Ukraine Update
29 October 2007
» POLITICAL SITUATION
» IMPORTANT POLITICAL ISSUES
» SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC PARTIES
» OTHER POLITICAL PARTIES / BLOCS
» SOURCES
INTRODUCTION
On 14 October 2007, two weeks after the Parliamentary elections, former Orange-Revolution allies Victor Yushchenko and Yulia Tymoshenko agreed to form a coalition government of two blocs: the Our Ukraine – People’s Self Defense Bloc (Yushchenko) and the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc. Together, the blocs hold 228 seats in parliament, a narrow majority.
With the formation of the new government, a period of political unrest came, for now, to an end. Early April 2007, a political crisis (caused by defecting MP’s from the Our Ukraine Bloc) started which caused Ukraine a political deadlock that lasted throughout the summer. Eventually, President Yushchenko and Prime Minister Yanukovytch agreed to hold new elections on 30 September 2007.
The coming months should tell us whether the political unrest in Ukraine has really come to an end and whether the new government coalition is in fact a stable one. With only a small majority in parliament, the current government should carefully operate in order to keep all MP’s on board and so maintain its majority in parliament.
POLITICAL SITUATION
Ukraine has a parliamentary presidential system, which means that the country elects on national level a head of state, the president, and a legislature. The president is elected for a five year term by the people. The president needs a majority of the votes in the first round to be elected. If this condition is not met, a second round is held. In this second round, only the two candidates with the highest amount of votes (in the first round) can compete.
The Verkhovna Rada (Parliament of Ukraine) has 450 members, elected for a four year term. Until 2005, half of the members were elected by proportional representation and the other half by single-member constituencies. Starting with the 2006 parliamentary election, all 450 members of the Verkhovna Rada are elected by proportional representation. Ukraine has a multi-party system, with numerous parties in which no one party often has a chance of gaining power alone, and parties must cooperate to form coalition governments.
The constitution prescribes that the governmental parties must have a majority in parliament. So, minority coalitions are formally no option for government coalitions. Representative bodies and heads of local government throughout Ukraine are elected simultaneously with the Verkhovna Rada.
Parliamentary elections 2007
Background to the 2007 elections
At the end of March 2007, eleven parliamentarians switched allegiance by moving from the president Yushchenko-camp to the prime-minister Yanukovych-camp. This move was, according to Yushchenko, unconstitutional and the reason for his order to dissolve parliament and hold new elections. In reaction to this order, Yanukovych stated that the order to dissolve parliament was illegal and that Yushchenko had made a big mistake by giving it. The majority in parliament, that supports Yanukovych, refused to follow the order by its president.
As a result of this deadlock, several thousand supporters of Yanukovych protested around the clock against the Yushchenko order by gathering at the square outside the parliament building in Kyiv. However, president Yushchenko had not the intention to step back and withdraw his order. On the contrary, president Yushchenko ordered to hold new elections on 27 May 2007, which was later changed to late June 2007. Following the announcement of this date, the supporters of Yanukovych considered simultaneous parliamentary and presidential elections on June 2007 as a fair solution for the political deadlock.
On 20 April, it was reported that a comprise was likely to be found by the end of April. President Yushchenko was willing to withdraw his decree to dissolve parliament if the Ukrainian lawmakers would implement a series of political reforms. Yushchenko said the changes would prevent "any revisions of election results by individual parliament members [rather than factions] joining a majority coalition." (RFE/RL, 21 April 2007). In response to Yushchenko’s statement, prime-minister Yanukovych announced to his supporters that a compromise was likely to come about in the coming period.
In the meantime, both camps were waiting for the verdict of the Ukrainian Constitutional Court, that would decide whether the dissolve of the parliament was in accordance with the constitution or not. Both camps stated that they would abide the verdict of the Court. However, the political unrest was worsened when President Yushchenko sacked two members of the Constiutional Court, Valeriy Pshenichnyy and Syuzanna Stanik, on 1 May 2007. The dismissal decrees simply said that Pshenichnyy and Stanik were released of their duties because of a "breach of oath." Lawmakers from the ruling coalition appealed to the Constitutional Court to declare the decree on the dismissals unconstitutional.
Party of Regions leader and Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, Socialist Party leader Oleksandr Moroz, and Communist Party leader Petro Symonenko said in a joint statement the that Yushchenko's dismissal of Stanik "is pushing Ukraine onto a path of anarchy and chaos." The three politicians added that Yushchenko "is trying to paralyse the work of the Constitutional Court, which is the only body capable of regulating the relations between power branches." A solution to the deadlock seemed a step further away.
On 5 May it was reported that President Yushchenko and Prime Minister Yanukovych had reached an agreement on holding early elections. Prime-minister Yanukovych stated that new, free and fair elections would be the only solution to the political deadlock and that he therefore finally had changed his mind. The EU welcomed the agreement, with Javier Solana (foreign policy chief of the EU) saying that the commitment of both leaders should ensure free and fair elections. However, the report on the agreement was a little premature. During the whole month of May, the crisis would intensify.
