Democratic Bloc (Ukraine)

The Democratic Bloc (Ukrainian: Демократичний Блок; Demokratychnyi Blok) was a political alliance and an electoral bloc in Ukraine founded during the election campaign to participate in the parliamentary election held in March 1990.

People's Council Народна Рада
Leader	Ihor Yukhnovskyi
Founded	1990 (1990)
Ideology	Liberal democracy Anti-communism
Political position	Big tent
Verkhovna Rada	125 / 442
Politics of Ukraine Political parties Elections

History

The elections in the spring of 1990 were the first where the Soviet-authorities allowed the formation of full-fledged political parties that varied in their political agendas.^[1] The first democratic bloc that consisted of smaller parties was formed during the election. The "Democratic Bloc" included the People's Movement of Ukraine (Rukh), Helsinki Watch Committee of Ukraine, Green World Association, and other organizations.^[2] It managed to obtain 111 seats out of 442 in Verkhovna Rada (Ukraine's parliament). The democratic deputies formed the "Narodna Rada" group, which consisted of around 90 to 125 members and was the opposition to the conservative-communist "group of 239" in the parliament ("for the sovereign Soviet Ukraine").^[3] Ihor Yukhnovskyi became the leader of the group. The considered lack of parliamentary seats for the "Democratic Bloc" became one of the causes of the October 1990 "Revolution on Granite".^{[4][nb 1]}

In the 1990 Ukrainian local elections "Democratic Bloc" won the elections in Lviv Oblast, Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast and Ternopil Oblast.^[8]

During the next parliamentary election of 1994 the above-mentioned parties didn't cooperate as "Democratic Bloc" but rather went their separate ways. Eventually, by the end of the 2000s, the People's Movement of Ukraine became part of the Our Ukraine block. Helsinki Watch Committee of Ukraine ceased to exist. Its 1990s offspring, Ukrainian Republican Party merged with Ukrainian People's Party and became part of Our Ukraine. The Green World Association transformed itself into the Party of Greens of Ukraine, but that party hasn't won any seats in the Ukrainian Parliament since the 1998 parliamentary election.

After the 2012 Ukrainian parliamentary election only People's Movement of Ukraine was represented in Verkhovna Rada.^{[9][10][11][12]} In the 2014 Ukrainian parliamentary election this party participated in 3 constituencies; but its candidates lost in all of them and thus the party won no parliamentary seats.^[13][14]

Notes

1. The October 1990 "Revolution on Granite" was the first of Ukraine's large-scale radical protest campaigns of Ukraine centered on Maidan Nezalezhnosti (the other ones being the 2001 "Ukraine without Kuchma", the 2004 Orange Revolution, and the 2013–14 Euromaidan).^[5][6][7]

References

1. Serhy Yekelchyk Ukraine: Birth of a Modern Nation, Oxford University Press (2007), ISBN 978-0-19-530546-3, page 187
2. Subtelny, Orest (2000). Ukraine: A History. University of Toronto Press. p. 577. ISBN 0-8020-8390-0.
3. "Trends of independence: Elections in Ukraine". kandydat.com.ua (in Ukrainian). February 1, 2006. Archived from the original on October 14, 2007. Retrieved 2008-03-02.
4. The lesson of the Revolution on Granite Archived 2021-04-15 at the Wayback Machine, Den (4 October 2016)
5. Why Ukraine Is So Important Archived 2014-02-14 at the Wayback Machine, Business Insider (28 January 2014)
   The Process of Politicization: How Much Politics Does a Society Need?, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2017, ISBN 1-4438-9628-4 (page 154)
6. Where does the key to political change lie in the post-Soviet space? Archived 2018-09-17 at the Wayback Machine, openDemocracy (23 August 2016)
7. The Conflict in Ukraine: What Everyone Needs to Know by Serhy Yekelchyk, Oxford University Press, 2015, ISBN 0190237279 (page 2)
8. "Результати виборів до Верховної Ради і місцевих рад 1990 р" [=Results of the elections to the Verkhovna Rada and local councils in 1990]. uahistory.co/. Archived from the original on June 24, 2021. Retrieved February 16, 2023.
9. Results of the vote count Archived 2013-01-11 at the Wayback Machine, Kyiv Post (9 November 2012)
10. They Call Themselves the Opposition Archived 2016-03-22 at the Wayback Machine, The Ukrainian Week (31 August 2012)
11. Opposition to form single list to participate in parliamentary elections Archived 2012-06-05 at the Wayback Machine, Kyiv Post (2 March 2012)
12. After the parliamentary elections in Ukraine: a tough victory for the Party of Regions Archived 2013-03-17 at the Wayback Machine, Centre for Eastern Studies (7 November 2012)
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 Archived 2014-11-12 at the Wayback Machine, Interfax-Ukraine (8 November 2014)
    Poroshenko Bloc to get 132 seats in parliament - CEC Archived 2019-04-04 at the Wayback Machine, Interfax-Ukraine (8 November 2014)
14. (in Ukrainian) Rukh candidates for constituency seats in the 2014 Ukrainian parliamentary election, RBK Ukraine