Agrarian Party of Russia

Agrarian Party of Russia
150px
Leader	Olga Bashmachnikova
Founded	February 26, 1993
Preceded by	no
Ideology	Centrism, Agricultural policy
Political position	Left-wing
International affiliation	unknown
Colours	Yellow
Website
агро-партия.рф

File:Башмачникова Ольга Владимировна АПР (2012).JPG

Olga Bashmachnikova - the leader of the party in 2012

The Agrarian Party of Russia (Agrarnaya Partiya Rossii, Аграрная Партия России, АПР) was a left-wing agrarian political party in Russia. Founded in February 1993, it was among the earliest parties in the Russian Federation.

History

The party was founded by the Head of the Altai Republic Mikhail Lapshin and Governor of the Tula region, a former member of the State Committee on the State of Emergency of the USSR Vasily Starodubtsev. During their leadership the party was in Alliance with the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF) and block the Fatherland – All Russia. The ideology of the party until 2008 was the agrarian socialism and collectivism.

The party was founded and led by Mikhail Lapshin until 2004; the last leader of the party was [[Vladimir Plotnikov]]. In the State Duma election of December 1993, the Agrarian Party of Russia obtained 37 seats in the parliament and won 8% of the popular vote. Between 1994 and 1996 party member Ivan Rybkin was a speaker of the Russian parliament. In the State Duma elections in December 1995, the APR did not make it over the 5% threshold, obtaining only 3.78% of the vote. At the last legislative elections, 7 December 2003, the party won 3.6% of the popular vote and 3 out of 450 seats.

Agrarian party member Nikolay Kharitonov ran as a presidential candidate of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation in the 2004 Russian Presidential election and won 13.7% of the vote, placing second to Vladimir Putin.

In the 1990s the party deputies were usually allies of the Communist Party in the State Duma and advocated greater government support for the agricultural sector.

The party won 2.30% of votes in the 2007 elections, not breaking the 7% barrier, and thus capturing no seats in the Duma.

The Agrarian Party supported the candidacy of Dmitry Medvedev in the 2008 presidential election. It merged into United Russia.

Recovery

In 2012, marked a specially notable period for the party as it was officially restored and the registered leader was elected Executive Director of the agricultural Association Olga Bashmachnikova, leading the party to take a new direction with which it chose to move away from following the ideas of agrarian socialism and collectivism, so for this reason the party's ideology is now centrism. The party has abandoned the Alliance with the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF) which was in the Union since its Foundation. Agrarian party of Russia is the Union People's Front for Russia and the Russian Ecological Party "The Greens".

According to the results of the regional Elections of 2012, 2013, 2014 years, the party failed to win in regional and city parliaments.

External links

• Official web site
• Official website of the Agricultural Association
• The archive of the official site of the party until 2008