It even got worse when on 24 May President Yushchenko sacked the pro-Yanukovych top prosecutor Svyatoslav Piskun. According to an official statement, Piskun was sacked because the refused to give up his seat in parliament. The unofficial version is that Piskun was sacked because he refused to take action against three judges of the Constitutional Court, as was ordered by the President. In response to this action, Interior Minister Tsushko ordered the riot-police to seize control of Mr. Piskun's Office. A clash between the military (of which President Yushchenko is commander-in-chief) and the riot police (pro-Yanukovych) was about to occur. Fortunately, the clash was avoided when on 27 May an agreement on the new election day was reached.
Although the President and the Prime-Minister already announced the agreement on 5 May, it lasted until 27 May to agree fully on the exact date of the new elections. Yushchenko and Yanukovych announced that early elections will be held on 30 September 2007. They said the the political crisis was finally over. President Yushcheko even stated that: "Ukraine emerges much stronger from this crisis than it was before April."
Results
After the period of the political deadlock and a hot summer of campaigning, the parliamentary elections were held on 30 September 2007. The turnout was slightly lower than in 2006, 63% (67% in 2006). According to foreign analysts, the elections could meet the international standards for free and fair elections. The joined observer-mission of the European Parliament, The Council of Europe, OSCE/ODIHR and the NATO Assembly concluded the following on the parliamentary elections:
“The campaign was conducted in a calm atmosphere, with only isolated incidents and a diverse media environment provided for broad coverage of the campaign. Also, election day was calm, and overall, voting was conducted in an orderly and transparent manner.”
The results of the parliamentary elections of 30 September 2007 are as follows:
| Parties/Blocs | % of votes | Number of seats | +/- |
| Party of Regions | 34,37 | 175 | +11 |
| Bloc Yuliya Tymoshenko | 30,71 | 156 | +27 |
| Bloc Our Ukraine - People's Self-Defence Party | 14,15 | 72 | -9 |
| Communist Party of Ukraine | 5,39 | 27 | +6 |
| Lytvyn's People Bloc -People's Party -Labour Party of Ukraine | 3,96 | 20 | +20 |
| Socialist Party of Ukraine | 2,86 | 0 | -33 |
The main result of the elections was the relatively close call between the Party of Regions of Prime Minister Victor Yanukovych and the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc of one of the Orange-revolution leaders Yulia Tymoshenko. The Party of Regions lost seats compared to 2006, while the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc gained seats. Constitutionally the parties should form a majority within a month from the elections.
The other winner was Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc. The Bloc consisted of three parties: the All Ukrainian United Fatherland, the Reforms and Order Party and the Social Democratic Party of Ukraine. Tymoshenko managed to win most of the Western part of Ukraine and to finish second in the Eastern part of Ukraine, where traditionally the electorate is more pro-Russian. Her strong overall position (popular in West-Ukraine, second-best in East-Ukraine) has strengthen her electoral position tremendously.
A second remarkable results was the loss of the Socialists Party of Ukraine. The party dropped to 2,86% of the votes and did therefore not make the electoral threshold of 3%. This results came, however, not as a surprise: the opinion polls during the run-off to the elections did already show that it would be difficult for the party to make it into parliament.
The September elections were the fifth elections since Ukraine’s independence in 1991.
Coalition-negotiations
Shortly after the elections, the Party of Regions claimed the victory and stated that it would start the negotiations to form a parliamentary majority. However, together with its most likely coalition-partner, the Communist Party of Ukraine, the party would have only 202 seats in parliament. This does not make a majority. Yulia Tymoshenko declared already before the elections that she doesn’t want to be in a coalition with the Party of Regions or the Communists.
These problems lead to the most likely majority-coalition: the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc and the Our Ukraine – People’s Self-Defence Bloc. Together, these parties have 228 seats in parliament, a narrow majority (226 seats makes a majority). To strengthen the electoral-base of the coalition, it was expected that possibly also the Lytvyn’s Bloc would be incorporated into this coalition (total of 248 seats).
On 15 October it was announced that the former Orange Revolution allies Yushchenko and Tymoshenko had reached an agreement to form a coalition consisting of the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc and the Our Ukraine – People’s Self Defence Bloc. Yulia Tymoshenko will likely become the country’s Prime Minister.
The Orange Revolution and the 2006 parliamentary elections
The Orange Revolution at the end of 2004 has had a great influence on the present-day political and societal situation in Ukraine. The reason for the Orange Revolution were the framed presidential elections of October and November 2004, in which Viktor Yanukovych (at that time Prime Minister and candidate of the Kuchma government) and Viktor Yushchenko (Our Ukraine) competed in the second round of the elections.
According to the Central Election Commission the official results of the second round were as follows: Yanukovych was proclaimed winner, with 49.4% to Yushchenko’s 46.7% However, independent exit polls showed different figures. An exit poll by Ukraine’s Social Monitoring Centre gave Yushchenko 49.5% to Yanukovych’s 45.9%.
The days after Election Day tens of thousands of opposition demonstrators flooded into the heart of the Ukrainian capital Kiev to show support for their leader. People rallied for pro-western liberal Viktor Yushchenko, saying the presidential election was rigged. Observers for the OSCE said the run-off vote fell far short of European democratic norms. The organisation, which also reported serious irregularities in the first round, said violations included a continuing “media bias” in favour of Yanukovych and intimidation of observers and voters.
