The Party of Regions (, ; ) was a pro-RussianRegionalists principally will speak in Russian – Bondarenko. ("Регіонали" принципово будуть виступати російською – Бондаренко). Ukrayinska Pravda. 2012-12-14Kuzio, T. Populism in Ukraine. Problems of Post-Communism. Vol.57. "M. E. Sharpe". 2010. p.15 political party in Ukraine formed in late 1997 that was the largest party in Ukraine between 2006 and 2014.
Since the Revolution of Dignity, the party has not competed in elections and members have slowly dispersed; the last election in which the party participated was the 2012 Ukrainian parliamentary election. "Revival" "our land": Who picks up the legacy of "regionals", BBC Ukrainian (16 September 2015) Party of Regions: Snake return, The Ukrainian Week (2 October 2015) The best-known former party members are former prime minister Mykola Azarov and former president of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych; both fled to Russia in February 2014 after Euromaidan.Ex-PM Azarov, In Moscow, Proclaims 'Salvation Committee' For Ukraine, Radio Free Europe (3 August 2015)Ukraine accuses Russia of breaking CIS agreements over Yanukovych extradition, Interfax-Ukraine (12 January 2015)
The Ukrainian Eighth Administrative Court of Appeal banned the party on 21 February 2023.
History Party of Regional Revival of Ukraine
The founding congress of the Party of Regional Revival of Ukraine (the predecessor of the Party of Regions) was held on 26 October 1997 in Kyiv. The first leader of the party was mayor of Donetsk, Volodymyr Rybak. On 6 November 1997, the Party of Regional Revival of Ukraine was registered at the Ukrainian Ministry of Justice, Партія регіонів, Database DATA and on the 27th of that month the 1st Party Congress took place, which adopted the electoral party list and platform for the next elections. On 13 January 1998, a parliamentary faction was created in the parliament of Ukraine. It was known as the Party of Regional Revival of Ukraine and was headed by Gennadiy Samofalov.
During the 1998 parliamentary elections, the Party of Regional Revival of Ukraine won 0.90% of the votes. A single party representative was elected to the Ukrainian Parliament by winning one constituency in the regular elections. Ілюзорна ідилія, Den (7 February 2007) The party was among the top 10 in Chernivtsi and Donetsk Oblasts. Volodymyr Rybak was the winner of constituency number 45 in Donetsk Oblast.
During the 2nd Party Congress that took place in two stages during the spring of 1999, the party decided to support candidate Leonid Kuchma for the next presidential elections. It was recommended that the candidate should include in his election campaign some of the Party of Regional Revival of Ukraine's policy proposals, including one on granting the Russian language official status. In the summer of 1999, the party entered the "Our choice – Leonid Kuchma" electoral bloc, consisting of 23 parties and led by Yevhen Kushnaryov, who endorsed incumbent president Leonid Kuchma in the presidential election of 1999.
Creation of the Party of Regions On 17 November 2000, the 3rd Extraordinary Party Congress adopted the merger of five political parties, For Beautiful Ukraine (led by Leonid Chernovetsky), All-Ukrainian Party of Pensioners (A. Kapusta), Party of Labor (Valentyn Landyk), Party of Solidarity of Ukraine (Petro Poroshenko), and Party of Regional Revival of Ukraine (Volodymyr Rybak), into a new one under the name of Party of Regional Revival "Labor Solidarity of Ukraine". The co-leaders of the new political group became Valentyn Landyk, Petro Poroshenko, and Volodymyr Rybak. Also, shortly before the merger, the Party of Solidarity of Ukraine was completely abandoned by one of its key components, the Peasant Party of Ukraine, which dissolved its union with Solidarity. On February 21, 2001, the Ministry of Justice registered the newly established Party of Regional Revival "Labour Solidarity of Ukraine".
On March 3, 2001, at the 3rd Party Congress, the party changed its name to Party of Regions. At the congress Mykola Azarov, who at that time was chairman of the State Tax Administration of Ukraine, was elected the party leader but soon resigned in December 2001.Ukraine Political Parties, GlobalSecurity.org Azarov was replaced by his deputy and at that time Vice Prime Minister Volodymyr Semynozhenko. In an interview with the newspaper Den () on 6 March 2001, Azarov said that he agreed to become the chairman for a brief period "until the party nominated a leader who will claim the office of the President of Ukraine in 2004". In December 2001 the Party of Regions member Ihor Yushchko was appointed Minister of Finance of Ukraine. On 21 March 2001, the Ministry of Justice re-registered the party under the number 939 with the older date of registration.
On 23 May 2001, the party signed an agreement of partnership and cooperation with the party Labour Ukraine (Serhiy Tihipko), and on 7 June 2001, with the Agrarian Party of Ukraine.
