Radical Party of Oleh Liashko explained

Radical Party of Oleh Liashko
Abbreviation:RPL[1]
Leader:Oleh Liashko
Headquarters:Kyiv
Position:Left-wing
Colours: White[2]
Black
Red
Seats1 Title:Verkhovna Rada[3]
Seats2 Title:Regions[4]
Country:Ukraine

The Radical Party of Oleh Liashko (Ukrainian: Радикальна партія Олега Ляшка|translit=Radykal'na partiia Oleha Liashka, RPL[1]) and formerly known as the Ukrainian Radical-Democratic Party (Ukrainian: Українська демократично-радикальна партія), is a political party in Ukraine[5] that was registered in September 2010.[6] It was primarily known for its radical populism, especially in the 2014 Ukrainian parliamentary election when it gained its largest support.[7]

At the 2012 Ukrainian parliamentary election, the party had won 1 seat.[8] The party won 22 seats at the 2014 Ukrainian parliamentary election.[9] [10] In the 2019 Ukrainian parliamentary election it lost all those seats.[11]

History

Ukrainian Radical-Democratic Party

The party was established at the founding congress in Mykolaiv on 18 August 2010 and was then named the Ukrainian Radical-Democratic Party. Under this name, it was registered with the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine on 28 September 2010.[6] At the time, the party was led by Vladyslav Telipko.[12]

Radical Party of Oleh Liashko

During its third party congress on 8 August 2011, Oleh Liashko was elected the new party leader.[12] The same day, the party changed its name to the Radical Party of Oleh Liashko.[13]

At the 2012 Ukrainian parliamentary election, the party won 1.08% of the national votes and 1 constituency (it had competed in 28 constituencies)[14] for its leader Liashko,[15] who did not join a faction in the Verkhovna Rada.[16] The party was most successful in Chernihiv Oblast, where it received 10.69 percent of the vote, finishing fifth. The constituency that Liashko won was also located in Chernihiv Oblast.

The party became known for its left-wing populism, with pitchfork becoming the main symbol of the party, together with its highly contrastive combination of white, black and red.[2] The party's appeal is emboided by its radical populist leader Oleh Liashko, who campaigned in the traditional vyshyvanka embroidered shirt with a pitchfork, portraying himself as an ordinary countryman. The party also became notable for its aggressive use of online campaigning and social media.[17]

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".[18] 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.[19] At the election, the party won 22 seats.[10] It received support from rural and regional voters who had previously supported Fatherland.

On 21 November 2014, the party became a member of the coalition supporting the second Yatsenyuk government and sent one minister into this government.[20] [21]

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.[22]

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.[23] 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".[23] He was referring to his own party, Self Reliance and Fatherland.[24]

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.[11] The party had participated in 65 single-mandate majority electoral districts.[25]

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.[26]

In 2022, in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the leader of the party Oleg Liashko joined the Ukrainian army to fight in the war, for which he earned the nickname "Beast".[27] In August 2023, the party announced that 34 out of its 582 regional deputies joined the Ukrainian army; two of the deputies died in combat - Eduard Pinchuk of the Sumy Oblast Council and Adriy Korniychuk of the Kostopil City Council.[28]

Ideology and stances

Observers had defined the party as left-wing,[29] [30] [31] [32] [33] [34] with some also describing it as right-wing,[35] [36] or far-right.[37] [38] However, political scientists such as Luke March,[39] Mattia Zulianello,[40] Paul Chaisty as well as Stephen Whitefield classify the party as left-wing,[41] and the 2017 Oxford Handbook of Populism also describes the party as left-wing.[42] The Razumkov Centre also classifies the Radical Party as one with a "clearly leftist profile".[43] 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."[44]

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[45] [46] [47] 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[48] and mixes them with strong nationalist sentiments.[49] Anton Shekhovtsov of University College London considers Liashko's party to be similar to populist and nationalist.[50] A similar view is shared by political scientist Mattia Zulianello.[51] Political scientist Tadeusz A. Olszański described the party as liberal-nationalist, pro-European and populist.[52]