The protests carried on, and after 17 days the so-called Orange Revolution enforced the parliament to approve reform bills, which paved the way for a new presidential election. The third round was held on the 26th of December and was won by Viktor Yushchenko with 51.99 % of the vote against 44.19 % for Yanukovych. Yanukovych refused to acknowledge his defeat, filed complaints at the Supreme Court and resigned from the parliament.
After the election of Yushchenko as President of Ukraine, a new majority coalition was formed of Our Ukraine, the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc and the Socialist Party of Ukraine (SPU). Tymoshenko became Prime Minister in the new cabinet. However, after serving only eight months as Prime Minister, Tymoshenko was sacked as Prime Minister by President Yushchenko. The Orange-coalition fell apart and new elections were held, in March 2006. These parliamentary elections were the first since the Orange Revolution of 2005. The elections brought a victory for the Party of Regions of Victor Yanukovych. Together with the Communists Party and the Socialist Party of Ukraine, the Party of Regions eventually formed a majority coalition. This coalition fell apart after the political crisis of spring 2007 (see above).
Women and politics
The most prominent woman in politics in Ukraine is likely to become the next Prime Minister and was one of the leading figures of the Orange Revolution: Yulia Tymoshenko, leader of the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc. After the successful elections of 2007, Tymoshenko negotiated with the Our Ukraine – People’s Self-Defence Bloc to form a majority coalition. On 15 October 2007 it was announced that both parties had reached an agreement.
However, this does not mean that women are well represented in politics. Women in the parliament are underrepresented and the 2006 cabinet did not include a single female Minister. At the moment of writing it is still unclear hoe many women are elected in the parliamentary elections of 2007, nor how many women will be in the new government.
There is no quota system to increase women's participation in political life. The issue was discussed in parliament in 2004-2005, but never gained sufficient support. The Yushchenko government of 2005 did underline the importance of gender equality as part of the new European approach in Ukraine. Justice Minister Roman Zvarych noted in his report that the gender policy is an important problem, since "we inherited certain traditions, which should be rejected at the everyday and legislative levels.”
IMPORTANT POLITICAL ISSUES
Freedom of media
During President Kuchma’s governing period, international watchdogs have expressed their concerns about press freedom in Ukraine. The Kuchma-government was accused of increasing the regular censorship of opposition newspapers, as well as attacks and threats against independent journalists. The regime change in the end of 2004 did strengthen hopes for the better. During the Orange Revolution many media transformed themselves. According to the Freedom House the political turns “could hardly have happened without a breakthrough in the media sphere, where some of the largest TV channels refused to accept censorship and resumed a balanced news policy.” The new president encouraged the media to open up, in order to transform Ukrainian society into a European democratic one.
One of the most pressing legacies in this respect is the unsolved disappearance and murder on Georgy Gongadze, an oppositional journalist, in September 2000. After his body was found, tapes came out in which President Kuchma ordered the death of the journalist. The events in connection with the disappearance of Gongadze activated a big political crisis, which is often referred to as the Kuchma-gate. The case became a symbol for the corruption under President Kuchma.
Current President Viktor Yushchenko indeed kept the promise he made during the election campaign and arrested suspects. The revived investigation of the Gongadze-case has also led to the questioning of top government officials, among them former President Kuchma. Former Interior Minister Yuri Kravchenko committed suicide on 4 March 2005, just before he was to be questioned by prosecutors. Authorities are still trying to find out who ordered the murder. However, the first part of the investigation was finished in the beginning of August 2005 and the three policemen that allegedly executed Gongadze’s murder were brought to court. By October 2007, the trial is going on.
Corruption
Corruption is the number one priority of the recent Yushchenko governments. During the last Kuchma administration an anti-corruption campaign was started, but no substantial results were made. Several Ministers were forced to resign after accusations of corruption, but only former Prime Minister Lazarenko (Prime Minister from May 1996 to June 1997) was proven guilty. The trial against him began in March 2004, five years after he was arrested on charges of stealing at least $114 million from the state and using U.S. banks to launder it. In August 2006 a U.S. court sentenced Lazarenko to nine years in jail and a 10 million dollar fine.
In 2003, the NGO Transparency International called Ukraine a “black hole”. According to the Freedom House report Nations in Transit 2005, “pervasive corruption remained Ukraine’s biggest problem”. Prime Minister Tymoshenko said in July 2005 that she thinks the shadow economy accounts for 57 % of the GDP. Despite the fight against corruption, Ukraine still scores badly in the corruption perception index of Transparency International. In 2007, Ukraine scored 2,7 (between 1 and 10, of which 1 is highly corrupt and 10 not corrupt at all) on the Corruption Perception Index. With this score, Ukraine is placed between Moldova and Russia. In general, Balkan countries score better than Ukraine and Central-Asian countries worse.
The fight against corruption is said to have already led to the opening of more than 20.000 cases that are under investigation. Another measure against corruption is increasing the salaries of state servants and judges in order to make them less susceptible to taking bribes.
