On 2 March 2013, there was an attempt to dissolve the party bySerhii Bondarchuk at one of the party congresses in Kyiv.[14] However, the same day other sections of the party claimed this congress was illegal and the real party congress would be held on 18 May 2013.[15] While never was officially listed under any status People's Union "Our Ukraine" was delisted as an observer in theEuropean People's Party, according to press release ofBatkivshchyna political party.[16] Youth Union Our Ukraine is the youth wing of the party.[17]
The party is the continuation of the electoral alliance of theViktor Yushchenko Bloc known as "Our Ukraine". The NSNU was formally launched on March 5, 2005 by the group of politicians appointed by the incumbentPresidentViktor Yushchenko, but it failed to attract most constituent parties that had been members of the previous bloc, which refused to be absorbed into the newly formed party.
The constituent congress, held in the capitalKyiv and attended by 6,000 delegates from all theregions of Ukraine, elected Yushchenko as honorary chairman (who received membership card No.1). Former deputyPrime MinisterRoman Bezsmertnyi was elected head of the party's Presidium andYuriy Yekhanurov as head of the party's Central Executive Committee.
In December 2008, theUkrainian Independent Information Agency (UNIAN) reported that the People's Union Our Ukraine andUnited Centre parties were to carry out a unifying congress on 17 January 2009. UNIAN also reported that thePeople's Democratic party may join the move.[18] However, neither of the events happened. In October 2008, the presidium of People’s Union Our Ukraine party had already decided not to team up with any other party for the proposedsnap parliamentary poll then theOur Ukraine–People's Self-Defense Bloc and had called the idea of teaming up with United Centre "impossible".[19][20]
TheKyiv branch of the party decided not to take part in the party congress of June 2009 because they found the party "destructive".[21][22]
A merging with other parties was discussed in September 2011 but was blocked by the party's council.[33]
Results in the 2012 elections
In a December 2011, poll byRating the party scored 1%.[34] Since then, the rating in various polls of the party stayed around 1%.[35][36][37]
The party announced that theUkrainian People's Party would be merged into the party in December 2011.[38] This process started mid-December 2011.[38] Both parties were expected to be unified in February 2012.[38] But by February 2013 Ukrainian People's Party was still an independent party.[39] Nevertheless, they both teamed up withCongress of Ukrainian Nationalists in the2012 Ukrainian parliamentary election.[40] In this election this combination won 1.11% of the national votes[41] and noconstituencies and thus failed to win parliamentary representation.[42] In this election Yushchenko headed the election list of Our Ukraine.[1] The party itself had competed in 25 constituencies and lost in all.[43][44]
On 2 March 2013, a party congress in Kyiv dissolved Our Ukraine.[14] However, the same day other sections of the party claimed this congress was illegal and that the "real" party congress would be held on 18 May 2013.[15] They claimed the 2 March congress was illegitimate because its organizer, Serhiy Bondarchuk is a former member of the party.[15][46] At the 2 March congress Bondarchuk urged to dissolve all current Ukrainianright wing extra-parliamentary parties and the creation of a single right-wing party.[46] Bondarchuk tried unsuccessfully to remove the registration of Our Ukraine at theMinistry of Justice; they did not accept his documents.[48][49] The remains of Our Ukraine re-registered its party members.[49][nb 1]On 6 September 2013, the party was deprived of its "observer status" in theEuropean People's Party[16] because "it did no more comply with the principles that the party declared when it joined the European People's Party".[51][nb 2]
The party did not participate in the2014 Ukrainian parliamentary election, it had intended to have a candidate in one single-seat constituency, but his registration was cancelled.[13][52]
In October 2017, theCommittee of Voters of Ukraine prepared an appeal to theNational Agency on Corruption Prevention with a request to check the activities of 21 parties including theMovement of New Forces and Our Ukraine because of the presence of signs of shadow financing. The reason for initiating the verification of Our Ukraine was the lack of reporting on the Agency's website for the second quarter of 2017.[53][54]
^Anders Åslund (2009),How Ukraine Became a Market Economy and Democracy, Peterson Institute for International Economics, p. 180
^Madalena Resende; Hendrik Kraetzschmar (2005), "Parties of Power as Roadblocks to Democracy: The Cases of Ukraine and Egypt",Democratisation in the European Neighbourhood, Centre for European Policy Studies, p. 160
^Natalia Shapovalova (2010), "Ukraine: A New Partnership",The European Union and Democracy Promotion, The Johns Hopkins University Press, p. 60
Media related toOur Ukraine at Wikimedia Commons
