Voice Голос | |
|---|---|
  | |
| Leader | Kira Rudik |
| Vice leader | Inna Sovsun |
| Faction leader | Oleksandra Ustinova |
| Founder | Svyatoslav Vakarchuk |
| Founded | 16 May 2019; 6 years ago (2019-05-16) |
| Preceded by | Platform of Initiatives[1] |
| Headquarters | Kyiv,Ukraine |
| Membership(2021) | c. 500[nb 1][dubious –discuss] |
| Ideology | |
| Political position | Centre-right[8] |
| European affiliation | Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe[9] |
| International affiliation | Liberal International (observer) |
| Colours | Orange |
| Slogan | The party of real changes |
| Verkhovna Rada | 20 / 450 |
| Regions[10] | 338 / 43,122 |
| Website | |
| goloszmin | |
Holos (Ukrainian:Голос,pronounced[ˈɦɔlos]ⓘ,lit. 'Voice' or'Vote') is aliberal andpro-Europeanpolitical party inUkraine, led byKira Rudik. The group was founded by Ukrainian musicianSvyatoslav Vakarchuk in May 2019.[11]
The party won 20 seats in the2019 parliamentary election,[12][13] becoming part of the opposition in the9th Ukrainian parliament.[14][15] An observer-member ofLiberal International, Holos is the first party with liberal ideology to enter the Ukrainian Parliament and form a faction. After the local elections in 2020, the party gained 350 seats in the local councils.
The name of the party has two meanings in theUkrainian language:voice andvote. The founder of the party,Svyatoslav Vakarchuk, said that the name of the party was chosen because this word characterizes Ukrainian voters and their desire for change in the country:[16]
It has two meanings, and both are very important to us. <...> Because Voice is their [the voters'] voice, by which they demonstrate a desire for change, it is their voice of change. On the other hand, it is their vote, that they can cast [in elections]. <...> The voice, in fact, characterizes Ukrainian voters and their desire for change. What else, if not the voice?
The party was presented to the public on 16 May 2019 inKyiv and announced it would run in the upcomingJuly 2019 Ukrainian parliamentary election.[17] Legally, Holos is an "upgraded" version of the party "Platform of Initiatives" that was founded in 2015 to take part in the2015 Ukrainian local elections.[1] The creation of the party marks Vakarchuk's second venture into politics – he previously served as an MP for almost a year after being elected in the2007 Ukrainian parliamentary election.[18]
The party was first featured in theopinion polling carried out from 16 to 21 May 2019, its rating was 4.6%.[19]
The party held its first congress on 8 June 2019, at which part of its party list for the forthcoming elections was announced.[20][21] The top 10 candidates were as follows: 1) Svyatoslav Vakarchuk, 2) Yulia Klimenko, 3) Kira Rudik, 4) Yaroslav Zheleznyak, 5) Oleksandra Ustinova, 6)Oleh Makarov, 7) Yaroslav Yurchyshyn, 8) Serhiy Rakhmanin, 9) Solomiya Bobrovska, and 10) Olha Stefanyshyna. Prior to the congress, theUkrainian Galician Party and Voice agreed to cooperate, Ukrainian Galician Party members ran as Voice candidates insingle-member constituencies and were added to Voice's nationalelectoral list.[22][23] On 12 June, the party withdrew two of its constituency candidates because they had "affiliated with or co-operated withpro-Russian forces", namelyUkrainian Choice and theOpposition Bloc.[24] Party leader Vakarchuk had assured on 19 May 2019 that no incumbentMPs would be on the party's list for the 2019 parliamentary election. However, such deputies, whose political views coincided with the party's ideology, were allowed to be elected by majority constituencies.[25] In the election, four incumbent MPs stood as candidates for the party in majority constituencies:Victoria Voytsitska,Pavlo Rizanenko,Victoria Ptashnyk, andLeonid Yemets.[26] None of them were elected.[13][27]
In the 2019 parliamentary election, Voice finished with 5.82% of the vote, 17 MPs elected nationwide and three MPs elected in a constituency.[12][13][28] 47.6% of the party's elected deputies are women.[29]
On 11 March 2020, Vakarchuk stepped aside as head of the party. Voice selectedKira Rudik as its new leader.[15] Vakarchuk left parliament in June 2020, stating that his "mission" (bringing new people with new politics into parliament) was complete.[30][31][32]
The party was admitted to theAlliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) on 18 November 2020.[9]
In the October2020 Ukrainian local elections, Voice had some local success, having led its factions to theLviv Oblast Council, to the city councils ofKyiv,Lviv,Cherkasy, and a number of other city councils, including even in theDonbas.[33] The party's mayoral candidate made it to the second round of the election in Cherkasy, which he lost.[33][34]
In June 2021, 10 of the party's 20 MPs announced that they would create a separate association namedJustice (Ukrainian:Справедливість;Spravedlyvist) and expressed their lack of confidence in faction leader Yaroslav Zhelezniak.[35] In addition, three of the party's regional branches called on party leader Kira Rudyk to resign and demanded that the party hold a congress to select a new leader.[36] The party responded by admitting that it was "going through a difficult period" and announcing a congress at which the conflict within Voice will be addressed.[37] The split was triggered by the decision of five of the party's MPs (including Rudyk and Zhelezniak) to vote in favour of theruling party's initiative to delay the introduction ofUkrainian language quotas for the country'sfilm industry; the dissenting MPs called this "betrayal" and a "vote forRussification".[38]
In late July 2021, a group made up of 11 of the party's MPs attempted to replace faction leader Yaroslav Zhelezniak with his deputy, Roman Kostenko as acting head of the faction.[39] This move failed because for the faction leader to be replaced, firstly two-thirds of the faction have to vote (in this case, 14 MPs), and secondly such a decision can only be made at a faction meeting.[40] A statement countering the attempt was signed by the remaining MPs, including Zhelezniak and Kostenko.[40]
