United Russia

The All-Russian Political Party United Russia is the ruling political party of Russia. As the largest party in the Russian Federation, it holds 325 (or 72.22%) of the 450 seats in the State Duma as of 2022, having constituted the majority in the chamber since 2007.

The party was formed on 1 December 2001 through a merger of Unity, and the Fatherland – All Russia bloc parties: Fatherland and All Russia; with Our Home – Russia party joining later. Following the 2003 and 2011 election results, United Russia held a parliamentary majority in the State Duma and a constitutional majority in 2007, 2016, and 2021. In the Duma elections of 2011, for the first time, the United Russia electoral list was formed based on the results of the preliminary (primary) elections held jointly with the All-Russia People's Front. According to the decisions of the XII Congress of United Russia, adopted on 24 September 2011, in the Duma elections, the party's pre-election list was headed by the President of the Russian Federation at the time, Dmitry Medvedev, and in the 2012 elections, Vladimir Putin became the presidential candidate. The structure of the party is made up of regional, local, and primary branches. Regional branches of United Russia have been created in all subjects of the Russian Federation. In Russia, there are 82,631 primary and 2,595 local branches of the party.

United Russia supports the policies of Putin, who is the incumbent Russian president and served as party leader during the presidency of Dmitry Medvedev; despite not currently being the official leader or a member of the party, Putin operates as its de facto leader. United Russia's votes peaked in the 2007 Russian legislative election with 64.3% of the vote, while in recent years, it has seen its popularity decline. The party's ideology is inconsistent and embraces specific officials, all of whom support Putin. Although in 2009 it proclaimed Russian conservatism as its official ideology, it appeals mainly to pro-Putin and non-ideological voters, and is often classified by political scientists as a "big-tent party", or as a "party of power", rather than an organisation that is primarily based upon a political ideology.