Radical Party of Oleh Liashko
The Radical Party of Oleh Liashko (Ukrainian: Радикальна Партія Олега Ляшка, romanized: Radykal'na partiia Oleha Liashka, RPOL)[1] and formerly known as the Ukrainian Radical-Democratic Party (Ukrainian: Українська демократично-радикальна партія), is a political party in Ukraine[16] that was registered in September 2010.[1] It was primarily known for its radical populism, especially in the 2014 Ukrainian parliamentary election when it gained its largest support.[17]
Radical Party of Oleh Liashko Радикальна Партія Олега Ляшка | |
|---|---|
| Leader | Oleh Liashko[1] |
| Founded | 28 September 2010[1] |
| Headquarters | Kyiv |
| Ideology | |
| Political position | Left-wing[5][11][12][13] |
| Colours | Red |
| Verkhovna Rada[14] | 0 / 450 |
| Regions[15] | 582 / 43,122 |
| Website | |
| liashko | |
At the 2012 Ukrainian parliamentary election, the party had won 1 seat.[18] The party won 22 seats at the 2014 Ukrainian parliamentary election.[19][20] In the 2019 Ukrainian parliamentary election it lost all those seats.[21]
History edit
Ukrainian Radical-Democratic Party edit
The party was established at the founding congress in Mykolaiv on 18 August 2010 and was then named the Ukrainian Radical-Democratic Party.[22] Under this name, it was registered with the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine on 28 September 2010.[1][22] At the time, the party was led by Vladyslav Telipko.[22]
Radical Party of Oleh Liashko edit
During its third party congress on 8 August 2011, Oleh Liashko was elected the new party leader.[22] The same day, the party changed its name to the Radical Party of Oleh Liashko.[23]
At the 2012 Ukrainian parliamentary election, the party won 1.08% of the national votes and 1 constituency (it had competed in 28 constituencies)[24] for its leader Liashko,[25] who did not join a faction in the Verkhovna Rada.[26] The party was most successful in Chernihiv Oblast, where it received 10.69 percent of the vote, finishing fifth.[citation needed] The constituency that Liashko won was also located in Chernihiv Oblast.[citation needed]
According to political scientist Tadeusz A. Olszański, in mid-September 2014 the party was "a typical one-man party, centred around Oleh Liashko; its real organisational potential remains a mystery".[6] At the 2014 Ukrainian parliamentary election, the party's list was led by Liashko, with Serhii Melnychuk, commander of the Aidar Battalion, in third place, singer Zlata Ognevich in fourth place and Yurii Shukhevych, son of the military leader of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army Roman Shukhevych, in fifth place.[27] At the election, the party won 22 seats.[20] It received support from rural and regional voters who had previously supported Fatherland.[28]
On 21 November 2014, the party became a member of the coalition supporting the second Yatsenyuk government and sent one minister into this government.[29][30]
On 3 June 2015, the parliament stripped the party's MP Serhii Melnychuk of his parliamentary prosecutorial immunity rights as he was accused of forming a criminal gang, abductings and threatening people.[31]
The Radical Party left the second Yatsenyuk government coalition on 1 September 2015 in protest over a vote in parliament involving a change to the Ukrainian Constitution that would lead to decentralization and greater powers for areas held by pro-Russian separatists.[32] According to party leader Liashko, the party "can't stay in the coalition after anti-Ukrainian changes to the constitution, initiated by the president, were approved against the will of three parties of the coalition".[32] He was referring to his own party, Self Reliance and Fatherland.[33]
In the 2019 Ukrainian parliamentary election the party lost all its parliamentary seats, it gained about 1% too little to clear the 5% election threshold and also did not win an electoral district seat.[21] The party had participated in 65 single-mandate majority electoral districts.[34]
In the 2020 Ukrainian local elections 535 people won seats in local councils on behalf of the party, that is about 1.62% of the available seats.[35]
Ideology and stances edit
