a+Political+Parties

**POLITICAL PARTIES OF UKRAINE**

Ukraine adopted a multi-party system after its independence from the Soviet Union. Ever since, there have been a wide range of active political parties and blocs, from leftist to center and center-right to ultra-nationalist (CIA World Factbook). As a result, there has been a continuous union and split of parties due to disagreements/agreements of leaders. Sometimes smaller parties join the bigger political parties to form “blocs”. This allows smaller parties to have better representation within parliamentary elections (GlobalSecurity.org). It seems that many people are not fond of the changes that have been done to a multi-party system. There was a survey done by the Pew Research Center's Global Attitudes Project on September 2009 that showed how dissatisfied the Ukrainian people were. According to the article, in 1991, before the “dissolution of the Soviet Union,1 a large majority (72%) of Ukrainians approved of the change to a multiparty system, whereas only 30% do now” (Pewresearch.org). This is why the political party system should be reformed. The reformation proposed would be to have a limited amount of political parties. Parties could be a lot more stable if they were kept at a minimum. Some parties do not even have a lot of members, and they usually end up joining some other part to form another faction. Aside from this, political parties in Ukraine should also be more organized, for there are often disagreements within the leadership positions. There should be a set party leader, and he or she should abide to its proper regulations. If this is unable to be done, then the adoption of a law that was proposed by President Leonid Kushma, should be taken into consideration. This law stated that is, “Any MP elected via a specific party changed factions, he or she would automatically lose his or her mandate” (GlobalSecutiry.org). If adopted, it would have provided greater party stability and party discipline. Either or, the political parties in Ukraine must be reformed. Sources: // Pew Research Center //. Web. 14 Apr. 2010. [|http://www.pewresearch.org]. CIA - The World Factbook." //Ukraine//. Web. 15 Apr. 2010. .  // Ukraine Political Parties // . Web. 15 Apr. 2010. .

According to the CIA World Factbook, Ukraine has a multi-party system. The followig parties are listed, along with a brief summary of what it is and who the leaders of each party are.

Although it was the largest faction in the Rada with 112 members as of 2001, the Communist Party of Ukraine won only 66 seats in the 2002 parliamentary elections. The existence of the party was banned between 1991 and 1993, but experienced a resurgence in the following years. When the CPU was reregistered in 1993, Petro Symonenko was elected the party's leader, and has remained at its helm ever since. The Communists have abandoned their traditional motto of "Solidarity Forever" and instead adopted a new one that translates as either "Let's make a deal" or "What's in it for us?". Some say that President Kuchma was pleased to have such a domesticated opposition as the Communist Party of Ukraine. Others believe that Symonenko sold himself to Kuchma during the presidential campaign in 1999. The CPU had on occasion served Kuchma’s interests, which opened it to charges of opportunism, but after 1999 is took a firm opposite standing. In 2000, the Communist Party split into two factions, one of which was pro-presidential. The other faction remained under the leadership of opposition party faction leader Petro Symonenko, said to be anti-market, anti-American and pro-Russian. Petro Symonenko is one of a few Ukrainian politicians against whom no serious discrediting materials were published. During the 2004 campaign, Symonenko charged that Moroz, Tymoshenko and Yushchenko (orchestrated by the USA) are plotting a coup in Ukraine.
 * For a United Ukraine**
 * **Agrarian Party of Ukraine:** was established in December 1996 and its first leader was Mykhailo Zubets. The party was created to support the interests of collective farmers, and it favors the privatization of state-owned farms.
 * **Labor Ukraine / Working Ukraine [//Trudova Ukrayina//]:** is led by Serhiy Tihipko and is the largest and most disciplined of the non-Communist factions. Labor has 49 members, two of whom are most important. **Viktor Pinchuk** is rich, represents a powerful Dnipropetrovsk clan and has clout with the president, whose daughter he married; Ihor Sharov has superior organizational abilities that make the strongly pro-Kuchma faction probably the best managed in the Rada. Before joining in the creation of For a United Ukraine, the Labor Ukraine party was one of four members of the TUNDRA bloc supporting president Kuchma.
 * **Party of Regions:** The Party of Regions was created in March 2001 from the unification of five parties, including Regional Revival. Three quarters of the party’s members are in Donbas. The favorite candidate to replace Kuchma was Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, head of the Donetsk clan's Party of Regions, because he could ensure votes from the densely populated Donbas. Influence over the Lugansk oblast state administration is another of the party's valuable assets. Mykola Azarov, a long-standing ally of President Leonid Kuchma, was elected leader of the Party of Regions in March 2001 only to resign in December. Regions of Ukraine is the parliamentary wing of the Party of Regions of Ukraine. The party itself finalized almost a year of political bargaining between the five-strong political association, the Party of Regional Renaissance "Working Solidarity of Ukraine" (PRR WSU). The visibly amorphous association transformed into the Party of Regions of Ukraine on March 3, 2001.
