Liberty (political party)

Liberty (Ukrainian: Воля; Volia) is a Ukrainian political party registered in 2010. In April 2017 it announced about merging with Movement of New Forces.[1][2] In December 2018, however, it reversed this decision.[3]

For the extinct animal the same name, see Volia.
Volia logo.

History

In August 2009, the party was created under the name "Party of Ukrainian youth" (Ukrainian: Партія української молоді).[2][4]

In June 2014, Verkhovna Rada MP Yury Derevyanko was a member of the party.[2] Derevyanko was one of the authors of the law on lustration in Ukraine.[5] In June 2014, it appeared that Viktoria Siumar would lead the party; but she joined People's Front soon after.[2][6]

The party participated in the 2014 elections to the Verkhovna Rada.[2][7] At the time, the Volia candidates were included in the election list of Self Reliance (one of its members on the party list of People's Front[8]) and the party ran independent in constituencies (with a first-past-the-post electoral system in one round (candidate with the highest vote total wins)).[7][8][9][10][11] This way the party won 1 parliamentary seat when Derevyanko won single-member districts number 87 (first-past-the-post wins a parliament seat) located in Nadvirna.[12] He won a parliamentary seat by winning this constituency with 69.67% of the votes.[12] Following the election, Derevyanko stated the party would start its own parliamentary group to defend its “principles, values and political promises”; because of this, other elected (into parliament) members left the party on 9 November 2014.[8] However, no such faction was created.[13][14] But in the parliament, Volia did end its collaboration with Self Reliance due to "unsatisfactory cooperation" and the claim that certain members of Self Reliance had not met the "lustration, moral and ethical criteria."[1][15] This resulted in a split within the party in late 2014 where all members elected on the ballot of Self Reliance remained in the ranks of this party, while Derevyanko remained the only deputy from Volia in parliament.[15]

In April 2017, the party announced merging with Movement of New Forces.[1] In December 2018, however, it reversed this decision. Derevyanko stated Volia would not merge because Movement of New Forces leader Mikheil Saakashvili was more interested in his native Georgia than in Ukrainian politics.[3] Derevyanko also claimed that 90% of local council members of Movement of New Forces had joined Volia.[15]

The party failed to win both national elections in 2019.[16] Party leader Derevyanko was the party's (unsuccessful with 0.10% in the first round of the election[17][16]) candidate in the 2019 Ukrainian presidential election.[18] Viola failed to win any parliamentary seats in the 2019 Ukrainian parliamentary election.[19] The party had 4 candidates in constituencies, but none of them won a parliamentary seat (their best performing candidate gained 1.08%).[16]

In the 2020 Ukrainian local elections the party gained 12 deputies (0.02% of all available mandates).[20]

See also
  • Category:Liberty (political party) politicians

References
  1. (in Ukrainian) Saakashvili has teamed up with the party "Freedom", Espreso TV (19 April 2017)
  2. Sobolev Syumar will lead to a new party elections, LB.ua (June 21, 2014)
  3. (in Ukrainian) Derevyanko said that he was leaving the Saakashvili party, Ukrayinska Pravda (24 December 2018)
  4. (in Ukrainian) In Ukraine registered the new party - "Party of Ukrainian Youth", DA-TA
  5. Lustration law faces sabotage, legal hurdles, Kyiv Post (Oct. 23, 2014)
  6. People's Front names top ten candidates in elections, Ukrinform (15 sep. 2014)
  7. Poroshenko Bloc candidates leading in 64 single-seat constituencies - CEC, Interfax-Ukraine (27 October 2014)
  8. Young post-revolution party splits before parliament convenes, Kyiv Post (Nov. 10, 2014)
  9. Parliament passes law on parliamentary elections, Kyiv Post (17 November 2011)
  10. Draft Law on the election of members of Parliament of Ukraine Archived 2013-01-17 at the Wayback Machine, Venice Commission (28 June 2011)
  11. The Distorted Will of the People, The Ukrainian Week (5 November 2012)
  12. Data on vote counting at precincts within single-mandate districts Extraordinary parliamentary election on 26.10.2014 Archived 2014-10-29 at the Wayback Machine, Central Election Commission of Ukraine
  13. (in Ukrainian) In Parliament created a faction, Ukrayinska Pravda (27 November 2014)
  14. (in Ukrainian) Депутатські фракції і групи VIII скликання Deputy fractions and Groups VIII convocation, Verkhovna Rada
  15. "Derevyanko betray Saakashvili? The MP left the Movement of New Forces". glavcom.ua (in Ukrainian). 24 December 2018.
  16. "Електоральна пам'ять". ukr.vote.
  17. "Електоральна пам'ять". ukr.vote.
  18. "Number of candidates for presidency of Ukraine grows to record high - KyivPost - Ukraine's Global Voice". February 2, 2019.
  19. CEC counts 100 percent of vote in Ukraine's parliamentary elections, Ukrinform (26 July 2019)
    (in Russian) Results of the extraordinary elections of the People's Deputies of Ukraine 2019, Ukrayinska Pravda (21 July 2019)
  20. "Results of the 2020 Ukrainian local elections on the official web-server of the". Central Election Commission of Ukraine (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 12 January 2021.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.