Observers had defined the party as left-wing,[36][37][38][39][40] right-wing,[41][42] and far-right.[43][44] However, political scientists such as Luke March,[45] Mattia Zulianello,[12] Paul Chaisty as well as Stephen Whitefield classify the party as left-wing,[46] and the 2017 Oxford Handbook of Populism also describes the party as left-wing.[11] Regarding the concerns of the Radical Party's hardline nationalist rhetoric, political analyst Georgy Chizhov argues: "Lyashko can hardly be considered a true nationalist; he does not go deep into the jungle of ideology and completely emasculates the essence of his appeals as glorious traditions of the past."[47] The Radical Party is centered on Liashko, who is known for his populism and highly combative behavior. The party advocates a number of traditional left-wing positions on economics[48][49][50] such as lower salary taxes, a ban on agricultural land sale and eliminating the illegal land market, a tenfold increase in budget spending on health and setting up primary health centres in every village[51] and mixes them with strong nationalist sentiments.[52] Anton Shekhovtsov of University College London considers Liashko's party to be similar to populist and nationalist.[53] A similar view is shared by political scientist Mattia Zulianello.[54] Political scientist Tadeusz A. Olszański described the party as liberal-nationalist, pro-European and populist.[55]
Liashko and his party combine radically left-wing economical stances with authoritarian and nationalist outlook on society. The party promotes the concept of a state as an active, authoritarian regulator of both the society and economy. The party supports extensive social welfare, protectionism as a way to support domestic industries, generous agricultural grants and implementation of state control on prices. One of the iconic proposals of the party is for the state to pay at least 5.000 hryvnias to every farmer for every cow owned, and to compensate 50% of farming equipment cost.[56]
The party has promised to purify the country of oligarchs "with a pitchfork".[57] It has proposed higher taxes on products manufactured by oligarchs and a crisis tax on the latter.[51] The party was described as presenting "left-wing, anti-oligarch economic policies previously associated with the Communist Party"; the similarity with the banned Communist Party is also similar because of the Radical Party's oppositional stance towards EU integration. Paul Chaisty and Stephen Whitefield noted that the party "took the same position as voters of right-wing and nationalist parties on the question of EU integration, suggesting no significant realignment of Communist voters in the East".[46]
The party wants to re-arm Ukraine with nuclear weapons.[57] The party also advocates an end to the Russo-Ukrainian War by the use of force.[6]
Amongst the proposals of the party is to ban Russophile parties such as the Communist Party of Ukraine and the Party of Regions.[58] Despite its anti-Russian positions, the party also supports localism and regional decentralization, arguing for the need to extend the authority of local governments.[59]
Party leader Liashko had stressed in May 2011 he had nothing against sexual minorities.[60] In a September 2015 interview with Ukrayinska Pravda, he stated that being an LGBT person "is the choice of each individual. I can not condemn".[61]
Party leaders edit
- Vladyslav Telipko (2010–2011)
- Oleh Liashko (2011–present)
Election results edit
Verkhovna Rada edit
| Year | Popular vote | % of popular vote | Overall seats won | Seat change | Government |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 221,136 | 1.08 | 1 / 450 | 1 | Opposition |
| 2014 | 1,171,697 | 7.45 | 22 / 450 | 21 | Coalition government (until 2015), Opposition (2015−19) |
| 2019 | 586,294 | 4.01 | 0 / 450 | 22 | Extra-parliamentary |
Presidential elections edit
| Election year | Candidate | No. of 1st round votes | % of 1st round vote | No. of 2nd round votes | % of 2nd round vote |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Oleh Liashko | 1,500,377 | 8.32 | ||
| 2019 | Oleh Liashko | 1,036,003 | 5.48 |
See also edit
References edit
- ^ a b c d e Політична партія «Радикальна Партія Олега Ляшка» [Political party «Radical Party of Oleh Liashko»] (in Ukrainian). DATA. Retrieved 29 November 2017.
- ^ Chopa, Viktor (19 July 2017). "Parliamentary elections in Ukraine: single-party majority and other options". Ukrinform. Kyiv.
