Strong Ukraine

Strong Ukraine (Ukrainian: Сильна Україна Syl'na Ukrajina); formerly the Labour Party Ukraine[7] (Ukrainian: Трудова партія України), is a political party in Ukraine that was re-established in April 2014.[2] It was originally registered in August 1999 and dissolved in March 2012[7] after it had merged with the Party of Regions on 17 March 2012.[8] Since late 2009 the party was and is the main vehicle of billionaire Serhiy Tihipko.[9] After the parties merger Tihipko became a member of the Party of Regions.[10] On 7 April 2014 the political council of this party expelled Tihipko from the Party of Regions.[11]

Strong Ukraine
Сильна Україна
LeaderSerhiy Tyhypko[1]
Founded23 April 2014[2](re-established)
19 June 1999[3]
IdeologyLiberalism[4]
Political positionCentre[4][5]
National affiliationOpposition Bloc (2019)
ColoursYellow and blue
Verkhovna Rada
0 / 450
Regions (2015)[6]
0 / 158,399
Website
silnaukraina.com

The party claimed to have over 80,000 members in mid-May 2010.[12]

In the 2014 Ukrainian parliamentary election the party won one constituency parliamentary seat.[13]

History

Labour Party Ukraine
Labour Party Ukraine logo
Not to be confused with Party of Labor (Ukraine) or Labour Ukraine.

Founded on 19 June 1999[3] as Labour Party Ukraine it did not participate in the legislative elections of 30 March 2002.[7]

In the 2006 elections, the party failed as part of "Bloc Borys Olijnyk and Myhailo Syrota" to win parliamentary representation (the Bloc won 0,08% of the votes).[7]

In the 2007 parliamentary elections the party was part of the Lytvyn Bloc alliance, that won 20 out of 450 seats.[7][14]

Re-branding and merger with Party of Regions
The party logo from November 2009 till the party obtained a new logo on 5 August 2014[15]

On 28 November 2009, at the 10th Congress, Labour Party Ukraine was renamed Strong Ukraine.[3]

Strong Ukraine endorsed its new leader Serhiy Tihipko (former partyleader of Labour Ukraine[16][17]), also elected in November 2009,[18] in the 2010 Ukrainian presidential election.[19] Fellow billionaire Oleksandr Kardakov was another influential member of the party.[20]

On 22 February 2010, during a party congress, the party announced it would compete in the 2012 Ukrainian parliamentary election not as part of the Lytvyn Bloc but in an electoral alliance with the party Information Ukraine.[18][21]

On 11 March 2010 party leader Tihipko was elected as one of six deputy Prime Ministers (in charge of economic issues[22]) in the Azarov Government.[23]

A March 2010 poll predicted that the party would get 7.3% of the vote at the 2012 Ukrainian parliamentary election.[24] A May 2010 poll by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology showed that the party had the greatest support among voters in central Ukraine (11%), and less supported in the west and south (7%); the lowest number of this party's supporters was in east Ukraine (5%).[25] At the 2010 local elections the party gained about 6% of the votes nationwide.[9]

In the 2010 local elections the party won representative in 20 of the 24 regional parliaments and in the Supreme Council of Crimea.[26]

In May 2011 the rating of the party had dropped to about 5% in election polls.[27][28]

In August 2011 Tihipko and Prime Minister (and a Party of Regions (POR) leader) Mykola Azarov announced that Strong Ukraine and POR are going to team up and eventually Strong Ukraine will be merged into POR.[29] Tihipko will become a POR member along with other Strong Ukraine representatives.[10][30][31][32] Mid-December 2011 Tihipko predicted the unification process would be completed late January 2012; but he also warned that if "problematic issues" would not be solved Strong Ukraine would not merge.[33] The parties merged on 17 March 2012.[8] According to Sociological group "RATING" the party would have collected 3.1% of the votes if Ukrainian parliamentary election would have occurred in February 2012.[34] In August 2012 experts believed potential voters of Tihipko and his Strong Ukraine! shifted their allegiance to Ukraine – Forward!.[35] In the 28 October 2012 parliamentary elections Ukraine – Forward won 1.58% of the national votes and no constituencies and thus failed to win parliamentary representation.[36]

Re-establishment
Party support (% of the votes cast) in different regions of Ukraine (in the 2014 election).

