Our Ukraine (political party)

Our Ukraine Наша Україна
Leader	Victor Yushchenko (political leader)[1] Valentin Nalivaychenko (head of the party's council)[2]
Founded	March 5, 2005 (2005-03-05)
Headquarters	Kiev, Ukraine
Ideology	Nationalism Market liberalism Social conservatism Pro-Europeanism
Political position	Centre-right
International affiliation	None
European affiliation	European People's Party (observer)
Official colours	Orange
Website
http://www.razom.org.ua
Politics of Ukraine Political parties Elections

The Our Ukraine (Ukrainian: Наша Україна) (prior mid-July 2009 known as People's Union "Our Ukraine" (Ukrainian: Народний Союз «Наша Україна»)^[3]) is a centre-right political party of Ukraine formed in 2005.^[4] The party supports former president President Viktor Yushchenko. People's Union "Our Ukraine" is currently an observer in the European People's Party.

Youth Union Our Ukraine is the youth wing of the party.

History

The party is considered as the continuation of the electoral alliance the Viktor Yushchenko Bloc "Our Ukraine." The NSNU was formally launched on March 5, 2005 by the group of politicians appointed by incumbent President Viktor Yushchenko, but failed to attract most constituent parties that had been members of the previous bloc, which refused to be absorbed into the newly formed party.

The constituent congress, held in the capital Kiev and attended by 6,000 delegates from all the regions of Ukraine, elected Yushchenko as honorary chairman (who received membership card No.1). Former deputy Prime Minister Roman Bezsmertnyi was elected as the head of the party's Presidium and Yuriy Yekhanurov as head of the party's Central Executive Committee.

At the parliamentary elections conducted on March 26, 2006, the party took part in the newly formed Our Ukraine bloc.^[4] In the snap parliamentary elections conducted on September 30, 2007, the party was part of the Our Ukraine–People's Self-Defense Bloc alliance^[4], that won 72 out of 450 seats in the Verkhovna Rada.

In December 2008 to the Ukrainian Independent Information Agency (UNIAN) reported that the People's Union Our Ukraine and United Centre parties where to carry out a unifying congress on January 17, 2009. UNIAN also reported that the People's Democratic party may join the move^[5]. However both events did not happen. In October 2008 the presidium of People’s Union Our Ukraine party had already decided not to team up with any other party for the proposed snap parliamentary poll then the Our Ukraine–People's Self-Defense Bloc and had called the idea of teaming up with United Centre "impossible".^[6][7]

The Kiev branch of the party decided not to take part in the party congres of June 2009 because the find the party "destructive".^[8][9]

The party intends to take part in the next Ukrainian parliamentary election.^[10] A March 2010 poll predicted that the party would get 1.4% of the vote at the 2012 Ukrainian parliamentary election^[11](on August 19, 2009 Victor Yushchenko's support rating had already slumped to 3.8%^[12][13] and during the 2010 Ukrainian Presidential Election he won 5.5% of the votes^[14]). During the 2010 Ukrainian local elections the party (political blocs where not permitted to compete in the election^[15][16]) met with total failure^[17] when it took only 2.3% of the national vote^[18] (political parties need to collect at least 5% of the national vote in order to gain seats in the Verkhovna Rada^[19][20]). The party did quite well in the historical regions Volhynia and Galicia scoring up to minimal 5% of the votes till 13,2%, but outside these regions it met with complete failure only managing to win 1,7% in Poltava Oblast, 0,9% in Zhytomyr Oblast and 0,7% in Kiev Oblast.^[21]

References

1. ^ Our Ukraine's congress adopts amendments in party's statute, Ukrinform (27 December 2008)
2. ^ Чи оновить Наливайченко «Нашу Україну»?,
3. ^ Our Ukraine officially changes its name, Interfax-Ukraine (July 14, 2009)
4. ^ ^{a b c} (Ukrainian) Політична партія «Наша Україна», Database DATA
5. ^ Our Ukraine and United Center parties to unite, UNIAN (24 December 2008)
6. ^ "Our Ukraine officially refused to team up with United Center". UNIAN. October 21, 2008. http://www.unian.net/eng/news/news-279800.html. 
7. ^ "Our Ukraine Board defined the formatting of participation in elections" (in Ukrainian). Our Ukraine official website. October 21, 2008. http://nuns.com.ua/news/5055/. 
8. ^ (Ukrainian) Столична "Наша Україна" не збирається в масовку на з'їзд, Ukrayinska Pravda (June 26, 2009)
9. ^ Council of Our Ukraine's branch in Kyiv quits party, Interfax-Ukraine (July 2, 2009)
10. ^ Our Ukraine to participate in next parliamentary elections, Interfax-Ukraine (October 28, 2009)
11. ^ Party Of Regions, Tymoshenko bloc, Strong Ukraine, Front for Change and Communist Party would get into parliament, Kyiv Post (April 12, 2010
12. ^ (English)Socis center for social and political studies, UkrNews (August 17, 2009)
13. ^ "With or without Baloha, Yushchenko's unelectable". Taras Kuzio. Kyiv Post. May 28, 2009. http://www.kyivpost.com/blogs/bloggers/tarasgkuzio/5121. Retrieved 2009-05-28. ^{[dead link]}
14. ^ Marson, James (January 18, 2010). "Ukrainian Presidential Election Set for Runoff". Wall Street Journal. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704541004575010390901914042.html?mod=WSJ_latestheadlines. Retrieved 2010-01-18. 
15. ^ Ukraine changes election rules before key vote, Kyiv Post (July 28, 2010)
16. ^ Law: All parties registered in Ukraine will be able to participate in local elections, Kyiv Post (August 30, 2010)
17. ^ Local government elections in Ukraine: last stage in the Party of Regions’ takeover of power, Centre for Eastern Studies (October 4, 2010)
18. ^ UKRAINIAN APPEALS TO ANTI-SEMITISM IN ELECTION WIN, Internet Centre Anti Racism Europe (November 4, 2010)
19. ^ Laws of Ukraine. Law No. 1665-IV: On elections of People's deputies of Ukraine. Passed on 2004-03-25. (Ukrainian). Article 96.
20. ^ Parliament passes law on parliamentary elections, Kyiv Post (17 November 2011)
21. ^ (Ukrainian) Results of the elections, preliminary data, on interactive maps by Ukrayinska Pravda (8 November 2010)

External links

• "People's Union "Our Ukraine"". People's Union "Our Ukraine". http://www.razom.org.ua. Retrieved 2009-02-05. 

• "Official site of Youth Union Our Ukraine". Youth Union Our Ukraine. http://www.msnu.org. Retrieved 2009-01-21.