Talk:Progress Party (Russia)/Copypaste

After Navalny was expelled from Yabloko in 2007, he did not immediately choose to join another party.

Logo of People's Alliance, used in 2012–2014

Logo of Progress Party, used since 2014

On June 26, 2012, Volkov declared Navalny's comrades would establish a new political party based on e-democracy; Navalny declared he did not plan to participate in this project at the moment. On July 31, they filed a document to register an organizing committee of the future party; the party was named "People's Alliance". The party was declared to be centrist; one of then-current leaders of the party and Navalny's ally Vladimir Ashurkov explained this was intended to help the party get a large share of voters. However, at the moment, party did not have a comprehensive ideology. The party would limit the number of its members to 500. Navalny said the concept of political parties was "outdated", and added his participation would make maintaining the party more difficult. However, he "blessed" the party and discussed its maintenance with its leaders. They, in turn, stated they wanted to eventually see Navalny as a member of the party. Another leader of the party Vladislav Naganov claimed Navalny's decision not to join the party was "the only correct [one]". The party planned to use the activity of its members in media and the Internet as a massive advantage. Ashurkov said he expected the party to get an official registration during spring 2013.

On December 15, 2012 the party held its founding congress; Navalny expressed support to the party, saying, "People’s Alliance is my party", but again refused to join it, citing the criminal cases against him. On April 10, 2013, the party filed documents for the official registration of the party. Oleg Mitvol, the leader of the registered party named Alliance of Greens – The People's Party, appealed to a court in an attempt to block the registration of People's Allance, because the latter had, according to Mitvol, a name too similar to that of his party. On April 30, the registration of the party was suspended. After that, Mitvol withdrew his lawsuit. From that moment, the party had three months to correct the violations proclaimed by the Ministry of Justice. The party held a second congress to comply with the requirements. However, on July 5, the party was declined registration; according to Izvestia, not all founders of the party were present during the congress, even though the papers were signed by their autographs. Navalny reacted to that with a tweet saying, "[...] A salvo of all guns". (On the same day, he also spoke his last words before the Kirovles trial.) Following the mayoral election, on September 15, Navalny declared he would join and, possibly, head the party. Within a couple of days, he added he wanted the party to run for the Moscow City Duma elections scheduled for September 2014. On November 17, the party held another founding congress; Navalny was elected as the leader of the party.

In November 2013, registered party "Homeland" led by Andrei Bogdanov changed its name to "People's Alliance". Navalny's party moved the court to recognize the process as illegal. Bogdanov suggested Navalny could use the newly renamed party as the political platform. On November 30, Ministry of Justice recognized the renaming of former "Homeland" to "People's Alliance" as legal; according to Russian laws, no two parties can share a name. Lawyers of Navalny's party declared they sued the move was illegal, and on January 8, 2014, the party filed documents for registration for a second time. On January 20, registration of the party was suspended.

On February 8, 2014, the party changed its name to "Progress Party". On February 25, the party was registered. At that moment it had six months to register regional branches in at least in half the federal subjects of Russia (the number was 42 at the moment; with the admission of Crimea and Sevastopol in late March, it grew to 43); the time period could be prolonged if the party was appealing from a court judgment of denial of registration of a branch in at least in subject. According to Dmitri Krainev, member of the main board of the party, the party had 15 registered regional branches, and its regional branches either had registration suspended or trials regarding registration of such branches were proceeding in 45 further subjects on August 22, and the party informed the Ministry of Justice the term would be prolonged. On September 24, it informed the ministry about another prolongation of the term; at that moment, they had 40 branches, and trials were undergoing in 20 further subjects. On September 26, the party declared they registered 43 regional branches. An unnamed source of Izvestia in the ministry said registrations completed after the six-months term would not be taken in consideration, adding, "Yes, trials are taking place in some regions [...] they cannot register new branches in other regions during the trials, because the main term is over". Navalny's blog countered, "Our answer is simple. A six-month term for registration has been legally prolonged ad interim prosecution of appeals of denials and registration suspensions". Krainev claimed some denials were "absurd". In particular, he named a denial in Kursk Oblast, where the party did not obtain registration because a line that had to be broken, did not start with a white space. He added, "I call everyone, ask to explain what we screwed up with, it is clear every region has its own demands. We have been verbally confirmed they had not had any claims, but an order not to register has been spread from Moscow".

On October 2, 2014, the party filed documents of registration of 44 regional branches; according to Krainev, from that moment, the party should have been added to the list of structures eligible for participation in elections. The party tried to appoint candidates for municipal elections in two towns in Moscow Oblast, but was rejected the right to do so, because it was not added to the said list. After that, the party tried to challenge the non-inclusion in the list in courts; however, the standing has been supported by every next court the party addressed, with the latest being Moscow City Court on March 30, 2015. According to a data array released in late March, which is claimed to be leaked correspondence of экс-замглавы Управления внутренней политики Администрации президента Алексея Анисимова, the registration of the party has been overviewed and controlled by the Kremlin.

On April 28, 2015, the party was deprived of registration by the Ministry of Justice, which stated the party had not registered the required number of regional branches within six months after the official registartion. Krainev claimed the party could be only eliminated by the Supreme Court, and he added not all trials of registration of regional branches were over, calling the verdict "illegal twice". He added, the party would refer to the European Court of Human Rights, and expressed confidence the party would be restored and admitted to elections. The next day, the party challenged the verdict. On May 13, a law project that would prohibit to use the word "party" for names of organization other than political parties; in particular, Progress Party was deprived of the status. According to one of sources of RosBusinessConsulting within the State Duma, the law project is addressed to Progress Party.

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