Liashko and his party combine radically left-wing economical stances with authoritarian and nationalist outlook on society; economically, the party is considered social-democratic.[1] The Radical 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.[53] The ideological foundation of the party was described as left social populism with paternalistic qualities; in its program, the party asserts: “The purpose of the Radical Party – a society of equal opportunities and welfare.” Similarly, the party also states the “protection of the disadvantaged” as its overarching goal.[54]

The party has promised to purify the country of oligarchs "with a pitchfork". It has proposed higher taxes on products manufactured by oligarchs and a crisis tax on the latter.[48] 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".[41]

Party leader Liashko had stressed in May 2011 he had nothing against sexual minorities.[55] 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".[56]

Ukrainian political analyst Denys Rybachok described the party as "a supporter of social democracy with high social obligations of the state", including the party's populist proposals to hike taxes on the oligarchs, implement protectionist measures to protect national produces, reverse the privatization of once state-owned enterprises, and re-nationalize sold land. In regards to legislative matters, the party supports quotas for the Ukrainian language, advocates the strengthening of the presidential power and demands the release of all current judges and prosecutors from their functions. The party also seeks to reduce the number of MPs in the Verkhovna Rada from 450 to 250, and to introduce term limits to the Rada.[1]

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.[18] The party also proposes deployment of United Nations peacekeeping in Donbas.[1]

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]

Polish observers compared the Radical Party of Olesh Liashko to Self-Defence of the Republic of Poland (Polish: Samoobrona Rzeczpospolitej Polski).[60] Samoobrona is a far-left[61] Polish political party that was described as radical,[62] left-wing populist,[63] and agrarian socialist.[64] Two parties share many similarities, such as their staunchly nationalist, agrarian and left-wing populists positions, as well as controversial forms of protest.[60]

Party leaders

Election results

Verkhovna Rada

YearPopular vote% of popular voteOverall seats wonSeat changeGovernment
2012221,1361.08 1
20141,171,6977.45 21
2019586,2944.01 22

Presidential elections

President of Ukraine!Election year!Candidate!No. of 1st round votes!% of 1st round vote!No. of 2nd round votes!% of 2nd round vote
2014Oleh Liashko1,500,3778.32
2019Oleh Liashko1,036,0035.48