In March 2014 Tihipko became a self-nominated candidate for President of Ukraine in the 2014 presidential election.[37] On 29 March a Party of Regions convention supported Mykhailo Dobkin's nomination as a presidential candidate.[11] On 7 April 2014 the political council of the party expelled Tihipko from the party.[11] He then accused that the party had "been turned into a branch of a specific financial and industrial group, a private enterprise".[38] On 23 April 2014 Tihipko announced that Strong Ukraine would be revived and that its merger with Party of Regions had been "a mistake".[2]

On 5 August 2014 the party held its first Congress since its re-establishment.[1]

In the 2014 Ukrainian parliamentary election Tihipko headed the party list of the party, followed by former government minister Valeriy Khoroshkovskyi.[39] In the election the party failed to clear the 5% election threshold (it got 3.11% of the votes) but did win one constituency seat and thus one parliamentary seat.[13]

Ideology and stances

According to Tihipko the party is "patriotic but not nationalistic".[1] Tihipko has stated he wants to "unite the country".[1]

Concerning the War in Donbass, on 5 August 2014 Tihipko said that in March and April 2014 the Yatsenyuk Government wasted a chance to resolve the conflict through negotiations, and that by early August 2014 this was no longer an option. He also stated that "Terrorists" and their supporters in the east of the country had passed a "point of no return". He supports a professional Ukrainian army to prevent the conflict spreading to other parts of the country.[1] The party seeks a peaceful resolution to the conflict by negotiating with Russia through European mediators but not directly with the pro-Russian combatants.[40]

Election results

Verkhovna Rada
Year Party vote  % of popular vote Constituents won Overall seats won Seat change Government
2002 did not participate
0 / 225
0 / 450
 -
2006 Borys Olijnyk and Myhailo Syrota Bloc Party vote only
0 / 450
 -
2007 Lytvyn Bloc Party vote only
20 / 450
 Increase 20[lower-alpha 1] Coalition government
2012 merged with Party of Regions
0 / 225
0 / 450
 Decrease 20
2014 488,798 3.1
1 / 225
1 / 450
 Increase 1 Opposition
2019
0 / 225
0 / 450
 Decrease 1 Extra-parliamentary

Notes
  1. Seats distributed on party list between Strong Ukraine and People's Party