Legacies of the privatisations in the past
One of the problems that cause political tumult has been the process of privatisation. Under the Kuchma government many state firms were privatised under dubious circumstances. Under the lead of then Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, Ukraine started to re-nationalise some of these companies, among them steel producing companies Kryvorizhstal and Nikopol. This was a major set back to two of Ukraine’s most influential businessmen Renat Akhmetov and Viktor Pinchuk, who had been able to buy the companies from the government in 2004 and 2003 for a friendly price.
Although the re-privatisation of former state companies guaranteed better takings for the government, it did create an uncertain situation for potential investors. This dilemma became one of the major issues of disagreement between Premier Tymoshenko – who was a strong proponent of re-privatisation - and President Yushchenko – who did not want to risk the loss of investments. In September 2005, after Tymoshenko was forced to resign from her post as Prime Minister, the President therefore abandoned his government’s policy of reversing past privatisations; only the property that was illegally privatised will now be brought back to the state.
Crimea and the Tatar minority
Crimea is Ukraine’s only autonomous republic. It used to be part of the Russian Soviet Socialist Republic. During the Stalin years the complete population of Crimean Tatars was deported to Siberia on accusations of collaboration with the Nazis. Nikita Krushchev handed Crimea over to the Ukrainian Socialist Soviet Republic in 1954.
Still today, the majority of the Crimean population is ethnically Russian. In a conciliatory move, the Ukrainian government granted the region the special status of autonomous republic in 1992, as a result it has its own parliament that operates under the law of the Ukrainian constitution. Crimea is still a point of discussion in the relations between Russia and Ukraine. In 2003 tensions rose when the Russians started to build a dam between Russia's Taman Peninsula and the Crimean islet of Tuzla in the strategically important Kerch Strait, which was seen as a threat to Ukraine’s territorial integrity. Others, among them the communists, were more positive about the dam describing it as a “bridge of friendship”.
Support for Yushchenko in this area during the Orange Revolution came from the Tatars, a group that now accounts for 20 % of the population. According to reports of UNPO the celebrating mood of the Orange Revolution turned to fear when international observers left Crimea. After years of discrimination, the Tatars have brought their case to international attention by becoming members of the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organisation (UNPO). The Crimean Tatar population has issues with reclaiming the ownership of the land their families were forced to leave behind, and presses for the use of their own language. In September 2006, the first Tatar-language television station “Atlant” started to broadcast in the Crimean town of Simferopol.
Chernobyl
On 15 December 2000 the last nuclear reactor was decommissioned at Chernobyl. It was the last operational set from the nuclear station Chernobyl, which was the cause of the worst nuclear disaster ever in 1986. Ukraine was forced to shut down the reactor under international pressure. More recently, officials at the Chernobyl plant declared that the condition of the concrete-and-steel structure covering the destroyed reactor is a cause of growing concern, but does not pose a severe threat.
The construction of a new shelter started in 2004, and is financed by Western governments, the European Union and the Ukrainian government. In the contaminated areas diseases such as leukaemia and thyroid cancer, as well as social hardship, pose a major problem for the health of the inhabitants. In September 2007, the Ukrainian government agreed to built a $1.4 billion shelter around the Chernobyl-reactor. The shelter will be ready in 2012.
Relations with the European Union
Ever since the Orange colours disappeared from the squares in Kiev, President Viktor Yuschenko has been pledging in favour of a Ukrainian membership of the European Union (EU). Formally the EU never made an announcement about the possibility of a future Ukrainian membership.
EU relations with Ukraine have to a large extent been based on the Partnership and Co-operation Agreement (PCA), which entered into force in 1998. The PCA remained mainly a trade regulating agreement with a possibility for information exchange and a very limited possibility for implementing actions. However, following the summit in Yalta in October 2003, where the EU presented its Wider Neighbourhood Initiative, possibilities to extend co-operation in the future were articulated.
Today, the relations between the EU and Ukraine are framed within the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) and its Action Plan. The Action Plan, which was adopted by the European Council in December 2004, describes in which areas Ukraine must reform. On 21 February 2005 President Yuschenko visited Brussels to sign the agreement. Before that, he was complaining about the fact that nothing is mentioned about a future EU membership. Ever since, he uses every occasion to pledge in favour of a EU membership.
However, the European Union is not awaiting such a request, especially not after the no votes against the European Constitution in France and the Netherlands. EU commissioner Ferrero Waldner said that an official request for EU membership would be most inappropriate. The Ukrainian government reacted by stating that it is the sovereign right of every European state to submit EU membership (Article 49 of the European Treaty). According to then Prime Minister Tymoshenko, the results of the referenda would not stop the process of EU enlargement. She said that a majority of the EU-citizens supports accession of Ukraine to the European Union. However, analysts say that the no-vote did have something to do with dissatisfaction about EU enlargement. The strongest support for the Ukrainian case can be found in Poland. The social democrats in Ukraine and the EU are reluctant. Their main message is: the door is not closed but a lot of homework, on both sides, needs to be done (European Forum conference Kiev, 2005).