See also

Notes and References

  1. Values, programmes and actions: examining the ideologies and legislative positions of Ukrainian political parties . Denys . Rybachok . Eastern European Centre for Multiparty Democracy (EECMD) . 2019 . EECMD Publications . 4 . 60-61.
  2. Features of Technologies of Party Products Visualization in Ukraine (by example of 2012 and 2014 election campaigns) . European Political and Law Discourse . 4 . 2 . 2017 . Anna . Rudenko . National Institute for Strategic Studies . 163.
  3. http://w1.c1.rada.gov.ua/pls/site2/p_fractions "Депутатські фракції і групи VII скликання"
  4. News: https://www.cvk.gov.ua/pls/vm2020/pvm002pt001f01=695pt00_t001f01=695.html. uk:Кандидати, яких обрано депутатами рад. uk. www.cvk.gov.ua. 24 January 2020. 24 January 2020.
  5. News: Lyashko: No sponsors, tycoons or deputies on election list of Radical Party. Kyiv Post. 8 August 2012. 29 November 2017.
  6. News: uk. http://da-ta.com.ua/mon_mainnews/4315.htm. uk:Політична партія «Радикальна Партія Олега Ляшка». Political party «Radical Party of Oleh Liashko». DATA. 29 November 2017.
  7. Web site: 2014-10-29 . A strong vote for reform: Ukraine after the parliamentary elections . 2022-06-16 . OSW Centre for Eastern Studies . en.
  8. News: Party of Regions gets 185 seats in Ukrainian parliament, Batkivschyna 101 - CEC. Interfax-Ukraine. 12 November 2012. 29 November 2017.
  9. News: Poroshenko and Yatsenyuk's parties maneuver for lead role in coalition. Olena Goncharova. Ian Bateson. Kyiv Post. 29 October 2014. 29 November 2017.
    News: New Verkhovna Rada. Kyiv Post. 30 October 2014. 29 November 2017.
  10. News: Poroshenko Bloc to have greatest number of seats in parliament. Ukrainian Television and Radio. 8 November 2014. 29 November 2017.
    News: People's Front 0.33% ahead of Poroshenko Bloc with all ballots counted in Ukraine elections - CEC. Interfax-Ukraine. 8 November 2014. 29 November 2017.
    News: Poroshenko Bloc to get 132 seats in parliament - CEC. Interfax-Ukraine. 8 November 2014. 29 November 2017.
  11. https://www.ukrinform.net/rubric-elections/2748306-cec-counts-100-percent-of-vote-in-ukraines-parliamentary-elections.html CEC counts 100 percent of vote in Ukraine's parliamentary elections
  12. News: https://www.rbc.ua/ukr/vyboru2012/party/p51. uk:Радикальна партія Олега Ляшка. Radical Party of Oleh Liashko. uk. RBC Ukraine. 29 November 2017.
  13. News: http://24tv.ua/home/showSingleNews.do?oleg_lyashko_ofitsiyno_pereymenuvav_svoyu_partiyu&objectId=168389. uk:Олег Ляшко офіційно перейменував свою партію. Oleh Liashko officially renamed his party. 24 News. uk. 14 December 2011. 29 November 2017.
  14. News: http://apk.rbc.ua/ukr/vyboru2012/party/p51/okrug. uk:Радикальна партія Олега Ляшка. Radical Party of Oleh Liashko. RBC Ukraine. uk. 29 November 2017.
  15. Proportional votes & Constituency seats, Central Election Commission of Ukraine Retrieved 29 November 2017.
  16. Web site: National deputies of Ukraine:Oleh Liashko. Verkhovna Rada. 29 November 2017.
  17. Book: 383 . Thirty Years of Political Campaigning in Central and Eastern Europe . Otto . Eibl . Miloš . Gregor . 2019 . 2662-5903 . Political Campaigning and Communication . 978-3-030-27693-5 . 10.1007/978-3-030-27693-5 . Larisa . Doroshenko .  25. Ukraine . . Palgrave Macmillan.
  18. Web site: Tadeusz A. Olszański. Ukraine's political parties at the start of the election campaign. OSW: Centre for Eastern Studies. 17 September 2014. 29 November 2017.
  19. News: Ukraine Votes On Oct. 26 To Elect New Parliament. Kyiv Post. 24 October 2014. 29 November 2017.
  20. News: Rada supports coalition-proposed government lineup. Interfax-Ukraine. 2 December 2014. 29 November 2017.
    News: Rada approves new Cabinet with three foreigners. Kyiv Post. 2 December 2014. 29 November 2017.
    News: uk. Rada voted the new Cabinet. uk:Рада проголосувала новий кабмін. Ukrayinska Pravda. 2 December 2014. 29 November 2017.
  21. News: Five political forces sign coalition agreement. Interfax-Ukraine. 21 November 2014. 29 November 2017.
    News: Ukraine's parliamentary parties initial coalition agreement. Interfax-Ukraine. 21 November 2014. 29 November 2017.
  22. Web site: Ukrainian Parliament strips two MP's of their immunity from prosecution. Ukraine Today. 3 June 2015. 29 November 2017.
  23. News: Ukraine Radical Party Quits Ruling Coalition After Deadly Clash. Bloomberg News. 1 September 2015. 29 November 2017.
