The Yulia Tymoshenko BlocIt may refer to one or several of the following: the "Yulia Tymoshenko Electoral Bloc" which contested the 2002 parliamentary election the "Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc" which contested the 2006 parliamentary election. the "Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc" which contested the 2007 parliamentary election. the "Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc" parliamentary faction formed by the above-mentioned 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.Parliament passes law on parliamentary elections, Kyiv Post (17 November 2011) The core party of the alliance, Batkivshchyna, remained a major force in Ukrainian politics.Who will meet with Yanukovych in the second round. American Sociological Service Gallup measured the mood of the Ukrainians. 11 October 2013.
Overview
Founded for the 2002 parliamentary elections, the alliance attracted most of its voters from western Ukrainian (Ukrainian speaking) provinces (oblasts) and from central Ukraine.Poll: Political forces of Tigipko, Yatseniuk, Communist Party in Top 5 of April rating of parties, Kyiv Post (12 May 2010) The alliance had low support in the east and the south of Ukraine (where the Russian language is dominant). though they did recruit several politicians from these Russian-speaking provinces like Crimea (Lyudmyla DenisovaНовый состав Кабмина принят единогласно , news.mediaport.ua) and Luhansk Oblast (Natalia KorolevskaНародна депутатка з Луганська від БЮТу раніше підтримувала Віктора Януковича, Gazeta.ua (23 March 2007)). The alliance was often associated with the 2004 Orange Revolution (the alliance's leader, Yulia Tymoshenko, was one of the leaders of the Orange Revolution) and thus named "Orange Party" in media publications.Q&A: Ukrainian parliamentary poll, BBC News (1 October 2007) The alliance also had prominent members who had been associated with the opponents of the Orange Revolutions (the "Blue camp") including Ivan Kyrylenko, the formerTymoshenko aware of change in leadership of BYT-Batkivschyna faction, Kyiv Post (7 December 2011) faction leader of the Bloc Yulia Tymoshenko (BYuT) in the Ukrainian Parliament.Yulia Tymoshenko’s orbits , Ukrayinska Pravda (20 March 2006) Other notable BYuT deputies were Soviet dissident Levko LukyanenkoBlack Sea Politics: Political Culture and Civil Society in an Unstable Region by Ayse Ayata and Ayca Ergun, I B Tauris & Co Ltd, 2005, , page 90Levko Lukyanenko, Verkhovna Rada and former UNA-UNSO leader Andriy Shkil.Shkil Andriy, Kyiv Post (25 February 2009)Andriy Shkil , Verkhovna Rada
BYuT had intended to include more representatives from the education sector into its voting lists. According to Tymoshenko: "Certain branches and sectors have powerful lobbies. And there are only three to four lobbyists who represent the spheres of education and health care in the Verkhovna Rada [Ukrainian parliament]. Therefore some sectors lack financing, while others have excessive funding".Tymoshenko to include more education sector's representatives into voting lists during parliamentary election, Kyiv Post (5 October 2009)
According to Tymoshenko, representatives of business had no dominant influence on decision making in her political force. "Business is represented in the parliament, but it doesn't shape politics this is what distinguishes my political force from the Party of Regions for instance."Business has hardly any influence in BYT, says Tymoshenko , Interfax-Ukraine (7 December 2009) Several billionaires have been members of the BYuT faction in the Verkhovna Rada.No. 50 Richest: Tariel Vasadze, 63, Kyiv Post (17 December 2010)No. 40 Richest: Serhiy and Oleksandr Buryak, 44 and 40, Kyiv Post (17 December 2010)No. 43 Richest: Oleksandr Feldman, 50, Kyiv Post (17 December 2010)No. 26 Richest: Yevhen Sihal, 55, Kyiv Post (17 December 2010)Kostyantin Valentynovych Zhevago, Bloomberg L.P. (2009)No. 11 Richest: Andriy Verevsky, 36, Kyiv Post (17 December 2010)Eight Ukrainians make Forbes magazine's list of world billionaires, Kyiv Post (8 March 2012)
History
Creation In January 2001, President Leonid Kuchma dismissed Tymoshenko from the post of Deputy Prime Minister for fuel and energy sector in the cabinet of Viktor Yushchenko. Following this, and during the Ukraine without Kuchma-protests, Tymoshenko began the loose organisation the National Salvation Committee on 9 February 2001. This organisation later merged into the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc (BYuT) in November 2001.Europa World Year Book 2, Routledge, 2004, , page 4295About Tymoshenko , Official website of Yulia Tymoshenko
The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe noted at the time that there were physical assaults and harassment of candidates and campaign workers associated with the BYuT, and other opposition parties leading up to the March 2002 election.Ukraine:Treatment of the Social Democratic Party of Ukraine (SDPU); relationship with the National Salvation Forum (FNB); treatment of FNB members, Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada via UNHCR (14 August 2003) The BYuT itself complained of campaign-related violations including "an informal 'media blackout,' [and] negatively slanted coverage".
