Civic Platform () is a conservative political party in Russia. The party was formed on 4 June 2012 by businessman and 2012 presidential candidate Mikhail Prokhorov.
The party was formed with 500 members, the minimum number required by law for a party to be registered in Russia, with the party originally being founded as a rudimentary mechanism through which independent candidates could stand in elections.
Prokhorov announced his decision to leave the party in 2015 and was subsequently replaced by Rifat Shaykhutdinov as party leader. Since then, the party has supported President Vladimir Putin.
Following the 2021 elections, the party currently has one representative in the State Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament.
Purpose
According to founder Mikhail Prokhorov, the Civic Platform was founded primarily in order to "participate in municipal elections in cities with a population of 500,000 or more". Prokhorov explained: "In Russia, there are 14 megacities and 23 cities where the population exceeds half a million people. That is where the most enterprising people live, those who form the framework of Russia". The focus of the party on local elections was also explained by the fact that analysts and opposition activists believed that they would likely see the most political action in the near future, as unlike politics on the federal level, local elections are not always monopolised by the dominant ruling party United Russia.
Prokhorov stated that the party would support the "evolutionary development of the country". He also said that the party would cooperate with both the existing regime and the opposition. Although he founded the party, Prokhorov did not himself join Civic Platform. He primarily launched the party as a small, 'bare-bones' group that would exist on paper to enable independents to run for office (in Russian elections it is easier for candidates to run if they have party backing).
History
Creation
Mikhail Prokhorov began participating in Russian politics in May 2011 when he announced that he would join the leadership of the Russian pro-business political party Right Cause. In June, Prokhorov was elected to the leadership of the party at the Right Cause Party Congress in 2011. However, in September, Prokhorov reversed course and resigned from Right Cause, condemning it as "a 'puppet Kremlin party' micromanaged by a 'puppet master' in the president's office ..., Vladislav Y. Surkov".
In December 2011, after the legislative elections, Prokhorov announced that he would contest the 2012 presidential election against Vladimir Putin as an independent candidate, In March 2012 presidential polling, Prokhorov gained 7.94% of the vote, and he promised to create a new party. On his official website he invited its supporters to take part in the selection of names for the party that he was planning to organize.
Among the proposal names were the "New Russia" Party, Democratic Party of Russia, and Free Russia Party. Finally, in June 2012, Prokhorov announced that the new party would carry the name "Civic Platform" Party.
At the time of the party's founding, a new party reform law had been introduced in response to mass protests across Russia during 2011 and 2012 against alleged mass electoral fraud in the 2011 legislative election, and this law allowed new parties other than the existing 7 officially registered ones to be formed. Most of the new parties that were created lacked recognizable national leaders, regional cadres or material resources, but the Civic Platform was an exception as it was headed by the billionaire presidential candidate Prokhorov.
2012–2014
The party started off with a handful of elected representatives. Sergey Andreyev was elected the 4th Mayor of Tolyatti as the only representative from the party in the regional high office. Another known political figure was Evgeny Urlashov, Mayor of Yaroslavl from 1 April 2012 until July 2013, when he was arrested by Investigative Committee of Russia and accused of corruption charges.