The declaration of National Unity that was signed after the 2006 parliamentary elections states that Ukraine intends to continue the course of European integration with the goal of Ukraine’s entrance into the EU. Now the former Orange Revolution allies formed have a pro-western majority in parliament, it can be expected that Ukraine will be focussing again on becoming a member of the EU.
NATO/ Ukrainian troops in Iraq
The joint activity of Ukraine and NATO has become an important factor for strengthening stability and security in Central and Eastern Europe. Ukraine has participated in the multinational peacekeeping contingents IFOR, SFOR and KFOR. The country joined the Partnership for Peace Program of the NATO and a special agreement ‘Charter on a Distinctive Partnership between NATO and Ukraine’ was signed. Becoming a member of NATO is a strategic goal since 2002. Like in the EU-negotiations on a future memberships, NATO stresses the need for strengthening civil society and democracy in Ukraine.
Ukrainian peacekeepers have been stationed in Iraq, under the supervision of the Polish battalion. Ukraine's contingent was the fourth largest in the U.S.-led military coalition. According to analysts, Leonid Kuchma sent the troops to ease the relations with the US as tensions rose in 2002 when the Ukrainian President was suspected of arms sales to Saddam Hussein. In addition, the Ukrainian government hoped to gain economically from being involved in the reconstruction process.
President Yushchenko however decided to withdraw the troops, in total 1650. Withdrawal was one of the promises he made during the election campaign. Yushchenko said that despite the military withdrawal, Ukraine will help train Iraqi security forces. In May 2005 the troops started to go home in phases.
Despite the withdrawal of the Ukrainian troops from Iraq, the pro-western coalition still has the objective to become member of NATO in the future. However, although there is a pro-western coalition in parliament, the opinions on NATO membership of Ukraine is still a highly debated subject in Ukraine. NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer declared the following about his issue:
“I think that those people who are critical [of NATO] -- and we have to work on them, and we want to assist and help in that regard, that's why we have a Kyiv office -- that they perhaps should know more and should be informed better about what NATO is, what NATO is doing".
The coming period should determine whether Ukraine is ready to become a member of NATO and to what extent this is recognised by the NATO-member states.
Relations with Russia
The pro-European/pro-independency attitude of the post-orange revolution government did raise some tensions between Russia and Ukraine. The wishes regarding NATO and the EU were a curse in the eyes of many Russians who still see Ukraine as their brotherly nation under their sphere of influence.
Ukraine has to balance between the EU and Russia. This is not new, also President Kuchma was faced with this and used the slogan “To Europe with Russia”, pointing at the simultaneous Russian and European orientation. Critics have however pointed out that Ukraine's deeper integration into the CIS, will negatively influence the country's democratisation process, since in most CIS states authoritarian tendencies can be witnessed. Other critics say Ukraine will never benefit from further integration into the CIS, because it will be over-shadowed by Russia’s interest.
Now that Yushchenko is President, Ukraine runs a more independent course. However, Yushchenko has had to take into account the desires of the Russian speaking population in the mining cities in the East and South who heavily rely on the Russian economy. Apparently he did not succeed in winning the confidence of the pro-Russian workers; Yanukovych’s victory in the 2006 parliamentary elections is the evidence of that.
As it is, Ukraine is economically dependent of Russia; sixty % of its foreign trade stems from its neighbour country. Russian President Vladimir Putin urged Ukraine to further commit to the Unified Economic Space, a trade co-operation agreement between Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Belarus that was worked out with Yushchenko's predecessor, Leonid Kuchma. Yushchenko, however, has shown himself to be sceptical about Moscow's plan, and has made it clear he sees Ukraine moving toward closer ties with the European Union and NATO. Ukraine however is an observing member of the Eurasian Economic Community.
The outcomes of the parliamentary elections have brought a pro-western majority into power. However, the pro-Russian Party of Regions is still the biggest party in parliament. The support Russia is mainly concentrated in the East of Ukraine, the region that is close to the Russian border. The small majority of the coalition (228 seats, while 226 a majority) makes it necessary for the government to act with care in matters considering Russia and/or EU/NATO cooperation. After all, one mistake could blow up the majority in parliament.
Gas trade
A major issue in the relations with Russia is gas trade. Russia sends some 80 % of its gas exports to Europe via Ukraine, while Ukraine depends on Russia for more than one-third of its gas needs.
Initially Ukraine received its gas for a heavily subsidised $50 per 1,000 cubic metres, but in March 2005 the Russian gas company Gazprom announced its intentions to increase the gas prizes to market rates of $230 per 1,000 cubic metres. Ukraine objected and in return demanded higher transit fees for Russia’s gas exports to Europe. The countries were unable to come to an agreement and on 1 January 2006 Gazprom cut all gas exports to Ukraine to pressure the negotiations. After great media interest and political discussion, the EU and the U.S. stepped in and helped to reach a compromise. On 4 January, Gazprom continued the gas supply to Ukraine. An accord was signed on 11 January, agreeing to raise gas prizes to $95 per 1,000 cubic metres, and also raising the fees for transportation of gas through Ukrainian territory for the next six months. Former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko highly objected to the agreement and threatened to sue the Ukrainian Naftogas for violating state interests by agreeing to the compromise.