 * **Party of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs of Ukraine:** led by Anatoly Kyrylovych Kinakh, was on of the few pro-government parties not to support Viktor Yanukovych in the 2004 elections. In July 2004, the party nominated its leader to run for president. Kinakh previously served as Ukrainian Prime Minister in 2001.
 * Our Ukraine**
 * **Christian People's Union**: This party was created on April 12, 2003, led by Volodymyr Stretovych. The Chrisian People's Union, The Ukranian Christian Democratic Party,The Christian Democratic Party of Ukraine, and the All-Ukranian Union of Chrstians unifed to form the Christian Democratic Union. The party supports the seperation of church and state, while believing that no church should be given special treatment or be pressured from governmental authorities.
 * **Forward Ukraine:** was formed by the Ukrainian Christian Democratic Party and the Party of Christian-Popular Union in the late 1990s and had 19 incumbent members of the Verkhovna Rada going into the 1998 parliamentary election. The party is led by Viktor Musiyaka and although some had hoped for a merger with the Reforms and Order Party, negotiations did not lead to an agreement to unify.
 * **Liberal Party of Ukraine:** led by Volodymyr Shcherban, was established in September 1991 and was officially registered a month later. Volodymyr Shcherban and Yevhen Shcherban were leaders of the Donetsk elite. The first "party of power" in Donetsk went into decline after Yevhen Shcherban -- the local governor, a parliamentary deputy, and a high-ranking Liberal Party member -- was assassinated in November 1996. Volodymyr Shcherban, the party's leader has served as governor of Sumy oblast and Viktor Yushchenko hoped that Shcherban's influence in the area would lend support to the Our Ukraine alliance. In July 2004, however, the first deputy of the Liberal Party of Ukraine, Mykola Zhulinskiy, left the party because it had decided to endorse the pro-government candidate Victor Yanukovych.
 * **//Rukh://** A group of Ukrainian writers living in Kiev formed the party in September 1989 and initially rallied to support perestroika in the USSR. The Rukh Party, which began in 1989 as a political force opposing the Soviet regime in 1989 and became the vanguard for the pro-democracy, pro-independence movement that led to Ukrainian independence. After the party gained political influence by winning a number of elections in 1990, its members continued pushing for the goal of Ukrainian independence. At the organization's third congress in March 1992, it elected Vyacheslav Chronovil as its co-chairman who would continue to hold sway in the party. In the course of challenging Leonid Kuchma for the presidency of Ukraine in 1999, he was killed in a suspicious car accident on 25 March 1999. It has faltered badly since it split into two camps - the National Rukh of Ukraine under Hennadi Udovenko and and Ukrainian National Rukh under Yuri Kostenko.
 * **[//Rukh//-Kostenko] People's Movement of Ukraine:** is one of the oldest members of the Our Ukraine alliance. The Movement was previously headed by Hennadiy Udovenko who was replaced by Borys Tarasyuk in the fall of 2004. In February 1999, less than a month before Chronovil was killed in an accident, the party had split and a new Rukh, the Ukrainian People's Movement began under the leadership of Yuriy Kostenko. The group was pro-Kuchma before the Gongadze scandal involving the murder of a journalist. It strongly opposed Prosecutor General Mykhailo Potebenko and other law enforcement heads.
 * **Reforms and Order Party:** led by Viktor Pynzenyk, was created in October 1997 and although it began as a small organization, it gained several important seats in the Ukrainian parliament. The party has been an ally of the People's Movement of Ukraine and continued to support the original leader of the Rukh after that party separated in 1999. Members of the Reforms and Order Party encouraged Viktor Yushchenko to run for president in 1999, but he refused. The party opposed Kuchma and was one of the principal founders of the Our Ukraine bloc.
 * **Republican Christian Party:** led by Mykola Podrovsky, was formed in 1997 after opposition arose to the direction of the Ukrainian Republic Party. Three high ranking members of the URP, Mykhailo Horyn, Mykola Porovskyi and Mykola Horbal, were removed from the URP after they walked out of a meeting in protest of the party's new leadership, which they claimed was moving the party in a pro-authoritarian direction.
 * **Solidarity Party:** led by Petro Poroshenko, is a relatively new addition to the realm of Ukrainian politics with its establishment in February 2001. Party leader Poroshenko played a key role in managing the Our Ukraine headquarters.
 * **Ukrainian Nationalists' Congress:** led by Yaroslav Stetsko.
