Socialist Party of Ukraine

The Socialist Party of Ukraine (Соціалістична Партія України/Sotsialistychna Partiya Ukrainy) is a Socialist political party in Ukraine and part of the Verkhovna Rada from 1994 to 2007.

It is one of the oldest parties and was created by the former members of the Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of Ukraine in late 1991 when the Communist Party was banned. In August 1991 Leonid Kravchuk as the chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine signed several important documents among which was the disbandment (August 26) and later the prohibition (August 30) of communist parties. The Socialist Party was registered on November 25, 1991 under registration number 157. The first leader of the Party became the former leader of the Communist majority in the Verkhovna Rada, known as the Group 249, Oleksander Moroz.

On June 19, 1993 a constituent congress of the recreated Communist Party of Ukraine took place in Donetsk that proclaimed itself a direct inheritor of the Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of Ukraine. After the recreation of the Communists a substantial number of the former Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of Ukraine members left the Socialist Party. The Communist Party, however, finally registered in October of 1993. In December of 1993 the Socialists proclaimed to be in the opposition to the government of Leonid Kuchma and the President Leonid Kravchuk. On the presidential elections of 1994 the Socialists leader Moroz was supported by both his party and the Communist Party. The Socialist party became notorious for its support in the central regions of Ukraine in the 1990s and 2000s.

Oleksander Moroz lead the party for 20 years, in July 2010 he was succeeded by Vasyl Tsushko.

1994 parliamentary election
In the rounds of the 1994 parliamentary election the party won 14 seats. By mid-1994 the party controlled a parliamentary faction of 25 deputies.

1998 parliamentary election
The party stood for election in 1998 in an electoral bloc with the Peasants' Party of Ukraine. The block won 8,55% of the votes and 29 proportional seats and 5 individual seats out of 450 seats in the Verkhovna Rada.

2002 parliamentary election
At the parliamentary elections on 30 March 2002, the party won 6.9% of the popular vote, and 24 out of 450 seats in the Verkhovna Rada. The party had a limited aces to media in the campaign.

Late 2002 Moroz, Viktor Yushchenko (Our Ukraine), Petro Symonenko (Communist Party of Ukraine) and Yulia Tymoshenko (Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc) issued a joint statement concerning "the beginning of a state revolution in Ukraine". The communist stept out of the alliance, Symonenko was against a single candidate from the alliance in the Ukrainian presidential election 2004, but the other three party's remained allies (until July 2006).

2006 parliamentary election


The Socialist Party received 5.67% of the national vote during the parliamentary elections held on 26 March 2006, securing 33 seats in Parliament. The Socialist Party of Ukraine was expected to form a governing governing coalition with Yulia Tymoshenko and Our Ukraine. However after 3 months of negotiation agreement could not be finalized with Our Ukraine challenging Moroz's appointment as Chairman of Parliament.

The Socialist Party then agreed to the formation of an "Anti Crisis" coalition with Party of Regions and the Communist Party following the election of Oleksander Moroz as Chairman of parliament in July 2006. The newly formed governing coalition elected Viktor Yanukovych as Prime minister of Ukraine and was later renamed the Alliance of National Unity. President of Ukraine Yushchenko dissolved parliament on 2 April 2007 because he believed the government was acting illegally during the 2007 Ukrainian political crisis.

In a press conference in November 2009 Moroz stated he had no regrets about joining the "Anti Crisis coalition": "I'm not ashamed but proud of the fact that I managed to halt the crisis of power. The economy operated normal and, the parliament adopted 80% of the laws [it considered] by a constitutional majority of votes. We were close to the decentralization of power. That's why Tymoshenko and Yushchenko's supporters forced the president to dismiss the parliament and remove me and my political forces illegally".

2007 parliamentary election
At the 2007 parliamentary elections the party's vote share collapsed. The Socialist Party of Ukraine failed to secure parliamentary representation having received only 2.86% of the total national vote (0.14% short of the required minimum 3% representation threshold).

2012 parliamentary election
A March 2010 poll predicted that the party would get 0.2% of the vote at the 2012 Ukrainian parliamentary election. In the 2010 local elections the parties electoral misfortunes continued, winning few votes and securing little to no representatives in regional parliaments across Ukraine (winning representatives in 11 Ukrainian Oblasts parliaments in total), except in the Chernihiv Oblast and Poltava Oblast where they won 11% and 5,8% of the votes.

Socialist Party in presidential elections
The party's candidate for the 1999 presidential elections, Oleksander Moroz, came third, with 11.3% of the vote in the first round. Oleksander Moroz also participated in the 2004 presidential election - first round ballot where he again came in third place, receiving 5.82% of the vote, and subsequently transferred his support to Viktor Yuschenko in the final run-off ballots.

Ukrainian presidential election, 2010
The Socialist Party of Ukraine has chosen Oleksandr Moroz as their presidential candidate for the next Presidential election, scheduled to be held on January 17, 2010. 268 out of 422 party congress delegates registered supported the Moroz's nomination.

Opinion Polls
Public Opinion Polls have not rated the Socialist Party of Ukraine or its leader Olexandr Moroz as they were undecided as to their participation in the Ukrainian Presidential election In 2005 Moroz received 5.8% of the national vote. An Opinion poll conducted by FOM-Ukraine in April 2009 shows Moroz with less than 1% support with most analysts considering Moroz not a serious contender as he would not win sufficient number of votes in the first-round presidential ballot, scheduled for January 17, 2010.