On October 21, 2003 YABLOKO celebrates its 10th anniversary. An electoral bloc "Yavlinsky-Boldyrev-Lukin", created by a team of like-minded people with their own ideas about the reforms needed in Russia, was registered 10 years ago.

On this day the 4.2 million votes obtained by the bloc at the parliamentary elections in December 1993 led to the formation of the YABLOKO faction in the State Duma. The Public Association YABLOKO was formed in January 1995 and the Russian Democratic Party YABLOKO in December 2001.

Ten years of YABLOKO's existence have included successful participation in five federal and several dozen regional elections, as well as years of efficient work in the State Duma, the growth and strengthening of party branches.

At present YABLOKO has 65,000 party members and over 600 local organisations in 72 regions of Russia from Kaliningrad to Sakhalin and over 400 representatives of legislative and executive authorities at all levels. This is the most efficient faction in the State Duma in terms of the correlation between the number of deputies and the amount of draft laws prepared by them, which came into force.

Adherence to the principles proclaimed in 1993 represents the basis for the stable, long-term activities of YABLOKO in Russian politics.

YABLOKO is a democratic socio-liberal party, which advocates freedom, justice, a market economy, a law-governed state, federalism and local self-government. It aims to protect the political, economic and social rights of citizens and their safety.

Today YABLOKO considers the dismantling of the oligarchic structure developed in the 1990s and the construction of a welfare state for all Russian citizens to be its prime political task. The foundations for such a state can be summed up as follows: democracy and authorities that serve society rather than the oligarchs. Only a democratic state with an independent court, strong parliament, honest elections and independent mass media can create the requisite conditions for economic growth and the elimination of poverty.

YABLOKO protects Russian citizens from the devastating consequences of reforms in the housing, utilities and electricity sectors which in their present form inflict damage on the overwhelming majority of Russian citizens, transforming the country into a nuclear waste dump and leading to the violation of human rights, corruption and arbitrary rule of the bureaucracy.

YABLOKO participates in the parliamentarian elections to continue this work. The Russian Democratic Party YABLOKO was the first to start the parliamentarian election campaign of 2003, as it was the first party that managed to collect and register the signatures of voters in its support.

YABLOKO looks to the future with optimism. Ten years in politics make the party confident that it chose the right path.

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