At the parliamentary elections on 30 March 2002, the alliance comprised the following liberal and nationalist member parties: Виборчий блок політичних партій "Виборчий блок Юлії Тимошенко", Central Election Commission of Ukraine (22 December 2001) Вони – Блок Юлії Тимошенко, Ukrayinska Pravda (25 January 2002) Fatherland Party (Partiya Bat'kivshchyna ), also rendered as All-Ukrainian Union "Fatherland" (Vseukrajins’ke Ob’ednannja Bat’kivščyna) (13 berths) Ukrainian Republican Party "Sobor" (Ukrajins’ka Respublikanska Partija Sobor) (3 berths) Ukrainian Social Democratic Party (Ukrajins’ka Social-Demokratyčna Partija) (3 berths) Ukrainian Republican Party (Ukrajinska Respublikanska Partija) (1 berth) Non-partisan (2 berths)
Top 10 members Yulia Tymoshenko (Fatherland Party) Anatoliy Matviyenko (Ukrainian Republican Party "Sobor") Hryhoriy Omelchenko (Ukrainian Republican Party "Sobor") Vasyl Onopenko (Ukrainian Social Democratic Party) Levko Lukyanenko (Ukrainian Republican Party) Oleh Bilorus (Fatherland Party) Oleksandr Turchynov (Fatherland Party) Mykhailo Pavlovsky (Fatherland Party) Petro Tolochko (Fatherland Party) Stepan Khmara (Fatherland Party)
The bloc won 7.2% Всеукраїнське об'єднання „Батьківщина", Database DATA of the popular vote and 22 out of 450 seats. This result was better than expected,The countries of the former Soviet Union at the turn of the twenty-first century: the Baltic and European states in transition (page 551) by Ian Jeffries, (published in 2004) because BYuT had limited access to the media and limited support from local authorities.2001 Political sketches: too early for summing up , Central European University (4 January 2002)Ukraine's election frontrunners, BBC News (28 March 2002)
The alliance supported Viktor Yushchenko during the Ukrainian presidential election of 2004, and played an active role in the widespread acts of civil non-violent protest that became known as the Ukrainian Orange Revolution.
In January 2005, Tymoshenko became Prime Minister of Ukraine under Yushchenko's presidency.Ukraine's Gold-Plaited Comeback Kid, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (23 September 2008)
The party had lost a few seats in 2002 and 2003, but doubled to 40 members of parliament in September 2005.Virtual Politics – Faking Democracy in the Post-Soviet World, Andrew Wilson, Yale University Press, 2005, Ukraine on Its Meandering Path Between East and West by Andrej Lushnycky and Mykola Riabchuk, Peter Lang, 2009, Ukraine at the Crossroads: Velvet Revolution or Belarusification by Olexiy Haran, National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, October 2002
Electoral breakthrough
The BYuT entered the parliamentary elections on 26 March 2006, with only Fatherland and Ukrainian Social Democratic Party after both republican parties left the alliance. Nonetheless, BYuT moved into second place with 22.27% of the vote behind Party of Regions with 33% and ahead of Our Ukraine with less than 14% support. BYuT won 129 seats out of 450.
Note that after the 2002 merger of the Ukrainian Republican Party "Sobor" and the Ukrainian Republican Party – which then became known as the Ukrainian Republican Party "Sobor" (URP Sobor) Злилися УРП і "Собор": Матвієнко – голова партії, Лук'яненко – голова ради старійшин, Ukrayinska Pravda (21 April 2002) – the party went through a schism before the 2006 elections. The majority of the party led by Anatoliy Mativienko aligned with Our Ukraine Bloc, while others left the party and stayed with BYuT. After the 2006 elections, Levko Lukyanenko managed to reinstate the original Ukrainian Republican Party.
Top 10 members Yulia Tymoshenko (Fatherland Party) Oleksandr Turchynov (Fatherland Party) Mykola Tomenko (Fatherland Party) Vasyl Onopenko (Ukrainian Social Democratic Party) Andriy Shevchenko (unaffiliated) Levko Lukyanenko (unaffiliated) Hryhoriy Omelchenko (unaffiliated) Vitaliy Kurylo (unaffiliated) Mykola Petruk (unaffiliated) Yevhen Suslov (unaffiliated)
It was widely expected that a coalition between supporters of the Orange Movement would form Ukraine's next government, but after three months of negotiations and a failure to reach an agreement the proposed coalition collapsed following the decision of the Socialist Party of Ukraine to support the formation of the "anti-crisis coalition" with Party of Regions and the Communist Party of Ukraine.
During the 2007 parliamentary elections, the BYuT consisted of: All-Ukrainian Union "Fatherland" Ukrainian Social Democratic Party Reforms and Order Party
The Ukrainian Republican Party "Sobor" was part of the Our Ukraine–People's Self-Defense Bloc in this election. Українська республіканська партія „Собор", Database DATA
Top 10 members Yulia Tymoshenko (Fatherland Party) Oleksandr Turchynov (Fatherland Party) Mykola Tomenko (Fatherland Party) Yosyp Vinsky (Fatherland Party) Andriy Shevchenko (unaffiliated) Viktor Pynzenyk (Reforms and Order Party) Hryhoriy Omelchenko (Fatherland Party) Vitaliy Kurylo (Fatherland Party) Mykola Petruk (unaffiliated) Yevhen Korniychuk (Ukrainian Social Democratic Party)
In the parliamentary elections on 30 September 2007, the bloc won 156 of 450 seats (and thus 30.71% of the total votes), securing an additional 1.5 million votes (8.24%) in comparison with the 2006 election.Yanukovych Loses 300,000 While Tymoshenko Receives Additional 1.5 Million , Ukrainska Pravda Most of this vote swing came as a result of consolidation in regions where BYuT had already been the leading party. Statistics published by Ukraine's Central Electoral CommissionSource: Central Election Commission of Ukraine (English) indicate that most of the swing came from minor parties with some voters turning away from the Socialist Party and to a lesser extent Our Ukraine.
On 15 October 2007, Our Ukraine–People's Self-Defense Bloc and the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc agreed to form a majority coalition in the new parliament of the 6th convocation. On 29 November, a coalition was signed between the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc and Our Ukraine–People's Self-Defense Bloc (OU-PSD) which together had received 45% of the national vote. On 18 December 2007 Yulia Tymoshenko, with a margin of two votes, was elected Prime Minister.