 * **Ukrainian National Party:** was formerly called the Ukrainian People's Movement Rukh until its leader, Yuriy Kostenko, agreed to change the name. The party was formed in February 1999 as a breakaway group from the original Rukh, the People's Movement of Ukraine. The two Rukh factions signed an agreement in July 2001 in preparation for the upcoming parliamentary elections, but continued differences prohibited complete unification and after the election, the party changed its name to the Ukrainian National Party.
 * **Youth Party of Ukraine**, led by Yuriy Pavlenko, played a leading role in demonstrations supporting Our Ukraine candidate Viktor Yushchenko following the hotly contested elections in November 2004. Members of the Youth Party went on a hunger strike for several days to protest election fraud that appeared to give the sitting Prime Minister Yanukovych an electoral victory.
 * **Communist Party of Ukrain:**
 * Communist Part of Ukraine (renewed) CPU:** In mid-July 2000 a new Communist party, the CPU(o) was formed. The CPU should not be mixed up with the pro-presidential Communist Part of Ukraine (renewed), which was created in 2000 to split the communist vote. Unlike in the title of the United Socialist Democrats SDPU(o) - the new Communists' (o) stands for //onovlena//, i.e., "renovated". The party's official creator was Mykhailo Savenko, who was elected to lead the party by the CPU(o) foundation congress. A former Progressive Socialist, Savenko was a member of the Ukrainian parliament and member of the Trudova Ukraina ("Working Ukraine") faction.

Cited: GlobalSecurity.org Ukraine has a political party situation that is always changing. There is often disagreements within party leaders, causing the creation of more factions. In order to be represented in parliament, they must have at least four percent of the vote. The Ukranian parliament has 225 seats that are elected proportionally, while 225 seats are elected individually.
 * The Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc**
 * **Christian Democratic Party of Ukraine:** was one 18 political parties represented in an agreement to support Viktor Yanukovych in the 2004 elections.
 * **Conservative Republican Party:** is a small organization led by Stepan Khmara. The party faired poorly in the polls and in 1996, its membership dropped to 500 people.
 * **The Fatherland / Motherland [//Batkivshchyna//] Party:** was founded by Yulia Tymoshenko in 1999 with an emphasis on bringing discussions of spirituality to the Ukrainian political landscape. The party served as the basis for the formation of the voting bloc named the party's founder.
 * **Patriotic Party of Ukrain:** led by Nikolai Gaber.
 * **Sobor Party:** is too small (7 members) to be officially recognized as a faction, Sobor is a group within the non-factional list. Led by Anatoly Matviyenko, a former Kuchma ally now fiercely opposed to the president.
 * **Ukrainian Social Democratic Party** was formed by Vasyl Onopenko after the Social Democratic Party of Ukraine became divided over the issue of support of President Kuchma. The pro-Kuchma faction is now known as the Social Democratic Party of Ukraine-United.
 * Other Parties**
 * **Democratic Union Party:** is headed by former presidential adviser Oleksandr Volkov, openly called for Kuchma to extend his term in office because the authorities have been unable to provide an independent candidate to act as an umpire post-Kuchma.
 * **Green Party of Ukraine [PZU] / Greens:** Another faction with little to offer possible new members. Some members are political environmentalists but most are businessmen. Pro-presidential.
 * **National Democratic Party:** Led by non-Rada member and former Prime Minister Valery Pustovoitenko, this party has 20 members but little prospects for growth. Strongly pro-Kuchma.
 * **Progressive Socialists:** Shrunken to only seven members, Natalia Vitrenko's group of Stalinists attempts to make up for its small size with loud demagoguery. However, avoids direct criticism of Kuchma and in an emergency will dance to Bankova's tune.
 * **Regional Rebirth / Regional Revival:** The second biggest of the so-called "oligarch clans" after Labor, but far less effective legislatively, in part because of the mercurial nature of its leader, Oleksandr Volkov. The party suffered from internal clan grouping among members from its strong Donetsk base. The appearance of the party’s faction Regions of Ukraine in the Rada upset Oleksandr Volkov, who had to change the name of his own Regional Revival faction to Democratic Union, in line with the name of his party. By 2000 the Party of Regional Renaissance was led by mayor of Donetsk Volodymyr Rybak.
