Opposition bloc (party)

On September 9, 2014, a round table “Peace. Stability. Renaissance ” ^{[6] [7]} , which was attended by over 50 participants: representatives of political parties, in particular the Party of Regions ( Boris Kolesnikov ) and the Development Party of Ukraine ( Yuri Miroshnichenko , Sergey Larin ), public and trade union organizations, well-known experts (Andrey Ermolaev, Irina Akimova ), political scientists ( Vadim Karasev , Konstantin (Kost) Bondarenko, Oleg Popov), public figures (Larisa Skorik, Boris Oleinik), industrialists, farmers and creative intelligentsia. The moderator of the round table was a member of the political council of the "Development Party" Yuri Pavlenko .

The participants in the round table discussed the current situation in the east of the country, the inaction of the authorities in the economic and social spheres. Following the results of the round table, a memorandum was adopted in which participants called on everyone to unite in a single political movement to participate in the 2014 parliamentary elections in order to save the country. Also, the chairman of the Executive Committee of the Development Party, Sergey Larin, announced the holding of a forum at which a decision will be made on the unification of opposition forces ^[8] .

On September 12, the leader of the Strong Ukraine party, Sergey Tigipko, said that the Opposition Bloc was proposing cooperation in the parliamentary elections. But the politician refused this because of the desire to independently participate in the elections - in addition, according to him, representatives of the Opposition bloc proposed including a number of politicians who “tarnished their reputation” ^[9] .

On September 14, a forum was held in Kiev under the slogan “Peace. Stability. Renaissance ”, which was attended by six political parties:“ The Development Party of Ukraine ”, the“ Center ”party (leader Vadim Rabinovich),“ New Politics ”,“ State Neutrality ”,“ Ukraine - Forward! ”,“ Labor Ukraine ”and about 50 public organizations. ^[ten]

The forum participants adopted a software platform in which it was stated that the “Opposition Bloc” advocates the neutrality and preservation of Ukraine’s non-aligned status, and a resolution in which they demanded peace from the President of Ukraine and an end to the bloodshed, the resignation of the government, the dissolution and prohibition of illegal armed groups, bringing to justice those responsible for shelling settlements in the east of the country ^[11] . On September 15, a technical congress of the “Opposition Bloc” was held, at which the electoral list was approved ^[12] .

On September 21, 2014, the party “Opposition Bloc” was led by former Minister of Fuel and Energy Yuri Boyko ^[13] , who announced plans to abolish pension reform, parliamentary immunity and provide communities with the right to recall people's deputies ^[14] .

On October 9, the party announced the creation of a public movement to protect the rights of people affected by the adoption of the law “On the purification of power” ^[15] .

In the Verkhovna Rada, the faction criticizes laws allowing the Cabinet to introduce a moratorium on payments of Ukraine’s external debt ^[16] , laws on decommunization ^[17] . He considers the blockade of the territory of Donbass, not controlled by Ukraine, unacceptable ^[18] . He proposes to solve the issue of opening the agricultural land market at the All-Ukrainian referendum ^[19] .

The party proposed the following amendments to the Constitution of Ukraine ^[20] :

• Provide "more rights for the regions within the framework of the independence and territorial integrity of the country . "
• Make Ukraine a parliamentary republic with a bicameral parliament - the National Assembly, which includes the House of Representatives (35 people) and the Chamber of Deputies (150 people).
• Transfer of the capital from Kiev to the city of Kanev .
• The prohibition of direct presidential elections and the transfer of this right to deputies.

After the majority of the deputies from the “Opposition Bloc” did not support the resignation of the Yatsenyuk government in February 2016, it was suggested that the party can no longer call itself opposition, since it has actually betrayed its voters and turned into a pro-government ^[21] .

On March 16, 2016, the faction of the Opposition Bloc and the Ukrainian Maritime Party of Sergey Kivalov of the Odessa City Council created the Za Porto-Franco group, which advocated conducting an “economic experiment” on the territory of Odessa, involving the expansion of the rights of the City Council and the introduction of special tax and customs regimes ( leader of the Ukrainian Maritime Party, a former member of the Party of Regions Sergey Kivalov has been promoting this idea since 2015). Odessa patriotic organizations accused this initiative of veiled separatism ^[22] . On April 20, Sergey Kivalov, formerly a non-factional deputy, became a member of the Opposition Bloc faction in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine ^[23] .

