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.
Viktor Andriyovych Yushchenko is a Ukrainian politician who was the third president of Ukraine from 23 January 2005 to 25 February 2010. He aimed to orient Ukraine towards the West, towards the European Union and NATO.
Presidential elections were held in Ukraine on 31 October, 21 November and 26 December 2004. The election was the fourth presidential election to take place in Ukraine following independence from the Soviet Union. The last stages of the election were contested between the opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko and incumbent Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych from the Party of Regions. It was later determined by the Ukrainian Supreme Court that the election was plagued by widespread falsification of the results in favour of Yanukovych.
The Orange Revolution was a series of protests and political events that took place in Ukraine from late November 2004 to January 2005, in the immediate aftermath of the run-off vote of the 2004 Ukrainian presidential election, which was claimed to be marred by massive corruption, voter intimidation and electoral fraud. Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, was the focal point of the movement's campaign of civil resistance, with thousands of protesters demonstrating daily. Nationwide, this was highlighted by a series of acts of civil disobedience, sit-ins, and general strikes organized by the opposition movement.
Anatoliy Kyrylovych Kinakh is a Ukrainian politician and honorary professor at the Mykolaiv Government Humanitarian University. Kinakh is a former People's Deputy of Ukraine. Kinakh currently serves as the leader of Party of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs of Ukraine.
Below is the timeline of events that followed the runoff presidential election held in Ukraine on 21 November 2004 that sparked off the "Orange Revolution".
Yulia Volodymyrivna Tymoshenko is a Ukrainian politician, who served as Prime Minister of Ukraine in 2005, and again from 2007 until 2010; the first and only woman in Ukraine to hold that position. She has been a member of the Verkhovna Rada as People's Deputy of Ukraine several times between 1997 and 2007, and presently as of 2014, and was First Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine for the fuel and energy complex from 1999 to 2001. She has the degree of Candidate of Economic Sciences.
The Prime Minister of Ukraine is the head of government of Ukraine. The prime minister presides over the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, which is the highest body of the executive branch of the Ukrainian government. The position replaced the Soviet post of chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Ukrainian SSR, which was established on March 25, 1946.
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, commonly referred to as the Government of Ukraine, is the highest body of state executive power in Ukraine. As the Council of Ministers of the Ukrainian SSR, it was formed on 18 April 1991, by the Law of Ukrainian SSR No.980-XII. Vitold Fokin was approved as the first Prime Minister of Ukraine.
The Party of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs of Ukraine is a political party in Ukraine registered in April 2000. Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Anatoliy Kinakh is one of its most noticeable members.
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.
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.
The 2008 Ukrainian political crisis started after President Viktor Yushchenko's Our Ukraine–People's Self-Defense Bloc (NU-NS) withdrew from the governing coalition following a vote on a bill to limit the President's powers in which the Prime Minister's Bloc Yulia Tymoshenko (BYuT) voted with the opposition Party of Regions. The bill would have required the consent of the Prime Minister for the appointment and dismissal of the Prosecutor General by the President, given the government power to appoint local heads of government if the President rejects the candidates, stripped from the President the right to reject a candidate for Prime Minister, dismiss the Defense, Interior and Foreign Ministers, and appoint a head of the State Intelligence Service. President Yushchenko stated that a clear position on the 2008 Russo-Georgian War was one of the conditions under which return to talks in the Parliament was possible, as well as the repeal of all the constitutional laws adopted after 3 September. Yushchenko claimed that a "de-facto coalition" was formed with 'no other aims but to conduct coup d'état and usurp power in the country'. Tymoshenko stated that the real intentions behind the President's party in 'declaring war on her' was to ensure his victory in the next presidential election, although she still called for a reformation of the coalition between the two parties. She also reiterated her position on the Georgian conflict, claiming to be neutral and more in line with the European Union.
The President of Ukraine is the head of state of Ukraine. The president represents the nation in international relations, administers the foreign political activity of the state, conducts negotiations and concludes international treaties. The president is directly elected by the citizens of Ukraine for a five-year term of office, limited to two terms consecutively.
The first Tymoshenko Government was appointed on February 4, 2005, by 373 Parliamentarians of the Verkhovna Rada. It was supported opposition factions' Parliamentarians, including three Communists, 18 Social Democratic Party of Ukraine (united) members, 46 Regions faction members.
The first Yekhanurov Government was appointed after the first Tymoshenko Government was sacked amid resignations and corruption claims. Twelve days later the Ukrainian Parliament rejecting Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko choice of Yuri Yekhanurov for Prime Minister. Yekhanurov was three votes short of the 226 needed for approval with three out of 52 deputies from the Regions faction voting for Yekhanurov. On September 22, 2005 the Ukrainian parliament did approved Yekhanurov appointment with 289 votes. This time all the Parliamentarians of the Party of Regions faction of losing presidential candidate Viktor Yanukovych backed the appointment. This shortly after a "Memorandum Of Understanding Between The Authorities And The Opposition" was signed by Yekhanurov, Yushchenko and Yanukovych.
The Kinakh Government was created after the Ukrainian parliament had ousted the previous Cabinet of Viktor Yushchenko on April 26, 2001; it contained most of the ministers of its predecessor. On May 29, 2001, 239 deputies voted for the appointment of Anatoliy Kinakh, chairman of the Ukrainian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, as Prime Minister of Ukraine. His new government was Ukraine's tenth since Ukraine gained its independence in August 1991.
Viktor Vasylyovych Bondar is a Ukrainian politician, a member of Ukrainian parliament of the 7th and 8th and 9th convocations, the Minister of Transport and Communication of Ukraine (2005–2006), and the Head of Dnipropetrovsk Regional State Administration (2007–2010).
Davyd Vazhayevych Zhvania was a Ukrainian politician who served as the Emergency Minister of Ukraine and as a People's Deputy of the Verkhovna Rada from 2002 to 2010 for the pro-European Our Ukraine Bloc and from 2012 to 2014 for the pro-Russian Party of Regions.
Yuri Vasylovych Prodan is Ukrainian power engineer and politician. He has served as Minister of Fuel and Energy of Ukraine of 18 December 2007 to 11 March 2010, and Minister of Energy and Coal Industry of Ukraine from 27 February 2014 till 2 December 2014. In December 2005, received the title of Honored power engineer in Ukraine.