References
  1. (in Ukrainian) "Strong Ukraine" revived", gazeta.ua (8 August 2014)
  2. (in Ukrainian) Elections: Tihipko revived "Strong Ukraine" Archived 2014-10-26 at the Wayback Machine, TVi (23 April 2014)
    (in Ukrainian) Tihipko going to revive "Strong Ukraine", Den (23 April 2014)
  3. (in Ukrainian) Історія Партiї, Party Official Website
  4. Olszański, Tadeusz A. (17 September 2014). "Ukraine's political parties at the start of the election campaign". Centre for Eastern Studies.
  5. Nordsieck, Wolfram (2014). "Ukraine". Parties and Elections in Europe. Archived from the original on 12 June 2018. Retrieved 6 September 2018.
  6. Кандидати, яких обрано депутатами рад. cvk.gov.ua (in Ukrainian). 15 November 2015. Archived from the original on 13 November 2015. Retrieved 15 November 2015.
  7. (in Ukrainian) Політична партія "Сильна Україна", Database DATA
  8. Tigipko hooks up with Party of Regions, Kyiv Post (20 March 2012)
    Strong Ukraine party decides on disbanding to join Regions Party, Kyiv Post (17 March 2012)
  9. #23 Richest: Sergiy Tigipko, 50, Kyiv Post (December 17, 2010)
  10. Man With A Mission, Kyiv Post (October 7, 2011)
  11. Ukraine's Party of Regions expels presidential hopefuls Tigipko, Tsariov and Boiko, Interfax-Ukraine (7 April 2014)
  12. Strong Ukraine ready to unite with other political forces on reform basis, Kyiv Post (June 15, 2010)
  13. Poroshenko Bloc to have greatest number of seats in parliament Archived 2014-11-10 at the Wayback Machine, Ukrainian Television and Radio (8 November 2014)
    People's Front 0.33% ahead of Poroshenko Bloc with all ballots counted in Ukraine elections - CEC, Interfax-Ukraine (8 November 2014)
    Poroshenko Bloc to get 132 seats in parliament - CEC, Interfax-Ukraine (8 November 2014)
  14. (in Ukrainian) Трудова партія не підтримає Литвина на виборах Президента, Gazeta.ua (25 May 2009)
  15. (in Ukrainian) [Тігіпка переобрано головою оновленої партії "Сильна Україна" Tigipko re-elected renewed party "Strong Ukraine"], Interfax-Ukraine (5 August 2014)
  16. Trudova Ukraina elects a new chairman, Policy Documentation Center (27 November 2000)
  17. Keywords: Sergey Tigipko, Ukrainian Independent Information Agency
  18. (in Ukrainian) Партії "Сильна Україна" та "Інформаційна Україна" створили блок Сергія Тігіпка "Сильна Україна", Interfax Ukraine (February 22, 2009)
  19. Sylna Ukrayina party to support Tihipko in presidential elections, Kyiv Post (November 28, 2009)
  20. #45 Richest: Oleksandr Kardakov, 46, Kyiv Post (December 17, 2010)
  21. (in Ukrainian) Тігіпко створив свій виборчий блок, Gazeta.ua (February 22, 2010)
  22. Old Kuchma faces lead new government with Mykola Azarov as head, Kyiv Post (March 11, 2010)
  23. Ukraine's new government puts final nail in coffin of the Orange Revolution, The Guardian (March 11, 2010)
  24. Party Of Regions, Tymoshenko bloc, Strong Ukraine, Front for Change and Communist Party would get into parliament, Kyiv Post (April 12, 2010)
  25. Poll: Political forces of Tigipko, Yatseniuk, Communist Party in Top 5 of April rating of parties, Kyiv Post (May 12, 2010)
  26. (in Ukrainian) Results of the elections, preliminary data, on interactive maps by Ukrayinska Pravda (8 November 2010)
  27. If parliamentary elections were held next Sunday how would you vote? (recurrent poll, 2010-2011) Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine by Razumkov Centre
  28. Ratings of parties (recurrent poll, 2005-2011) by Sociological group "RATING"
  29. Azarov: Regions Party teams up with Strong Ukraine, Kyiv Post (August 16, 2011)
  30. Strong Ukraine postpones decision on merger with Regions Party, Kyiv Post (22 October 2011)
  31. Strong Ukraine to prepare its proposals to Regions Party on posts distribution, says Tigipko, Kyiv Post (22 October 2011)
  32. Kuzhel leaves Strong Ukraine, creates new civil movement, Kyiv Post (22 October 2011)
  33. (in Ukrainian) Тігіпко назвав причини, які перешкодять йому стати "регіоналом", Ukrayinska Pravda (16 December 2011)
  34. Electoral moods of the Ukrainian population: February 2012 Archived 2014-11-29 at the Wayback Machine, Sociological group "RATING" (March 5, 2012)
  35. Korolevska recruits acting, sports stars for campaign, Kyiv Post (Aug. 2, 2012)
  36. (in Ukrainian) Proportional votes Archived 2012-10-30 at the Wayback Machine & Constituency seats Archived 2012-11-05 at the Wayback Machine, Central Election Commission of Ukraine
  37. ,(March 27, 2014)
  38. Tigipko accuses Party of Regions of betraying interests of Ukraine, Interfax-Ukraine (7 April 2014)
  39. Ukraine Votes On Oct. 26 To Elect New Parliament, Kyiv Post (Oct. 24, 2014)
  40. (in Ukrainian) Speech by Serhiy Tihipko at Congress party "Strong Ukraine", Strong Ukraine official website (5 August 2014)
    Ukraine should negotiate with Russia with Europe's mediation — Ukrainian official, ITAR-TASS (5 August 2014)
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