The Radical Party with its left-wing and populist deviation, which has already tired the voters out, faces serious problems. Taking into account Liashko's rating of 5.48% in the presidential election, only the commitment of stable voters to this particular political figure can save all the "radicals" from political non-existence.
- ^ Ramani, Samuel (5 September 2017). "Interview with Former Aidar Battalion Commander and Ukrainian Rada Member Serhiy Melnychuk on "Myths" About the Aidar Battalion and Ukraine's Future". HuffPost.
Even though Melnychuk is now a political independent, he was elected in November 2014 as a representative of the Radical Party of Oleh Lyashko, a left-wing populist party which has considerable appeal in rural Ukraine.
- ^ Wierschke, Katherina M. (2020). Trends in Post-Soviet Media Consumption: Assessing Media Freedom and Russian Media Influence in Georgia and Ukraine (Thesis). Austin: University of Texas. pp. 80–81.
The major political parties consist of: (...) Radical (left-wing populist/nationalist) led by Oleh Lyashko; (...)
- ^ a b Chaisty, Paul; Whitefield, Stephen (2018). "Critical Election or Frozen Cleavages? How Voters Chose Parties in the 2014 Ukrainian Parliamentary Election". Electoral Studies. 56 (1): 162. doi:10.1016/j.electstud.2018.08.009.
Neither the emergence of a leftist populist party, the Radical Party, which sought to appeal to nationalist voters.
- ^ a b c Tadeusz A. Olszański (17 September 2014). "Ukraine's political parties at the start of the election campaign". OSW: Centre for Eastern Studies. Retrieved 29 November 2017.
- ^ "Ukraine MP injured in 'assassination attempt'". BBC News. 2017-10-25. Retrieved 2022-08-08.
- ^ "End Of The Orange-Blue Divide: Ukraine Vote May Produce New Political Landscape". RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty. Retrieved 2022-08-08.
- ^ "The political landscape is shifting in Ukraine". Retrieved 17 July 2023.
- ^ de Borja Lasheras, Francisco (22 December 2016). "Ukraine's rising Euroscepticism". European Council on Foreign Relations. Retrieved 26 August 2019.
- ^ a b Cristóbal Rovira Kaltwasser; Paul Taggart; Paulina Ochoa Espejo; Pierre Ostiguy (26 October 2017). The Oxford Handbook of Populism. Oxford Handbooks. Oxford University Press. p. 291. doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198803560.001.0001. ISBN 9780192525376.
A feature of the post-Soviet landscape is that radical left-wing quasi-populist forces have been as prevalent (perhaps more so) than those of the right. This is unsurprising, since across Europe, the post-Soviet radical left has become more populist, acting no longer as the vanguard of a (now diminished) proletariat but as the vox populi (e.g. March, 2011). Whereas many left-wing parties retain a strong socialist ideological core, there are other social populists whose populism has become a more systematic element of their ideological appeal. Lyashko (who came third in the 2014 presidential elections) represents a less ideological, but more incendiary, macho, and media-astute populism akin to a "radio shock jock" (e.g. Kozloff, 2015). He supports a folksy, peasant-based populism focusing on anti-corruption and higher taxes on the oligarchs.
- ^ a b Zulianello, Mattia (2020). "Varieties of Populist Parties and Party Systems in Europe: From State-of-the-Art to the Application of a Novel Classification Scheme to 66 Parties in 33 Countries". Government and Opposition. 55 (2): 6. doi:10.1017/gov.2019.21. hdl:11368/3001222. ISSN 1477-7053. - Listed as "Left-wing/national-social".
- ^ Sychova, Viktoriia (2019). "Soviet archetype in interaction authorities fnd political opposition as threat to national security of Ukraine". Public management. 18 (3): 454. doi:10.32689/2617-2224-2019-18-3-444-460.
Thus, the representative of the left forces, the leader of the Radical Party Oleg Lyashko, positioning himself as a "people's" president, in essence, hinted at the establishment of an authoritarian regime: "Lyashko will be in Ukraine like Lukashenka in Belarus. Everyone will fly like a thorny broom".
- ^ "Депутатські фракції і групи VII скликання" (in Ukrainian). "Deputy fractions and Groups". Verkhovna Rada official website.
