Communist Party of Ukraine

The Communist Party of Ukraine (Ukrainian: Комуністична Партія України or KPU) is a left political party in Ukraine. It supports pre-reformist Soviet communist policies.

Founded 18 April 1918, the party was disbanded and outlawed on 30 August 1991 after accusations of its members co-organizing and supporting the coup in Moscow. In the days of the Soviet Union, it was one of the largest and most resilient Communist Parties in Europe.

The party re-registered in 1993. It currently has about 130-150 thousand members, mainly in the east and south of the country.

In the national elections of spring 2006, the party received about 3.5% of the vote, winning 21 seats in parliament. In July 2006, the KPU signed a coalition agreement with the Party of Regions and Socialist Party. However, in the elections in 2007, the party increased their share to 5.39% of votes and won 27 seats in the Supreme Council. In the 2012 Ukrainian parliamentary elections, the party received 13.18% of the national votes, winning 32 seats. Independent candidate Oksana Kaletnyk joined the Communist parliamentary faction on 12 December 2012.

The party is regarded as pro-Kremlin, and campaigns to make Russian an official second language of Ukraine. It also vows to fight against the "robbery of the Ukrainian people" by oligarchic capitalist clans that have arisen since the fall of the USSR.

Коммунистическая партия Украины