At the elections to the
State Duma held on 12 December 1993, the Choice of Russia bloc (the predecessor to the Democratic Choice of Russia) received 15.51% of the vote, and consequently, 40 seats in the State Duma. On 20 January 1994, having lost influence over making economic decisions and opposed to the increase of budget expenditure, the leader of the Choice of Russia,
Yegor Gaidar, resigned from the government headed by
Viktor Chernomyrdin. At that point the Choice of Russia lost its status as a pro-government faction, yet at the same time it continued to support president
Boris Yeltsin and Chernomyrdin's government by providing constructive criticism of their policies. On 12 and 13 June 1994, the founding meeting of the party Democratic Choice of Russia was held. At the meeting, the party's programme was adopted and its governing bodies were set up. Yegor Gaidar was elected as party chairman. In 1995, the party contested the
election in a coalition of (minor) like-minded groups, forming the
Democratic Choice of Russia – United Democrats. Later, in 2001, it merged into the
Union of Rightist Forces. ==Values==