At the party congress of 29 July 2021 it was decided to expel seven of the party MPs.[41] Five of the expelled MPs had already written statements to leave the party.[41] The expelled members were dissatisfied with, according to them, the "cementing of Kira Rudyk's control over the party."[41] At the same meeting, 86% of the delegates expressed their confidence in Rudyk as the party leader.[42]
As of September 2021, only nine of the party's 20 seats in theVerkhovna Rada (Ukraine's national parliament) are held by MPs who are loyal to the party; the remaining 11 are held by MPs who are part ofSpravedlyvist.[43]
On 15 December 2021, Voice lost its appeal to theSupreme Court of Ukraine to rollback the January 2021 blocking of the payment of state funds to the party's accounts by theNational Agency for Prevention of Corruption (NAPC).[44] The court verdict remanded the case for retrial, but allowed the NAPC to continue blocking the funds.[44] After the violations were eliminated, the NACP resumed the funding.[45]
On 2 February 2022, party leader Kira Rudyk stated that a criminal case had been opened against the party regarding its economic activities.[46] In comments on the party's official site Rudyk stated that the case was politically motivated, and that Ukraine'sState Bureau of Investigation was "systematically attempting to muzzle those who criticise the government while ignoring cases involving 'Ze-friends'".[47][48]
In June 2024 the NACP stopped the national (state) funding of the party due to (alleged) incorrect information in its reports to amount of almost 5 millionhryvnias.[49] TheSupreme Court of Ukraine confirmed the legality of the decision of the NACP to stop state funding of the party on 11 October 2024.[50][45]
The party declares a democratic approach, supporting the separation of money from politics.[51][52] In economic matters, the party is in favor of introducing a tax on withdrawn capital, a land market, privatization of state-owned enterprises, and the fight against illegal customs and tax schemes.[53]
Party leader Vakarchuk stated on 10 June 2019 that the party wants to abolish the current Ukrainian election constituencies (in which 225 seats are elected inconstituencies with afirst-past-the-post electoral system in one round),[54][55] instead favoring a shift to fullopen listproportional representation.
According to the analysis of human rights activist Volodymyr Yavorsky, the party's program pays great attention to human rights, while there are no populist statements in it.[56]
According to experts from the Center for Economic Strategy Dmytro Yablonovsky and Daria Mikhailishin, the program focuses on combating corruption through de-oligarchization and by increasing the efficiency of the state through the introduction of modern technologies.[57]
In November 2019, the party's parliamentary faction stated that because Ukraine could not regain control of separatistDonetsk People's Republic andLuhansk People's Republic andRussian annexedCrimea it should "freeze the conflicts", abandon theMinsk Agreements and focus on strengthening its own positions.[58][14]
In October 2020, the party claimed that Russia must pay $500 billion in reparations to cover the damage it has caused to theDonbas since 2014.[59]
On the morning of February 24, 2022, Holos faction was present in the Verkhovna Rada in full (except for one — MP Oleksandra Ustinova, who at that time was on a business trip) and voted for the draft laws[60] important for security and defense of Ukraine. Besides, two faction’s MPs were the first[61] among all the parliamentarians who went to the front from the very first day of the full-scale Russian invasion: they are Roman Kostenko and Roman Lozynskyi. For security reasons, the party does not provide information about other members of Holos party who joined the Defense Forces of Ukraine but did not announce it publicly.
Since February 24, Holos has been actively working in the Verkhovna Rada, in local representative offices, and at the level of inter-parliamentary diplomacy. In addition, representatives of Holos conduct active volunteer activities and attract international aid.
In early May 2023, Holos joined[62] the world federation of liberal-democratic partiesLiberal International.[63] According to party leader Kira Rudik, Holos has been working with many countries (in particular, the African Liberal Alliance,Taiwan, and countries of Latin America) in order to ensure long-term support for Ukraine.
In 2022, Kira Rudik was elected Vice President[64] of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE).[65] Kira Rudik became the first representative of a non-EU country in this position. The Ukrainian politician set such tasks:
During ALDE membership, Holos initiated resolutions in support of Ukraine. In particular, in June 2024, the ALDE Council in Vilnius[66] adopted a document on unquestioning support for Ukraine, in which European liberals called to:
| No. | Image | Name | Start date | End date | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. |  | Svyatoslav Vakarchuk | 16 May 2019 | 11 March 2020 | 300 days |
| 2. |  | Kira Rudik | 11 March 2020 | Incumbent | 5 years, 259 days |
| No. | Image | Name | Start date | End date | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. |  | Serhiy Rakhmanin | 29 August 2019[14] | 28 December 2020 | 1 year, 121 days |
| 2. |  | Yaroslav Zheleznyak | 28 December 2020[67] | 17 December 2021 | 354 days |
| 3. |  | Oleksandra Ustinova | 17 December 2021[68] | Incumbent |
| Year | Leader | Popular vote | % of popular vote | Position | Overall seats won | +/- | Government |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Svyatoslav Vakarchuk | 849,085 | 5.82 | 5th | 20 / 450 | New | Opposition |
Держава для людини, а не громадянин для чиновника (p.11)
