All-Russian Popular Front

Vladimir Putin, President of Russia and founder of the All-Russian Popular Front

The All-Russian Popular Front or All-Russian National Front ( Russian Общероссийский народный фронт (ОНФ) Obschtscherossijski narodny front (ONF) ) refers to an amalgamation of social organizations in the form of a bloc party system. It was officially founded in May 2011 by Russian President Vladimir Putin . Since June 12, 2013 Putin has been at the head of the coalition, also known as the National Front for Russia .

structure

The All-Russian Popular Front currently consists of more than 2000 organizations, including:

United Russia (political party)
Young Guard of Russia ( United Russia youth organization )
Progressive Socialist Party of Ukraine
Patriots of Russia (political party)
Agrarian Party of Russia
Russian ecological party "The Greens"
Cossack Party of the Russian Federation
Russian Union of Afghanistan Veterans
Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs
All-Russian community of small and medium-sized entrepreneurs
The freedom of choice (advocacy of motorists)

The chairman of the All-Russian Popular Front is Vladimir Putin.

history

Advertising for the All-Russian Popular Front in a marshrutka (September 2011)

The All-Russian Popular Front was officially established on May 6, 2011 in Volgograd . The United Russia party stated that the goal of this organization was to want to integrate independent MPs into the Duma . Every member of the All-Russian Popular Front has the theoretical chance of entering the Duma as a member of parliament without being a member of the United Russia party.

According to Putin's press secretary Dmitri Leskov, the all-Russian Popular Front is said to have a non-partisan character. At the same time, every member of the front is required to have "fundamental agreement" with the political goals of the "United Russia" party.

On May 7, 2011, the Coordinating Council of the All-Russian Popular Front was formed in Novo-Ogaryovo . In addition to President Putin, a number of representatives from various social organizations were present.

The first goals of the ONF were set out here:

Development and modernization of production
Promoting an innovative economy
Promote an effective and equitable approach to social problems.

On May 20, 2011, it was announced that the Institute for Socio-Economic and Political Research was preparing a basic program of the All-Russian Popular Front. The same institute has also participated in the party program of the party “United Russia”. The former President of the Chuvash Republic , Nikolai Fyodorov , is also to participate in the basic program .

On May 23, 2011, the ONF Coordinating Council decided at a meeting in Pskov that non-registered organizations could also become members of the ONF. According to Putin, they only have to pursue a “lively and important” social purpose.

In June 2011 it was also decided that individual persons or working groups can also become ONF members.

At the end of June 2011 it was reported that the opinion of the ONF will be taken into account in future governor appointments .

As of July 13, 2011, the ONF had 800 memberships from organizations and 4,500 memberships from individuals. 36% of the people are also members of the United Russia party. On July 21, 2011, more than 2,000 organizations became ONF members.

On July 26, 2011, the first foreign organization joined the ONF. This was the Pan-Slavic- oriented Progressive Socialist Party of Ukraine , which is led by Natalija Witrenko .

On April 25, 2012 the ONF Coordinating Council reported that the work of the All-Russian Popular Front would be put on hold until autumn 2012.

On December 30th, 2012 the ONF resumed its work and decided at its first ordinary congress to deal more with Eurasian integration in the future . For this purpose, the umbrella organization "Eurasian Front" is founded.

On May 20, 2013, the Second Congress of the ONF was held.

On May 25, 2013, the newly formed Cossack Party of the Russian Federation (KaPRF) joined the ONF.

criticism

The ONF has been widely criticized in Russia and other countries.

Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev is skeptical of the ONF. Although he recognized the commitment and efforts of the party “United Russia”, he did not believe that the ONF could become the dominant political movement in Russia.

The entrepreneur Mikhail Prokhorov , who led the liberal Right Cause party from June to September 2011 , refused to join the ONF, but made no positive or negative comments.

Sergei Mironov said his party ( Just Russia ) would stay away from the ONF because it was in opposition to United Russia.

The chairman of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation , Gennady Zyuganov , sharply criticized the ONF and thereupon announced the establishment of a people's militia , a communist counter-front to the ONF.

The nationalists also disagreed with the ONF and immediately afterwards founded the Sovereign Union of Russia , which currently includes 13 organizations.

The lawyer and blogger Alexei Navalny complained on June 21, 2011 with a letter to the Moscow General Prosecutor's Office because he saw numerous legal violations in the ONF activity.

The political scientist Stanislaw Belkowski compared the ONF with the National Front of the GDR .

The US magazine Foreign Policy sees the founding of the ONF as a desperate attempt by the United Russia party to compensate for the recent loss of popularity it has suffered.