POLITICAL BLOC PROFILE: The Socialist Party of Ukraine (03/05/06)

POLITICAL BLOC PROFILE: The Socialist Party of Ukraine

by Zenon Zawada
Kyiv Press Bureau

During the 2006 parliamentary election campaign, The Ukrainian Weekly will profile the leading political blocs. This week's installment features the Socialist Party of Ukraine.

KYIV - In the late 1990s, Oleksander Moroz used to stand on European Square in downtown Kyiv and lead Communist rallies against private property.

In public, he often appeared alongside Communist Party leader Petro Symonenko.

A gradual transition began to take place when journalist Heorhii Gongadze was murdered. Mr. Moroz took the initiative in playing the Melnychenko tapes in Parliament in 2000, helping to expose the corrupt regime of Leonid Kuchma.

He would eventually become among the most visible leaders of the Orange Revolution.

"Building Europe in Ukraine" is now the slogan of the Socialist Party of Ukraine. However, Mr. Moroz has made it clear that he's in no rush to join the European Union.

"(EU membership) can happen sooner or later," Mr. Moroz told European journalists in Brussels last month. "It's not that important. What's important is that the process begins moving in the proper direction in our country. The Socialists aren't issuing declarations in order to gain acceptance in the EU."

"We believe that from the very start, we ourselves should create those conditions in our own nation: standards of life, a level of wealth, rights and freedoms, all of which are characteristic of European nations," he explained.

Political strategy

The Socialist Party of Ukraine is in direct competition with Lytvyn's People's Bloc in order to capture the moderate electorate of Ukraine - those who aren't entirely sold on either the pro-Russian or pro-European stances, political experts said.

Mr. Moroz's strategy has been to cast the Socialist Party as European-oriented, but primarily committed to Ukraine's rural and small-town population, as well as small- and mid-scale businessmen.

In the last three or four years the Socialist Party has essentially traded places with Lytvyn's People's Bloc, said Serhii Taran, director of the Kyiv-based International Democracy Institute, which is financed by mid-level Ukrainian businesses and the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs. (Dr. Taran is 28th on the Reforms and Order-Pora Bloc's electoral list.)

While it used to be just to the left of center, now the Socialist Party is now to the right and willing to form a parliamentary majority with the Our Ukraine bloc after the March 26 elections, experts said.

Socialists hold key, powerful positions in Prime Minister Yurii Yekhanurov's government, among them Minister of Agriculture Oleksander Baranivskyi, Minister of Education Stanislav Nikolayenko, State Property Fund Chair Valentyna Semeniuk and the very popular Minister of Internal Affairs Yurii Lutsenko.

Despite their prominence, the Socialist Party doesn't see eye-to-eye with the Our Ukraine and Yulia Tymoshenko blocs on many issues.

During the 2005 World Trade Organization battles in Ukraine's Parliament, the Socialist Party consistently voted against legislation that would pave the way for Ukraine's membership.

The Socialist Party views WTO membership far more negatively than the Party of the Regions, which has supported WTO legislation despite their pro-Russian image.

The disagreements caused serious fractures in the Orange coalition. During the July debates, former Minister of the Economy Serhii Teriokhin referred to the Socialists' behavior as treacherous for agreeing to vote on WTO bills, but then backing out at the last minute.

While State Property Fund Chair Semeniuk supported the privatization of the massive Kryvorizhstal steel mill in Kryvyi Rih, she opposed its reprivatization on the auction block, arguing that it should remain in government control.

She even submitted resignation papers after Netherlands-based Mittal Steel Co. won the Kryvorizhstal mill for $4.8 billion. Mr. Yushchenko rejected her resignation and she remains the fund's chair.

She recently indicated a similar position on the Nikopol Ferroalloys Plant, a second major industrial enterprise the Yekhanurov government is trying to reclaim from businessman Viktor Pinchuk, Leonid Kuchma's son-in-law.

The Socialist Party has avoided any overt position on granting the Russian language official status. In the past, Mr. Moroz has prepared such legislation, said Ivan Lozowy, president of the Kyiv-based Institute of Statehood and Democracy, which is exclusively financed by Ukrainian business donations.

However, Socialist Party members typically use the Ukrainian language in their public appearances.

Campaign strategy

The Socialist Party is barely visible on Ukrainian television, which is where most of the parties are spending their money in campaigning.

Its main propaganda vehicle has been Silski Visti, Ukraine's most widely read newspaper with a circulation of at least half a million readers.

Through this newspaper, the Socialists are able to communicate with its solid electoral base of rural and small-town Ukrainians, the majority in central Ukraine, who dislike the Communist Party but support socialist ideas, particularly in the agricultural sector.

The party has consistently been able to secure between 6 and 8 percent of the vote in the past two parliamentary elections. In the 2002 elections the Socialist Party won in the Poltava Oblast.

In this year's campaign the Socialist Party has about 8 percent of the vote, according to the National Institute of Strategic Research, a government research agency that often performs work for the president and his Secretariat.

According to the Western-financed Democratic Initiatives Foundation, the Socialist Party has the support of about 5 percent of the electorate.

Party leaders

Though not the most dynamic leader in Ukraine's political spectrum, Mr. Moroz is among the most recognized, having served as Verkhovna Rada chairman between 1994 and 1998.

During that time, he was a fierce opponent of reforms toward private property, Mr. Lozowy said. Mr. Moroz is essentially competing with Mr. Lytvyn to reclaim the Rada chairman's post, Dr. Taran said.

Ms. Semeniuk is second on the electoral list and Mr. Nykolayenko is third. During his tenure as Education Minister, Mr. Nykolayenko has increased the number of students learning on government scholarships in institutions of higher education by 1.5 percent, according to campaign literature. Teachers' salaries have increased 45 percent.

Silski Visti Editor-in-Chief Ivan Spodarenko is fourth on the party's list, while Serhii Chervonopyskyi, who merged his Svicha Party with the Socialists, is fifth. Mr. Chervonopyskyi chairs the Ukrainian Association of Afghanistan Veterans.

| Home Page |