuchkov proposed the creation of the party with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev at a meeting. He also stated that the Central Committee took over which led to the creation of the Liberal Democratic Party. Yakovlev called the creation of the party a joint effort of the Central Committee and the KGB. In the early 1990s, Mayor of Saint Petersburg, Anatoly Sobchak claimed that party leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky was a "reserve" KGB captain, and a number of key supporters in the LDPR leadership quit the party, accusing Zhirinovsky of KGB ties.

The outspoken leader of the party, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, an effective media performer, gained 8% of votes during the 1991 presidential elections. He also supported the August 1991 coup attempt.

In 1992, the LDPSU broke apart into its regional offsprings and the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) was created as its successor in Russia.

In the 1993 Duma elections, the pro-reform party supporting President Boris Yeltsin, Russia's Choice, received only 15% of the vote and the new Communist Party of the Russian Federation only 12.4%. The LDPR emerged as the winner with 22.9% of the popular vote. In effect, the Russian population was divided between those who supported Yeltsin's reforms and to those who did not. It is regarded that the popularity of Zhirinovsky and his party arose from the electorate's dissatisfaction with Yeltsin and their desire for a non-communist solution.

Zhirinovsky is credited with having successfully identified the problems of ordinary Russians and offering simple remedies to solve them. For example, he has suggested that all leaders of organized crime should be shot and all Chechens deported from Russia. Zhirinovsky also called for territorial expansion of Russia. Many of Zhirinovsky's views are highly controversial and the LDPR's success in the early 1990s shocked observers both inside and outside Russia.

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