 * **//[Rukh//-Udovenko] National Rukh of Ukraine / Rukh 1** On 02 March 1999, the 16 pro-Chornovil deputies registered a separate parliamentary caucus headed by Chornovil, called Popular Rukh. After Chornovil's death, Udovenko was appointed the acting head of Popular Rukh. Hennadiy Udovenko, who was elected President of the fifty-second session of the UN General Assembly, has been the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine since September 1994. Prior to being appointed to that post, Udovenko was Ukraine's Ambassador to Poland, from 1992 to 1994. From 1980 to 1985, he was Ukraine's Deputy Foreign Minister. From 1985 to 1992, as the Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the United Nations, Mr. Udovenko served in various capacities. When Heorhiy Filipchuk, a head of one of the parliamentary committees, left the Rukh-Udovenko faction, its remaining members refused to participate in the Rada session and all legislative work came to a halt for the day. Critics charged that Udovenko was nothing but Kuchma's puppet. Udovenko had been reluctant to condemn Kuchma publicly. But in early December 2004 Udovenko called on President Kuchma to dismiss Yanukovych as prime minister, dismiss his Cabinet, and dismiss the Central Elections Commission.
 * **Social Democratic Party of Ukraine (United) SDPU(U):** The SDPU(U) was a small party until it was taken over by the Kyiv oligarchic clan in the mid-1990s and its leader, former Justice Minister Vasyl Onopenko, was pushed out. Onopenko went on to create the Ukrainian Social-Democratic Party. Another so-called "oligarch" clan, the SDPU(U) has 34 members. The party's effectiveness is limited by having several powerful and rich leaders who often disagree because of their competing business interests. Any good news for Prime Minister Viktor Yushchenko is considered bad news for the SDPU(U)'s of presidential administration head Viktor Medvedchuk, a deputy Rada speaker with presidential ambitions. The SDPU(U) is pro-Kuchma but highly flexible.
 * **Socialist Party of Ukraine:** is led by former Rada Speaker Oleksandr Moroz, who is still considered the "Mr. Clean" of the Rada. Socialist Party leader Oleksandr Moroz publicized the audiotapes allegedly confirming President Kuchma’s involvement in the disappearance of journalist Georgi Gongadze. But the party is not effective legislatively and not comfortable with its old Communist allies because of the Communists' tendency to sell out to Kuchma loyalists.Following the 31 October 2004 election, in which Moroz placed third, Victor Yushchenko and Oleksandr Moroz have signed a political Treaty, unifying democratic forces. The Treaty outlines the framework of cooperation between the “Power of People” coalition and the SPU. The Treaty states that Victor Yushchenko, on becoming the president of Ukraine, pledges to act on a number of social issues. Yushchenko pledged to withdraw troops from Iraq as soon as possible and to build good relations with the neighboring states, first of all with Russia and the EU. The two sides have also agreed on adopting the bill of changes to the Constitution of Ukraine (No. 4180) before 1 January 2005; the bill is to take effect no later than 1 January 2006.
 * **Yabloko [Apple]. :** Headed and largely funded by Mykhailo Brodskiy, Yabluko's 14 members tend to play a somewhat quixotic and independent game. Anti-Kuchma, pro-Russia drift.
 * **Unity Party:** led by Oleksander Omelchenko, who was nominated by his party to run in the 2004 presidential election. Omelchenko finished eigth in the 2004 presidential election with just under 0.5% of the vote. Omelchenko began serving as the mayor of Kiev in 1999, and his party was a co-organizer of the Forum for the Democratic Development of Ukraine in September 2002, which was a two day conference where opposition party leaders discussed the need to remove President Kuchma from power because of his corrupt administration.
 * **Lytvyn's People's Bloc:** led by Volodymyr Lytvyn [Vladimir Litvin] was the chairman of the Ukrainian Popular Party, formerly the Ukrainian Agrarian Party. His centrist electoral bloc, named Lytvyn's Peoples Bloc, was expected to be one of the winners in Ukraine's March 26 parliamentary elections. People’s Block of Lytvyn won 2.44 % of the popular vote, but no seats in the Parliament of 5th convocation. Lytvyn had been the speaker of the Ukrainian parliament since 2002, when he was elected to parliament as leader of the pro-government For a United Ukraine bloc of parties. For this career historian and President Leonid Kuchma's speechwriter and chief of staff, this was his first experience in real politics. In the early parliamentary election held on September 30, 2007, the Lytvyn Bloc (renamed from Lytvyn's People's Bloc) consisted of the People's Party and the Labour Party was placed in fifth place. It won 20 out of 450 seats in the Parliament of Ukraine of 6th convocation.

Election results according to CIA World Factbook: Percent of vote by party/bloc- Party of Regions: 34.4% Yuliya Tymoshenko Bloc: 30.7% Our Ukraine- People's Self-defense: 14.2% CPU:5.4% Lytvyn Bloc:4% Other parties: 11.3%; Seats by party/bloc- Pary of Regions: 175 Yuliya Tymoshenko Bloc: 156 Our Ukraine- People's Self-defense: 72 CPU:27 Lytvyn Bloc: 20