- ^ Кандидати, яких обрано депутатами рад. www.cvk.gov.ua (in Ukrainian). 24 January 2020. Retrieved 24 January 2020.
- ^ "Lyashko: No sponsors, tycoons or deputies on election list of Radical Party". Kyiv Post. 8 August 2012. Retrieved 29 November 2017.
- ^ "A strong vote for reform: Ukraine after the parliamentary elections". OSW Centre for Eastern Studies. 2014-10-29. Retrieved 2022-06-16.
- ^ "Party of Regions gets 185 seats in Ukrainian parliament, Batkivschyna 101 - CEC". Interfax-Ukraine. 12 November 2012. Retrieved 29 November 2017.
- ^ Olena Goncharova; Ian Bateson (29 October 2014). "Poroshenko and Yatsenyuk's parties maneuver for lead role in coalition". Kyiv Post. Retrieved 29 November 2017.
"New Verkhovna Rada". Kyiv Post. 30 October 2014. Retrieved 29 November 2017. - ^ a b "Poroshenko Bloc to have greatest number of seats in parliament". Ukrainian Television and Radio. 8 November 2014. Retrieved 29 November 2017.
"People's Front 0.33% ahead of Poroshenko Bloc with all ballots counted in Ukraine elections - CEC". Interfax-Ukraine. 8 November 2014. Retrieved 29 November 2017.
"Poroshenko Bloc to get 132 seats in parliament - CEC". Interfax-Ukraine. 8 November 2014. Retrieved 29 November 2017. - ^ a b 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) - ^ a b c d Радикальна партія Олега Ляшка [Radical Party of Oleh Liashko] (in Ukrainian). RBC Ukraine. Retrieved 29 November 2017.
- ^ Олег Ляшко офіційно перейменував свою партію [Oleh Liashko officially renamed his party] (in Ukrainian). 24 News. 14 December 2011. Retrieved 29 November 2017.
- ^ Радикальна партія Олега Ляшка [Radical Party of Oleh Liashko] (in Ukrainian). RBC Ukraine. Retrieved 29 November 2017.
- ^ (in Ukrainian) Proportional votes 2012-10-30 at the Wayback Machine & Constituency seats 2012-11-05 at the Wayback Machine, Central Election Commission of Ukraine Retrieved 29 November 2017.
- ^ "National deputies of Ukraine:Oleh Liashko". Verkhovna Rada. Retrieved 29 November 2017.
- ^ "Ukraine Votes On Oct. 26 To Elect New Parliament". Kyiv Post. 24 October 2014. Retrieved 29 November 2017.
- ^ Tadeusz A. Olszański (29 October 2014), A strong vote for reform: Ukraine after the parliamentary elections, OSW—Centre for Eastern Studies, retrieved 29 November 2017
- ^ "Rada supports coalition-proposed government lineup". Interfax-Ukraine. 2 December 2014. Retrieved 29 November 2017.
"Rada approves new Cabinet with three foreigners". Kyiv Post. 2 December 2014. Retrieved 29 November 2017.
"Rada voted the new Cabinet" Рада проголосувала новий кабмін. Ukrayinska Pravda (in Ukrainian). 2 December 2014. Retrieved 29 November 2017. - ^ "Five political forces sign coalition agreement". Interfax-Ukraine. 21 November 2014. Retrieved 29 November 2017.
"Ukraine's parliamentary parties initial coalition agreement". Interfax-Ukraine. 21 November 2014. Retrieved 29 November 2017. - ^ "Ukrainian Parliament strips two MP's of their immunity from prosecution". Ukraine Today. 3 June 2015. Retrieved 29 November 2017.
- ^ a b "Ukraine Radical Party Quits Ruling Coalition After Deadly Clash". Bloomberg News. 1 September 2015. Retrieved 29 November 2017.
- ^ . Jane's Information Group. 3 September 2015. Archived from the original on 5 September 2015. Retrieved 15 September 2015.
- ^ "Електоральна пам'ять". ukr.vote.
