Party of Regions

Infobox Ukrainian Political Party
party_name = Party of Regions
Партія регіонів
party_articletitle = Party of Regions
party_
leader = Viktor Yanukovych
foundation = October 26, 1997
ideology = Regionalism, Parliamentarism, Pro Russia
position = Centrism
international = "none"
colours = Blue
headquarters =
website = [http://www.partyofregions.org.ua/ www.partyofregions.org.ua] The Party of Regions ( _ua. Партія регіонів IPA| ['pɑrtijɑ rɛɦi'ɔniu̯] , _ru. Партия регионов) is a Ukrainian political party created in March 2001. According to the party’s leadership in 2002, from the creation of the party to the end of 2001 the number of members jumped from 30,000 to half million. [ [http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,226894,00.html Whose Ukraine Is It Anyway?] , "TIME Magazine/Transitions online", April 4, 2002]

It originally supported president Leonid Kuchma and joined the pro-government United Ukraine alliance during the parliamentary elections on 30 March 2002. The party's leader is former Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych. The areas the Party of Regions does well in are mostly parts of historic Novorossiya. Its electoral and financial base is located primarily in the east and south-east of Ukraine, where it enjoys wide popular support. In the Eastern Ukrainian Donetsk Oblast the party claims to have over 700,000 members.

2002

From November 21, 2002 until December 7, 2004, Viktor Yanukovych was Prime Minister.

2004

The party shifted its political ideology to the left and became much more populist in nature before the Ukrainian presidential election, 2004 and, as a result, Yanukovych won over a large part of the Communist party's electorate in eastern Ukraine. The party announced support for making Russian a second official language in Ukraine, a pro-Russian foreign policy, and increased social spending. It also advocates the regionalist ideology, and many members support making Ukraine a federation.

The Party of Regions moved to opposition after its candidate, Viktor Yanukovych, lost the 2004 presidential election. The party leader 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. Also because Borys Kolesnykov, the head of the regional party branch and the Donetsk regional council, was arrested in April 2005 and charged with criminal extortion. The Party of Regions claims this is an act of political repression, while the authorities believe that Kolesnykov had links to organized crime and his arrest is a purely criminal matter. He has since been cleared of charges and released from pre-trial detention.

2006

At the parliamentary elections on 26 March, 2006, the party gained 32,12% of votes and 186 (out of 450) seats in (Ukraininas parlement) Verkhovna Rada, forming the largest parliamentary group. On July 6, 2006, the Socialist Party abandoned the "Orange Coalition" with Our Ukraine, and the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc. The new parliamentary majority was formed led by the Party of Regions and joined by the Communist Party. The "anti-crisis coalition," as it was named and announced on July 10, 2006 and nominated Viktor Yanukovych for the post of prime minister. The government was installed on December 28, 2004.

2007

On January 19, 2007, Yevhen Kushnaryov, one of the Party of Regions' leaders 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 the Party of Regions. [ [http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=11768533&PageNum=0] "ITAR-TASS"]

2007 Parliamentary Election results

At 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 December 18, 2007 the Party of Regions formed the parliamentary opposition.

ee also

* Viktor Yanukovych
* Rinat Akhmetov
* Yevhen Kushnaryov
* Politics of Ukraine

Footnotes and references

External links

* ru icon en icon [http://www.partyofregions.org.ua/ Official web site of the party]
* [http://smru.org.ua/ Official website of the youth wing of Party of Regions]