This article presents the historical development and role of political parties in Ukrainian politics, and outlines more extensively the significant modern political parties since Ukraine gained independence in 1991.
The Our Ukraine–People's Self-Defense Bloc was an electoral alliance active in Ukraine from 2001 until 2012, associated with former President Viktor Yushchenko. Since 2005, the bloc had been dominated by a core consisting of the People's Union "Our Ukraine" party and five smaller partner parties. On 17 November 2011, the Ukrainian Parliament approved an election law that banned the participation of blocs of political parties in parliamentary elections. Since then several members of the Bloc have since merged with other parties.
The Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc was the name of the bloc of political parties in Ukraine led by Yulia Tymoshenko since 2001. In November 2011, the participation of blocs of political parties in parliamentary elections was banned. The core party of the alliance, Batkivshchyna, remained a major force in Ukrainian politics.
Elections in Ukraine are held to choose the president, Verkhovna Rada (legislature), and local governments. Referendums may be held on special occasions. Ukraine has a multi-party system, often no single party has a chance of gaining power alone, and parties must work with each other to form coalition governments.
The Party of Regions is a banned pro-Russian political party in Ukraine formed in late 1997 that became the largest party in Ukraine between 2006 and 2014.
The Social Democratic Party of Ukraine (united) (Ukrainian: Соцiал-демократична партія України (об'єднана), romanized: Sotsial-demokratychna partiia Ukrainy (obiednana), abbreviated SDPU(o) or СДПУ(о)) is a Ukrainian political party that was originally established as the Social Democratic Party of Ukraine. At the 1998 and 2002 parliamentary elections it won parliamentary seats, but has since then failed to win any seats. When in the Verkhovna Rada the party was influential, but since the Orange Revolution (of late 2004) it has been marginalized.
The All-Ukrainian Union "Fatherland", referred to as Batkivshchyna, is a political party in Ukraine led by People's Deputy of Ukraine, former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko. As the core party of the former Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc, Batkivshchyna has been represented in the Verkhovna Rada since Yulia Tymoshenko set up the parliamentary faction of the same name in March 1999. After the November 2011 banning of the participation of blocs of political parties in parliamentary elections, Batkivshchyna became a major force in Ukrainian politics independently.
Yuriy Ivanovych Yekhanurov is a Ukrainian politician who was Prime Minister of Ukraine from 2005 to 2006 and Minister of Defense from 2007 to 2009.
Oleksandr Oleksiyovych Zinchenko was a Ukrainian politician who was Director-General of the National Space Agency of Ukraine from 2009 to 2010. Oleksandr Zinchenko had a controversial career that includes Soviet Komsomol leadership, business in Russia and Ukraine, participation in the pro-Leonid Kuchma Social Democratic Party of Ukraine (united), survival of cancer and joining the anti-Kuchma opposition.
Parliamentary elections were held in Ukraine on 26 March 2006. Election campaigning officially began on 7 July 2005. Between November 26 and 31 December 2005 party lists of candidates were formed.
Parliamentary elections were held in Ukraine on 31 March 2002. The Our Ukraine bloc emerged as the largest faction in the Verkhovna Rada, winning 113 of the 450 seats.
The Lytvyn Bloc, formerly Lytvyn's People's Bloc, was a centrist political alliance in Ukraine from 2006 till 2012 led by Volodymyr Lytvyn. It is one of successors of the previous political alliance For United Ukraine which fell apart after Party of Regions left it. In 2007, the bloc surprisingly managed to return to parliament as a union of the People's Party and the Labour Party. According to Lytvyn the party had 400,000 members in October 2009.
The 2006 Parliamentary crisis in Ukraine started in March 2006 as a result of inconclusive parliamentary elections, and ended on 3 August 2006 with Viktor Yanukovych being chosen as a Prime Minister to replace Yuriy Yekhanurov, who resigned right after the parliamentary elections.
The Second Yanukovych Government was a governing coalition of the Party of Regions, the Communist Party and the Socialist Party in Ukraine after the 2006 Ukrainian parliamentary election and the 2006 Ukrainian political crisis. Until 24 March 2007, it was known as the Anti-Crisis Alliance.
Early parliamentary elections were held in Ukraine on 30 September 2007. The election date was determined following agreement between the President Viktor Yushchenko, the Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych and the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Oleksandr Moroz on 27 May 2007, in an attempt to resolve the political crisis in Ukraine triggered by the 2 April 2007 presidential decree on dissolution of Ukraine's parliament.
The 2010 Ukrainian local elections took place on 31 October 2010, two years before the 2012 general election. The voter turnout across Ukraine was about 50%, which is considered low in comparison to previous elections.
Oleksandr Yuriyovych Tretiakov is a Ukrainian politician and statesman, People's Deputy of Ukraine of the 4th, 5th, 6th, and 8th convocations. Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on veterans, combatants, participants in the anti-terrorist operation and people with disabilities. Since June 2015 is a deputy head of the parliamentary faction of the political party Petro Poroshenko Bloc. Head of the Cabinet of the President of Ukraine (2005). Tretyakov lost his seat in the Rada in the 2019 Ukrainian parliamentary elections.
Nestor Ivanovych Shufrych is a Ukrainian politician who has served in the Verkhovna Rada since 1998. Since 2017, Shufrych has been in the pro-Russian Eurosceptic political party Opposition Platform — For Life, which was outlawed in 2022 following the launch of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. During the invasion, Shufrych was arrested in September 2023 under suspicion of treason.
Snap parliamentary elections were held in Ukraine on 26 October 2014 to elect members of the Verkhovna Rada. President Petro Poroshenko had pressed for early parliamentary elections since his victory in the presidential elections in May. The July breakup of the ruling coalition gave him the right to dissolve the parliament, so on 25 August 2014 he announced the early election.
The Kyiv Seven, also referred to as the Magnificent Seven, and the Kyiv Clan were two interrelated economic and political groups in Ukraine during the 1990s and early 2000s. The term "Kyiv Seven" refers to a group of Ukrainian oligarchs who wielded significant financial and political power in Ukraine during the late 1980s and 1990s. As the name suggests, it comprised seven members: Viktor Medvedchuk, Valentyn Zghursky, Hryhoriy and Ihor Surkis, Bohdan Hubskyi, Yuriy Karpenko, and Yuriy Liakh. The term "Kyiv Clan" more broadly refers to the groups which operated under the Seven's leadership. These groups were one of three large political clans in Ukraine during the presidency of Leonid Kuchma, alongside Kuchma's own Dnipropetrovsk Clan and the Donetsk Clan of Rinat Akhmetov and Viktor Yanukovych, among others.
Ukraineportal