Analysts speculated about the Russian state-owned Gazprom the intentions. Many suggested that the price raise could be seen as a way of undermining Ukraine’s post Orange revolution government.
One of Viktor Yanukovych's first acts as Prime Minister was to come a new agreement on gas prices with his Russian counterpart Mikhail Fradkov mid August 2006. They settled on the prices for the rest of 2006 and for 2007, stating that the prices will be based on a market framework, their calculation will be transparent and that the January agreement was at the centre of the new arrangement. By October 2007, Gazprom threatened to cut-off the supply of gas to Ukraine. A new dispute lies ahead.
SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC PARTIES
Socialist Party of Ukraine (SPU) – 0 seats
The Socialist Party of Ukraine was founded in 1991. It called itself the successor to the Communist Party of Ukraine, but they chose to form their own programme and develop a new emphasis in its political activities. After the return of the Communist Party and the creation of the Progressive Socialist Party in 1993, the SPU lost its leftist monopoly. The new strategy that was chosen by the party did not have any political impact. For the 1998 parliamentary elections the SPU formed a coalition with the Peasant Party of Ukraine (PPU).
The SPU lost its ideological vestiges of the past and opted for reform. The new programme underscored the need to carry out privatisation, implement changes to the tax and criminals codes, fight corruption and introduced a pro-European foreign policy.
Competition between two candidates within the faction during the presidential elections in 1999 led to a split. Deputies moved to several other parties or formed new parties. The SPU calls itself democratic socialistic, but shows signs of social democracy. In March 2005 the party claimed to have 90,638 members. Regions with most members are Zhitomir (8700), Poltava (8500), Chercassy (6600) and Dnepropretovsk (4500).
In the latest presidential elections, the SPU participated in the first round with their own candidate and party-leader Mr. Moroz. He gained 5.8% of the votes, which was not enough to join the second and eventually third round. The SPU signed a political agreement with the Yushchenko bloc on the 6th of November supporting him in the rounds to come. The Socialists joined the governing coalition and their main aim is to strengthen the social component of the government policy. They have submitted draft bills on increasing salaries in education and healthcare as well as raising pensions.
The SPU ran independently in the 2006 parliamentary elections. The party received 33 seats in the Verkhovna Rada, and was part of the governing coalition. In the 2007 parliamentary elections, the party did not pass the threshold by winning only 2,86% of the votes (3% is the threshold). The party lost all its seats in parliament. Analysts state that maybe the loss of votes could be explained by disagreement among the potential SPU-electorate concerning the coalition-participation of the SPU after the 2006 elections. The fact that the SPU changed side to join the coalition of Prime Minister Yanukovych, was used by Tymoshenko to portrait the SPU and its leader Moroz as unreliable traitors. This could explain the loss of the SPU.
Party leader: Oleksandr O. Moroz
http://www.socpart.info/
The SPU is a consultative member of the Socialist International.
Social Democratic Party of Ukraine (SDPU) - (Member of Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc – 157 seats)
The SDPU was originally founded in 1890 and re-established in 1990, after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The party participated in both the 2002 and the 2006 elections in the bloc of Yulia Tymoshenko. On its own the party is too small to exert any meaningful political influence. On the European Forum conference in Kiev, June 2005, party leader Buzdugan expressed his concerns about the current situation in Ukraine. He said that oligarchs still rule the economy and media. Also he expressed his hope that one day there will be a centre-left coalition, including his party and the SPU. The SDPU is in favour of supporting democracy in the former Soviet Union and hopes Ukraine will be a member of the European Union in the future.
In the parliamentary elections of 2007, the SDPU was one more part of the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc. This Bloc formed a majority-coalition with the Our Ukraine – People’s Self-Defence Bloc. The MP’s of the SDPU are the only Social-Democratic MP’s in parliament, since the SPU did not make the threshold.
Party leader: Yuriy O. Buzdugan
The SDPU is an observer member of the Socialist International.
OTHER POLITICAL PARTIES / BLOCS
(in order of amount of seats in the parliament as of October 2007)
Party of Regions – 175 seats
The Party of Regions was created in March 2001 from the unification of five parties. Three quarters of the party’s members are from the Donbas region. During the 2002 parliamentary elections the party joined the pro-Kuchma ‘For a United Ukraine’ bloc. The leader of the party, Viktor Yanukovych, ran for President in 2004, with a strongly pro-Russian and regionalist agenda. After he eventually lost those elections, the party moved into the opposition where it was one of the most visible parties. It frequently criticised the post-Orange Revolution government for its alleged preference for the Western parts of Ukraine and the party gladly exacerbated the internal struggles in the government. This paid off in the 2006 parliamentary elections; the party won the elections. Once the elections were over, the Party of Regions was excluded from coalition negotiations with the other parties and therefore blocked the Verkhovna Rada for several weeks. After the blockade was lifted the party managed to turn the tables and became the senior party in a broad governing coalition.
