View source for Committee 2008

{{For|more|Free Choice 2008 Committee}}
{{Expand Russian|topic=hist|date=May 2015}}
{{Infobox political party
| name             = Committee 2008: A Free Choice
| native_name      = Комитет 2008: Свободный выбор
| native_name_lang = ru
| logo             = [[File:Logo of the Committee 2008.png|200px]]
| colorcode        = #030578
| leader           = [[Garry Kasparov]]
| founded          = {{start date|2004|1|17|df=yes}}
| dissolved        = {{start date|2005|6||df=yes}}
| affiliation1_title = Member parties
| affiliation1     = [[Yabloko]]<br>[[Union of Right Forces]]<br>[[Our Choice (Russia)|Our Choice]]<br>[[People's Freedom Party (Russia)|Republican Party of Russia]]
| successor        = [[United Civil Front]]<br>[[The Other Russia (coalition)|The Other Russia]]
| headquarters     = [[Moscow]]
| newspaper        = 
| ideology         = [[Liberalism]]<br/>[[Liberal democracy]]
| position         = [[Big tent]]
| colours          = {{color box|#666666|border=silver}} Grey<br/> {{color box|#030578|border=silver}} Blue<br/> {{color box|#E70005|border=silver}} Red
| slogan           = "We need Another Russia!"<br/>({{langx|ru|"Нам нужна другая Россия!"}})<br/>"Russia without Putin!"<br/>({{langx|ru|"Россия без Путина!"}})
| website          = {{URL|www.theotherrussia.ru}}
| country          = Russia
}}
"'''Committee 2008: A Free Choice'''" ({{langx|ru|Комитет 2008: Свободный выбор}}; ''Komitet 2008: Svobodnyy vybor'') was an [[umbrella organization]] of the Russian democratic opposition, launched on 29 January 2004 and broke up in the spring of 2005.

== History ==
It was formed in response to the failure of [[Yabloko]] and the [[Union of Right Forces]] to gain any seats in the 2003 elections to the State Duma, and to the growing authoritarianism of President [[Vladimir Putin]] who was re-elected in March 2004 with over 70% of the votes cast.<ref>[http://ria.ru/vybor2012_infographics/20120309/590825026.html RIA electoral infographics, The Russian presidency 1991 to 2012.]</ref>

The Committee's goal was to ensure free and fair presidential elections in 2008. Putin was due to step down as President, after serving two terms, and the Committee intended to work against the election of the Kremlin's chosen successor, whoever that might be. The chairman of the 2008 Committee was [[Garry Kasparov]]; the original signatories of the 2004 declaration were Mikhail Berger, [[Vladimir Bukovsky]], Alexander Golts, [[Igor Irtenyev]], [[Vladimir Vladimirovich Kara-Murza|Vladimir Kara-Murza Jr.]], [[Yevgeny Kiselyov]], [[Yulia Latynina]], Dmitry Muratov, [[Boris Nemtsov]], [[Sergey Parkhomenko]], Alexander Ryklin, [[Victor Shenderovich]] and Irina Yasina.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20040129143422/http://komitet2008.ru/ Declaration of the "2008 - A Free Choice" Committee, 29 January 2004 (retrieved 10 June 2015.],</ref> Others who joined later were politicians [[Vladimir Ryzhkov]] and [[Irina Khakamada]].

The Committee was short-lived, holding its last meeting in summer 2005. A number of its members subsequently helped to set up the [[United Civil Front]] and the much broader [[The Other Russia (coalition)|Other Russia]] coalition (2006-2010) which were actively engaged in protest activities in 2007 and 2008.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://www.theotherrussia.org The Other Russia - Official site]
* {{in lang|ru}} [http://www.theotherrussia.ru/ Другая Россия - Official site] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140825181428/http://www.theotherrussia.ru/ |date=2014-08-25 }}
* {{in lang|ru}} [http://namarsh.ru/ Сайт «Марш несогласных»] - March of the Discontented
* {{in lang|ru}} [http://www.kasparov.ru/material.php?id=44B53927856E7 Итоговое заявление участников конференции «Другая Россия»] Concluding statement by the participants, www.kasparov.ru


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[[Category:Defunct political party alliances in Russia]]
[[Category:Liberalism in Russia]]
[[Category:Political parties established in 2004]]
[[Category:2008 Russian presidential election]]

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