"Regions of Ukraine" was the parliamentary wing of the Party of Regions and was created at the end of March 20012001 Political sketches: too early for summing up , Central European University (January 4, 2002) after several deputies defected from their original faction. Critics claimed the deputies were "lured away" from those other factions by pressure, and analysts claimed most of them had nothing to do with the new party.New «region» formed in Ukrainian Parliament , Central European University (26 March 2001) Nine out of seventeen members of the faction had their political and business roots in the Donetsk region. In July 2002 the party had a faction of 24 people (one deputy left the faction later).Understanding Ukrainian Politics: Power, Politics, and Institutional Design by Paul D'Anieri, M.E. Sharpe, 2006,
On 20 March 2001, Solidarity announced it would "be as a single bloc". Eventually the Solidarity party became part of the Viktor Yushchenko Bloc Our Ukraine during the 2002 parliamentary elections.Communist and Post-Communist Parties in Europe, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2008, (page 391)
During the Ukrainian parliamentary election the party was a member of the For United Ukraine electoral bloc. It was then led by Volodymyr Semynozhenko.
From 21 November 2002 until 7 December 2004, Viktor Yanukovych was Prime Minister of Ukraine. At a congress held on 19 April 2003, Yanukovych was elected party leader, succeeding Semynozhenko.Yanukovych suspends his membership in Party of Regions, hands over party leadership to Azarov, Kyiv Post (3 March 2010) At that time, the party had 20 seats in parliament.UKRAINE COUNTRY ASSESSMENT April 2003 , ecoi.net (April 2003)
Electoral breakthrough The party shifted its political ideology to the left and became much more populist in nature before the 2004 Ukrainian presidential election and, as a result, Yanukovych won over a large part of the Communist party's electorate in eastern Ukraine. The party's stated platform included making Russian a second official language in Ukraine, moving towards a pro-Russian foreign policy, and increasing social spending. It also advocated a regionalist ideology, and many members supported making Ukraine a federation.
The Party of Regions moved into opposition after Viktor Yanukovych, its chosen candidate, lost the 2004 presidential election. Yanukovych first claimed an electoral victory, but strong allegations of electoral fraud triggered a series of events commonly known as the Orange Revolution. In the re-run of the presidential election ordered by the country's Supreme Court, Viktor Yanukovych lost the election to Viktor Yushchenko.
The Party claimed to be a victim of a political persecution campaign organized by the new government, in part because Borys Kolesnykov, the head of the regional party branch and of the Donetsk Oblast Council, was arrested in April 2005 and charged with criminal extortion.Lutsenko suggests Regions Party deal with Piskun, who sanctioned proceedings against Kolesnykov, Kyiv Post (3 March 2009) The Party of Regions claimed this was an act of political repression, while the authorities believed that Kolesnykov had links to organized crime and his arrest was a purely criminal matter. The Council of Europe called the investigation "in full compliance with European standards".Countries at the crossroads: a survey of democratic governance by Sanja Tatic & Christopher Walker, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2006, / (page 580) Kolesnykov has since been cleared of charges and released from pre-trial detention.Yanukovych’s inner circle, Kyiv Post (24 January 2010)
The party signed a collaboration agreement in 2005 with Russia's "United Russia".Party of Regions hopes for strengthening collaboration with 'United Russia' party, Kyiv Post (22 November 2009)
American consultant Paul J. Manafort has advised the party and Yanukovych since 2005.Paid advisers descend on candidates, nation, Kyiv Post (19 November 2009)
2006 parliamentary election results
In the parliamentary elections held on 26 March 2006, the party gained 32.14% of votes and won 186 (out of 450) seats in the Verkhovna Rada (the Ukrainian Parliament), forming the largest parliamentary group. On 6 July 2006, the Socialist Party of Ukraine abandoned the "Orange Coalition" between Our Ukraine and the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc following the failure of each bloc to reach agreement on the formation of a governing coalition.
On 10 July 2006, a new parliamentary majority called the "anti-crisis coalition", led by the Party of Regions and including the Socialist Party and the Communist Party, was formed, nominating Viktor Yanukovych to the post of prime minister. The coalition remained in office until the special parliamentary elections held in September 2007.
In the 2006 Crimean parliamentary election, the Party of Regions was part of the For Yanukovych! election bloc. , Росбалт.RU (06/10/2009)
On 19 January 2007, Yevhen Kushnaryov, a high-ranking member of the Party of Regions, died in Izium as a result of an accidental gunshot wound received while hunting.
In mid-2007, the Ukrainian Republican Party and Labour Ukraine merged into and became part of the Party of Regions.
2007 parliamentary election results
In the parliamentary elections held on 30 September 2007, the party won 175 seats (losing 11 seats) out of 450 seats with 34.37% of the total national vote. The party received the highest number of votes, with a swing of +2.23% in comparison to the 2006 vote.
Following the formation of a governing coalition between Our Ukraine and the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc and the election of Yulia Tymoshenko as prime minister on 18 December 2007, the Party of Regions formed the parliamentary opposition.