However, the political crisis of early 2007 caused the breakdown of the broad governing coalition and new elections were scheduled for 30 September 2007. In these elections, the Party of Regions managed to stay to biggest party in parliament. The party, however, did not had an obvious majority-coalition partner. For this reason, the Our Ukraine – People’s Self-Defence Bloc and the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc formed a majority coalition, earlier than the Party of Regions. As biggest party, the Party of Regions is now in opposition. Compared to the 2006 elections, it can be concluded that the Party of Regions has lost some of its significance in Ukrainian politics.
The Party of Regions campaigned especially on issues like the status of the Russian language (calling for Russian as additional official state language), Ukrainian accession to NATO (against) and socio-economic development (promising more jobs, a focus on industry and economic growth). The powerbase of the party lies fully in the eastern part of Ukraine.
Party leader: Viktor Yanukovych
http://www.partyofregions.org.ua/eng/
Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc (BYuT) – 156 seats
The Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc is named after its leader and founder of the Fatherland Party (1999) Yulia Tymoshenko. Tymoshenko was a very successful businesswoman, having earned fortunes directing several energy-related companies. In 1996 she went into politics and in 1999 was appointed deputy prime minister for the fuel and energy sector. In this post she rather successfully took on the struggle against corrupted oligarchs. However, in 2001 she was sacked and briefly imprisoned on charges of fraud during her business career. Tymoshenko always maintained that the charges were politically motivated, as she a political threat to then President Kuchma.
After she was forced to step down in 2001, the Fatherland Party began to oppose presidential policies and Tymoshenko lead the united opposition in the in 2001 created National Salvation Forum. The main goal of the forum was to form an electoral bloc with the aim to oust President Kuchma. In November 2001 the bloc was renamed Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc. The bloc consisted of the following parties: Fatherland Party, Sobor Party, Social Democratic Party, Republican Party, Conservative Republican Party, Christian Democratic Party, and Patriotic Party.
According to the personal website of Yulia Tymoshenko the priority of the bloc lies with the “development of spirituality”, since existing ideologies have failed to solve the people’s dissatisfaction, economic and political crises and terrorism. The second priority is said to be “the desire for justice, not as a slogan but as a scientific method of improvement of society, which is based on determining, publicising and settling all conflicts in society.”
The bloc gathered 7.2 % of the votes in the 2002 elections. The relatively radical Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc cooperated with Our Ukraine in the 2004 presidential elections, supporting Viktor Yushchenko’s candidacy. Once Yushchenko was appointed President, Tymoshenko became Prime Minister. However, the cooperation faltered and finally resulted in Yushchenko sacking Tymoshenko on accusations of corruption. The Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc then ran independently in the 2006 parliamentary elections and became the second largest party, beating Yushchenko’s Our Ukraine. However, the BYuT cam in opposition.
In the 2007 parliamentary elections, Yulia Tymoshenko managed to stay the second biggest party in parliament, almost closing the gap with the Party of Regions. Shortly after the elections, it was announced that BYuT and the Our Ukraine – People’s Self Defense Bloc formed a coalition. Yulia Tymoshenko is most likely the new Prime Minister. The powerbase of the BYuT lies in the west and central part of Ukraine. In the pro-Russian eastern region, dominated by the Party of Regions, the BYuT is the second most popular party, beating the Our-Ukraine Bloc by a mile.
Party leader: Yulia Tymoshenko
http://www.tymoshenko.com.ua
Our Ukraine - People's Self Defense Bloc – 72 seats
The Our Ukraine Bloc was officially formed in February 2002 and united ten nationalist and centre-right parties that emerged during the time Ukraine gained independence. The gathered parties historically all had an anti-communist rhetoric and their goals broadly were to keep distance from Russia and strengthen Ukraine’s statehood.
According to the program of Our Ukraine the bloc’s priorities are a significant increase in the wellbeing of the majority of Ukraine’s citizens; a strong economy and effective social protection; a just society and the establishment of a moral and honest government. The bloc supports the integration of Ukraine into the European Union and NATO
In 2004 the Our Ukraine bloc and the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc united forces in the presidential elections, both backing Yushchenko as their candidate. Once Yushchenko made it to the second round of the 2004 presidential election he gathered the support of all anti-Kuchma forces. On 26 December 2004 the leader of the Our Ukraine bloc, Viktor Yushchenko, was elected for the post of Ukrainian President and the bloc was the biggest party of the post-Orange Revolution government.
On 5 March 2005, parts of the Our Ukraine Bloc consolidated into a new party, the Our Ukraine People's Union. The constituent congress was organised by the public movement "For Ukraine! For Yushchenko!" coordinated by the president's older brother, Petro Yushchenko, as well as by some government officials from Kyiv and regional governors. President Yushchenko however failed to mobilise his major allies from the Orange Revolution - notably Yuriy Kostenko's Ukrainian People’s Party and Borys Tarasyuk's People's Rukh of Ukraine - for the idea of a single party.
In the 2006 parliamentary elections the Our Ukraine Bloc – with a new composition of parties - lost quite a lot of its votes to the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc in the 2006 parliamentary elections. However, the Our Ukraine Bloc managed to form a broad governing coalition with the Party of Regions and the Socialist Party of Ukraine. The political crisis of 2007 brought an end to this coalition. For the 2007 parliamentary elections, the Our-Ukraine Bloc changed its name into Our Ukraine – People’s Self Defence Bloc, merging with the People’s Self Defence Party. The bloc now holds 72 seats in the Verkhovna Rada. Together with the BYuT, the Our Ukraine – People’s Self Defence Bloc formed the new coalition.
