MOSCOW, December 6 (RIA Novosti) - The leaders of Russian liberal parties Union of Right Forces (SPS) and Yabloko said at a press conference Tuesday they considered Sunday's Moscow Duma (city legislature) elections to have been successful and expected a breakthrough in creating a unified democratic party in Russia.

Yabloko leader Grigory Yavlinsky said, "I am sure that the fact that the united democrats [the coalition of SPS and Yabloko] overcame the 10% barrier can be considered a success for the united democratic forces."

This occurred "even though all the parties were subject to different conditions and had varying opportunities to carry out advertising campaigns in the media," he said.

In the elections, United Russia took 47.3% of the vote, the Communist Party - 16.8%, and Yabloko (representing the united democrats coalition) - 11.1%.

The Yabloko leader said the election success was an important step toward creating a serious democratic political organization in Russia to compete in the 2007 and 2008 elections.

Nikita Belykh, the head of SPS, said: "We consider this achievement to be a victory, a victory under very complex and difficult conditions."

The democrats' task is to decide on which approaches can lead to agreement, he said. "We have these, and the Moscow Duma elections proved this."

He confirmed the parties' intention to continue working toward the formation of a united democratic party.

However, the SPS leader said, "It would be foolish to set out specific timeframes, as this is a serious task which demands a well-thought-out approach."

Commenting on the announcement by former Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov that he intended to form a united democratic front, Belykh said that Yabloko and SPS were ready to consider participating in this party as broad democratic coalition.

The Yabloko leader said, "Such a party has to be created first - then we will talk."

"We are now holding consultations with everyone," Yavlinsky said. "There is Mikhail Kayanov's announcement, the announcement by Valeria Novodvorskaya [head of the Democratic Union party] on various issues, and there are the statements of other figures in Russia's political scene. We receive all these declarations with respect, but we will see which of these announcements will work in practice."