- ^ (in Ukrainian) The CEC showed the top 10 parties that won the most seats in the election, Ukrayinska Pravda (18 November 2020)
- ^ Beswick, Emma (2016-11-14). "Ukrainian MPs fistfight in parliament...again". Euronews. Retrieved 2022-08-08.
- ^ Cura, Ali (2016-11-15). "Ukrainian politicians fight in parliament". Anadolu Agency. Retrieved 2022-08-08.
- ^ Chopa, Viktor (19 July 2017). "Parliamentary elections in Ukraine: single-party majority and other options". Ukrinform. Kyiv.
- ^ Ramani, Samuel (5 September 2017). "Interview with Former Aidar Battalion Commander and Ukrainian Rada Member Serhiy Melnychuk on "Myths" About the Aidar Battalion and Ukraine's Future". HuffPost.
- ^ Wierschke, Katherina M. (2020). Trends in Post-Soviet Media Consumption: Assessing Media Freedom and Russian Media Influence in Georgia and Ukraine (Thesis). Austin: University of Texas. pp. 80–81.
- ^ "Right-wing Radical Party to leave Ukrainian parliamentary coalition". The Globe and Mail. 2015-09-01. Retrieved 2022-08-08.
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- ^ March, Luke (2017). Populism in Post-Soviet States. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 214–231. ISBN 0198803567.
- ^ a b Chaisty, Paul; Whitefield, Stephen (2018). "Critical Election or Frozen Cleavages? How Voters Chose Parties in the 2014 Ukrainian Parliamentary Election". Electoral Studies. 56 (1): 158–169. doi:10.1016/j.electstud.2018.08.009.
- ^ Chizhov, Georgy (2018). Claudia Crawford; Boris Makarenko; Nikolay Petrov (eds.). Populism as a Common Challenge. Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung e.V. ISBN 978-5-8243-2210-1.
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- ^ a b "The Communist Party May Be on Its Last Legs, But Social Populism is Still Alive". The Ukrainian Week. 23 October 2014. Retrieved 29 November 2017.
- ^ David M. Herszenhorn (24 October 2014). "With Stunts and Vigilante Escapades, a Populist Gains Ground in Ukraine". The New York Times. Retrieved 29 November 2017.
- ^ Shekhovtsov, Anton (2014-05-29). "Ukraine's presidential election and the far right". Anton Shekhovtsov's blog.
- ^ Zulianello, Mattia (2019). "Varieties of Populist Parties and Party Systems in Europe: From State-of-the-Art to the Application of a Novel Classification Scheme to 66 Parties in 33 Countries" (PDF). Government and Opposition: 6.
- ^ Olszański, Tadeusz A. [in Polish] (17 September 2014). "Ukraine's political parties at the start of the election campaign". Centre for Eastern Studies.
- ^ Ludwig Gorondi; Tymofii Brik; Lesya Grabova; Kostyantyn Fedorenko; Taras Tarasyuk; Denys Tereshchenko; Romi More; Marta Kobrynovich; Andrii Tiazhkyi. "Between Chávez and Merkel: The political ideology of Ukraine's next president".
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- ^ Chope, Christopher (17 November 2014). "Observation of the early parliamentary elections in Ukraine (26 October 2014)". Ad hoc Committee of the Bureau.
- ^ Kuzyshyn, Andrii; Poplavska, Inna (2022). "Peculiarities of Ukraine's population's political identity through the prism of results of electoral preferences". Journal of Geography, Politics and Society. 12 (1): 34-43.
- ^ "A. Lyashko: each of us a role to play". Ukrainian National News. May 19, 2011. from the original on November 26, 2014. Retrieved May 24, 2014.
- ^ "З усіх вил: звідки взявся та до чого дійшов Олег Ляшко" (in Russian). "Of all the twisted, and where did what came Oleh Liashko". Ukrayinska Pravda. 18 September 2015. Retrieved 24 March 2019.
External links edit
- Media related to Radical Party of Oleh Liashko at Wikimedia Commons
- Official website (in Ukrainian)