The following parties are part of the Bloc:
People's Union "Our Ukraine" (Narodnyi Soyuz Nasha Ukrayina); Forward, Ukraine!; People's Movement of Ukraine (Narodniy Rukh Ukrayiny); Ukrainian People's Party; Ukrainian Republican Party Assembly (Ukrayins'ka Respublikanska Partiya Sobor); Christian Democratic Union (Khristiyans'ko-Demokratichnyj Soyuz); European Party of Ukraine; PORA; Congress of Ukrainian Nationalists (Kongress Ukrayinskych Natsionalistiv); Motherland Defenders Party
Viktor Yushchenko remains the leader of the party. The party tries to transform its image from right wing nationalist to liberal. His next objective will be the presidential elections of 2009. In these elections, Yushchenko will have fierce competition from Yanukovych and Tymoshenko.
Our Ukraine has an observer status at the European People’s Party.
Party leader: Viktor Yushchenko
http://www.razom.org.ua/
Communist Party of Ukraine – 27 seats
The Communist Party is the successor of the old Communist Party in Soviet time. Its main supporters are older and retired people. Between 1991 and 1993 the party was temporarily forbidden. With the country’s economy in decline, the party grew in popularity and the party re-emerged during the 1994 parliamentary elections. The CPU received a lot of protest votes, however analysts predicted a soon decline because of aging of their electorate and the growing out datedness of their Soviet nostalgia. In the 2002 elections they were cut by half winning just 65 of the 450 seats in parliament. After the 2006 elections, the Communist Party had only 21 seats, but in the 2007 elections, the party regained seats. It now holds 27 seats in parliament.
The communists are loosening their Soviet style arguments and plead for respect for private business, freedom of religion, a multi-party system and foreign investments. According to their leader, Petro M. Symonenko, state policy should be based on balancing real incomes and expenditures, with the surplus spent on services such as education and healthcare for the individual Ukrainian citizen. The communists are against Ukrainian NATO membership.
The leader of the party, Petro Symonenko ran in the first round of the presidential election in 2004. He gained the fourth place, gathering almost 5 % of the votes, which was not enough to make it to the second round.
While being in opposition to the Kuchma government, the post-Orange revolution government lead by Yushchenko was not after the Communists taste either. Symonenko accused the first government lead by Yushchenko of “obediently fulfil[ing] commands of their foreign masters, selling property that has been constructed for years by our long-suffering people”. In the campaign prior to the 2006 parliamentary elections Symonenko identified the Communist Party’s main struggles on three fronts: “American nationalists”, “right-wing oppositionists” and “opportunists” from the Socialist Party of Ukraine.
Despite regaining seats in parliament, the situation for the Communist Party has worsened from another point view. After all, the Communist Party is nowadays not in government anymore. The party now should find its role as opposition party.
Party leader: Petro M. Symonenko
http://www.kpu.kiev.ua/Main/index.htm
Lytvyn’s Bloc – 20 seats
The Bloc consists of the People’s Party and the small Labour Party, party-leader is Volodymyr Lytvyn. The People’s Party is a continuation of the former Agrarian Party. The party officially supported Prime Minster Viktor Yanukovych during the 2004 presidential elections. Party leader Lytvyn, however, did keep the parliament open during the protests when the legislature refused to accept the official results. Lytvyn's parliamentary faction tripled after the Orange Revolution, as moderate supporters of former president Leonid Kuchma gathered under the People’s Party’s umbrella raising the party’s support base to about 60 parliament members. However, the Lytvyn’s People’s Bloc did not clear the voter threshold in the 2006 parliamentary elections. In 2007, the Lytvyn’s Bloc managed to win 3,96% of the votes, an now holds 20 seats in parliament.
Party leader: Volodymyr Lytvyn
Progressive Socialist Party – 0 seats
The Progressive Socialist Party of Ukraine (PSPU) opposes Ukrainian involvement with Western institutions like the IMF and NATO and is very critical of economic reforms. The party supports integration with Russia and Belarus as an alternative to integration with the European Union. The party did not pass the threshold, winning 1,32% of the votes.
Party leader: Natalia Vitrenko
PSPU site: http://www.vitrenko.org/
SOURCES
BBC
Central Election Commission
Central Europe Review
Chernobyl.info
Committee to protect Journalists
Economist
Election World.org
EU External Relations
EU Institute for Security Studies
Freedom House – Nations in Transit 2005
Glavred info
Government Portal
International Herald Tribune
Kyiv Post
Mirror Weekly
NATO – Ukraine
OSCE/ ODIHR Election Reports
RFE/RL
Transitions Online
UA Monitor
Ukraine info
Ukrainian Monitor
Ukrainian Weekly
Ukrayinska Pravda
Unian News from Ukraine
US Department of State
Special thanks to
Oleh Kyriyenko
International Secretary of the SPU, Vitaly Shybko