At the end of March 2016, the party introduced its own version of the law “On the Peculiarities of Managing Certain Territories of Donetsk and Lugansk Regions”, the basis for which the deputies called the Minsk Agreements . A temporary formation “Interregional Territorial Association of Donbass” is being formed on it in the territories controlled by the DPR and LPR , which is endowed with an independent public administration system with the participation of the “head”, “representative assembly” and the “executive committee” of the ITO. The first two bodies should cooperate, but not be subordinate to the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and the executive authorities, being elected for 5 years. The new authorities, contrary to the current Constitution, independently "provide management functions for life support in the territory of their jurisdiction, resolve issues in the areas of economic and social development, in particular humanitarian issues - culture, language and identity, religious freedom." At the same time, the head of the MTO will be able to act as the subject of contractual relations in the field of industrial cooperation, the use of cross-border capacities in economic integration, the development of industrial and agricultural sectors of the MTO Donbass; as well as independently conclude agreements on cross-border cooperation in the economic sphere with regions of other states ^[24] .

On May 13, 2016, the head of the All-Ukrainian Union “Center” Vadim Rabinovich announced his withdrawal from the “Opposition Bloc”, substantiating his decision by saying that the opposition party should “act more radically”, because otherwise “we as an opposition did not take place”. Regarding the withdrawal from the faction, he said: “They will not wait. If I write a statement, I will lose my mandate. ” In response to these actions of Rabinovich, representatives of the “Opposition Bloc” accused him of collaborating with the authorities ^{[5] [25]} .

On May 27, 2016, at the VII Congress of the Opposition Bloc, Yuri Boyko and Boris Kolesnikov were elected co-chairs of the party. In addition to them, the Political Executive Committee included Yuri Voropaev, Alexander Kasyanyuk, Sergey Larin, Sergey Lyovochkin , Vadim Novinsky , Alexander Puzanov. The co-chairs of the Control and Revision Commission were Alexei Bely and Natalia Korolevskaya . ^[26]

Split

On November 9, 2018, the co-chair of the Opposition Bloc Yuri Boyko and the new party Rabinovich For Life signed an agreement on cooperation in the presidential and parliamentary elections of 2019 and created the Alliance Opposition Platform - For Life alliance. ^{[27] [28]} On the same day, other leaders of the Opposition Bloc, Vadim Novinsky and Boris Kolesnikov, argued that the agreement was Boyko’s “personal initiative” and that the Opposition Bloc made no decisions on cooperation with Za Zhitta. ^[29] On November 17, 2018, the Opposition Platform - For Life nominated Boyko as his candidate in the presidential election. ^[28] On the same day, the Development Party of Ukraine (part of the Opposition Bloc) joined the Opposition Platform - For Life. ^[28] Boyko and Sergey Levochkin were expelled from the Opposition Bloc because of the “betrayal of the interests of their voters” on November 20, 2018 . ^[thirty]

On December 26, 2018, Ukrainian News reported on the registration by the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine of the party " Opposition Bloc - Party of Peace and Development ." The new organization was created by renaming the Peace and Development Party, registered on June 13, 2014 and led by Metinvest employee Vitaly Kisely. And after some time on the party’s website, controlled by supporters of Akhmetov and Kolesnikov, the emblem changed : instead of the old one (“OPPOSITION BLOCK”), a new one (“OPPOSITION BLOCK” in capital letters and “- peace and development party” in small letters) appeared. Companions of the expelled from the Oppoblok Boyko and Levochkin accused the new organization of cloning the party, the initiators of which were considered to be the “Kolesnikov-Novinsky- Vilkul group”. ^[31]

Against the background of what is happening, the editorial policy of the TV channels affiliated with the party has changed: Inter , as well as NewsOne and 112 Ukraine have begun to promote the Opposition Platform, while Ukraine has remained faithful to Oppoblok ^[32] .

On December 25, 2018, Russia published the second list of citizens and companies of Ukraine that fall under its sanctions. Among them were 22 deputies of the Opposition bloc, as well as former members of the faction Mikhail Dobkin and Yevgeny Muraev who managed to create their own political forces. All these politicians with pro-Russian views were united by their refusal to cooperate with the Opposition Platform - For Life and those who voted for the exception of Boyko and Levochkin ^{[33] [34] [35]} .

On January 20, 2019, at the congress of the For Peace and Development forum, the party nominated the deputy head of the faction, Alexander Vilkul, as a candidate for the presidency of Ukraine ^[36] .

On June 7, 2019, the parties “Opposition Bloc”, “ Party for Peace and Development ”, “ OURS ”, “ Renaissance ” and “ Trust in Affairs ” united before the parliamentary elections ^[37] .

