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| Color | |
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| Abbreviation | KRO |
| Website | http://www.panorama.ru/works/vybory/party/kro.html |
| Country | Russia |
| Established | 1993-03-00 |
| Disbanded | 2003-00-00 |
| Contributor | Jake |
| Last Edited | Ralphie - April 14, 2008 06:30pm |
| Description | Конгресс русских общин
Kongress Russkikh Obshchin
The Congress of Russian Communities (KRO) was first created in the spring of 1993 by Dmitry Rogozin. Then an unknown figure, he was unable to collect sufficient signatures to register the party for the first elections to the State Duma the following December. Realizing his own shortcomings, Rogozin spent 1994 and 1995 recruiting more well-known figures to the party, including Petr Romanov, Yuri Skokov, Sergey Glazyev, and, most notably, Gen. Aleksandr Lebed.
The party was widely expected to pass the 5% proportional representation hurdle in the 1995 Duma elections, but a series of tactical errors led it to fall short by less than 1%. A major error that contributed to the party's shortfall was placing Skokov, at that time its leader, at the #1 position on the party list instead of General Lebed. Skokov was hampered by his lack of charisma and portrayal in the media of having questionable ethics, in contrast to the more straightforward Lebed. There was also a situation of a minor party including another Aleksandr Lebed on its list and, upon the "Other Lebed" announcing his withdrawal from the race, some elections offices removed General Lebed instead. Ultimately, the KRO's downfall was a result of splitting the nationalist vote with the KPRF and LDPR, both of which had proven records of success with nationalist voters.
Despite the electoral setback of 1995, the KRO was seen as an up-and-comer in Russian politics. General Lebed was successful in removing Skokov as party leader and installed his ally, Dmitry Rogozin. Lebed also succeeded in turning his popularity into a third place finish in the 1996 presidential election. He would later win the governorship of Krasnoyarsk Kray.
The party's fortunes began to fall in the lead-up to the 1999 Duma elections, when Lebed distanced himself from the KRO and Glazyev left for the KPRF. Rogozin then failed to forge a coalition with Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov in his quest for a parliamentary majority with the new Fatherland Party. In the end, the only electoral alliance forged was with Yabloko defector Yuri Boldyrev. The party won less than 1% of the list vote and only one single-member seat, Rogozin's own.
The party was revived in the spring of 2003 when President Putin began to create a left-leaning "decoy party" to draw votes away from the KPRF. The party that would become the Motherland-National Patriotic Union was formed from the KRO's remnants along with several other socialist, nationalist, and populist groups. |
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