Shadow Government

March 31, 2015 in the Opposition bloc announced the creation of a project of the Shadow Government of Ukraine, which, according to the authors, will develop bills as opposed to the policy of Kiev ^[38] . The composition of the shadow government of the Opposition bloc is as follows ^{[39] [40]} :

• Prime Minister - Boris Kolesnikov
• Vice Prime Minister for Regional Policy - Mikhail Dobkin
• Vice Prime Minister for Industry, New Industrialization and the Restoration of Donbass - Alexander Vilkul
• Vice Prime Minister for the Control of Law Enforcement - Vadim Rabinovich
• Minister of Social Policy and Pension Reform - Natalya Korolevskaya
• Minister of Economic Development and Trade - Evgeny Muraev
• Minister of Social Security - Mikhail Papiev
• Minister of the Interior and Emergencies - Konstantin Stogniy
• Minister of Health - Igor Shurma
• Minister of Agriculture - Nikolay Shishman
• Minister of Infrastructure and Transport - Vladimir Shemaev
• Minister of Finance - Viktor Skarshevsky
• Minister of Justice - Yuri Kotlyarov
• Minister of Education - Elena Kolesnikova
• Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources - Pavel Zhila
• Minister of Foreign Affairs - Konstantin Grishchenko

The party itself in its views was considered pro-Russian ^{[41] [42]} . Some party members came to deny the status of Russia as an "aggressor" after the events in the Crimea and in the Donbass ^[43] . Representatives of the party were often led to informational throws by the Russian media, after which they demanded the resignation of current officials because of their "scandalous" statements ^{[44] [45]} . The party enjoyed informational support from major Ukrainian television channels - Inter and Ukraine ^{[46] [47]} , as well as Russian federal television channels.

Extraordinary elections to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine in 2014

On September 21, 2014, the party unveiled the first ten of the electoral list, which included former and current members of the Party of Regions. However, the chairman of the party, Yuri Boyko, in his statement emphasized that the bloc’s members are not parties, but individual politicians ^[48] .

The top ten of the election list of the Opposition Bloc party:

1. Yuriy Boyko - former Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine, better known as the Minister of Fuel and Energy of Ukraine in 2010-2012.
2. Oleksandr Vilkul - former Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine, former Chairman of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional State Administration .
3. Mikhail Dobkin - former chairman of the Kharkov Regional State Administration .
4. Vadim Rabinovich - Chairman of the Center Party, President of the All-Ukrainian Jewish Congress.
5. Aleksey Bely is a former general director of OJSC Azovstal Metallurgical Plant .
6. Sergey Larin - Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Development Party of Ukraine.
7. Nestor Shufrich - Member of the Parliament of Ukraine , member of the Party of Regions faction.
8. Nataliya Korolevskaya - Chairman of the Party “Ukraine - Go Forward!” Minister of Social Policy 2012–2014
9. Tatyana Bakhteeva - Doctor of Medical Sciences. People's Deputy of Ukraine 4th, 5th, 6th convocations.
10. Nikolay Skorik - former chairman of the Odessa Regional State Administration .

On October 26, 2014, the party took part in the early parliamentary elections . After processing 100% of the protocols, the party gained 9.43% (1,486,203 votes, 27 deputy seats). As of June 17, 2015, the faction of the “Opposition Bloc” has 43 members.

2015 local elections

According to the results of local elections in terms of the number of deputies in local authorities, the Opposition bloc took fourth place (9% of all), ahead of its BPP , " Fatherland " and " Our land " (20%, 18% and 10%, respectively) ^[49] , the party managed to take first place in the elections to the regional councils of the Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhya, Nikolaev and Odessa regions. According to the doctor of political science and sociologist Alexander Vishnyak, this time the party ran into problems in Southeastern Ukraine , where former members of the Party of Regions, members of the Renaissance and Our Land parties, also fought with it ^[50] .

After the election, the leaders of the “Opposition Bloc” announced the start of preparations for the extraordinary elections to the Verkhovna Rada, which according to their version should be held in the spring of 2016 after the collapse of the ruling coalition ^[50] .

A number of Ukrainian mass media consider the party’s former head of presidential administration Viktor Yanukovych Sergey Lyovochkin to be the key figures in the party (in the party list, who took 12th place, 16th place in the list was taken by his sister, MP of the VI-VIII convocations Yulia Lyovochkina ^[51] ), Viktor Medvedchuk and businessman Rinat Akhmetov due to the presence in the election list of people affiliated with them ^{[52] [53] [54]} .

Opposition Bloc - Peace and Development Party

• Official site
• Split by calculation. Why does the Opposition Block have two candidates for the election ( , 12/17/2018)
• Group southeast. Dossier // “Spark” No. 4 of 02/04/2019