  24. Web site: Departure of nationalists unlikely to break up Ukrainian ruling coalition and will improve likelihood of decentralization. Jane's Information Group. 3 September 2015. 15 September 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150905224254/http://www.janes.com/article/53993/departure-of-nationalists-unlikely-to-break-up-ukrainian-ruling-coalition-and-will-improve-likelihood-of-decentralisation. 5 September 2015. dead.
  25. Web site: Електоральна пам'ять. ukr.vote.
  26. The CEC showed the top 10 parties that won the most seats in the election, Ukrayinska Pravda (18 November 2020)
  27. Unofficial Nominations of Modern Political Discourse in the Media: Intercultural Aspect . Nataliia Shulska . Nataliia Kostusiak . Oksana Zubach . Vasil Pakholok . Nataliia Bukina . Iryna Kevluk . Marta Hammoor . 120 . Ad Alta: Journal of Interdisciplinary Research . 2023 . 13 . 1 . 2464-6733 . Hradec Kralove . Magnanimitas .
  28. Web site: Члени Радикальної партії Олега Ляшка захищають Україну на фронті . 10 August 2023 . uk . liashko.ua.
  29. "By the left/right vector, Parliament is dominated by parties of the right spectrum – Petro Poroshenko Bloc, “UDAR”, “People’s Front”. “Opposition Bloc” with its paternalistic attitudes and the Radical Party of Oleh Lyashko can be qualified as leftist, given the rhetoric the parties resort to. . 15 . . National Security & Defence . 6-7 . 2015 . Party System of Ukraine Before and After Maidan: Changes, Trends, Public Demand . Anatoliy . Rachok . Hanna Pashkova .
  30. Web site: Beswick . Emma . 2016-11-14 . Ukrainian MPs fistfight in parliament...again . 2022-08-08 . Euronews . en.
  31. Web site: Cura . Ali . 2016-11-15 . Ukrainian politicians fight in parliament . 2022-08-08 . Anadolu Agency.
  32. Web site: Parliamentary elections in Ukraine: single-party majority and other options . 19 July 2017 . Viktor . Chopa . Kyiv . Ukrinform.
  33. Web site: Interview with Former Aidar Battalion Commander and Ukrainian Rada Member Serhiy Melnychuk on "Myths" About the Aidar Battalion and Ukraine's Future . 5 September 2017 . Samuel . Ramani . HuffPost.
  34. Trends in Post-Soviet Media Consumption: Assessing Media Freedom and Russian Media Influence in Georgia and Ukraine . Katherina M. . Wierschke . University of Texas . Austin . 2020 . 80-81.
  35. News: 2015-09-01 . Right-wing Radical Party to leave Ukrainian parliamentary coalition . en-CA . The Globe and Mail . 2022-08-08.
  36. Web site: Liubchenkova . Natalia . 2019-07-18 . Ukraine parliamentary election: What you need to know . 2022-08-08 . euronews . en.
  37. Web site: Salem . Harriet . 2014-10-25 . Ukraine's President Faces Pressure from Radical Pro-War Parties Ahead of Election . 2022-08-08 . Vice . en.
  38. Web site: Ukraine PM Yatsenyuk Survives No-Confidence Vote In Parliament . 2022-08-08 . RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty . en.
  39. Book: March, Luke . Populism in Post-Soviet States . 2017 . Oxford . Oxford University Press . 0198803567 . 214–231.
  40. 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 . 6 . Government and Opposition . 2020 . 55 . 2 . 10.1017/gov.2019.21 . Zulianello . Mattia . 1477-7053. 11368/3001222 . free .  -  Listed as "Left-wing/national-social".
  41. Critical Election or Frozen Cleavages? How Voters Chose Parties in the 2014 Ukrainian Parliamentary Election . 10.1016/j.electstud.2018.08.009 . Paul . Chaisty . Stephen . Whitefield . Electoral Studies . 56 . 1 . 2018 . 158-169.
  42. Book: The Oxford Handbook of Populism . 9780192525376 . Cristóbal Rovira Kaltwasser . Paul Taggart . Paulina Ochoa Espejo . Pierre Ostiguy . 26 October 2017 . Oxford University Press . 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198803560.001.0001 . Oxford Handbooks . 291 . "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.".
  43. Ukraine on the Eve of the Election Year: Public Demand, Positions of Political Actors, Outline of the New Government (Analytical Report by the Razumkov Centre) . 2018 . . 3-4 . 175-176 . National Security & Defence . Anatoliy . Rachok . Yuriy Yakymenko . Valeriya Klymenko . Hanna Pashkova . 91 . "The analysis of party programmes in terms of their socio-economic policy made it possible to identify the following parties that may enter the new Parliament: four clearly leftist parties (the Radical Party, For Life, the Opposition Bloc and “Batkivshchyna”), one left-ofcentre (“Svoboda”), one conditionally centrist (Servant of the People) and three right-of-centre parties (the Civic Position, “Samopomich” Union, and Petro Poroshenko Bloc).".
  44. Book: Chizhov, Georgy . Populism as a Common Challenge . 978-5-8243-2210-1 . 2018 . Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung e.V. . Claudia Crawford . Boris Makarenko . Nikolay Petrov.
  45. News: Noack. Rick. Why Ukrainian politicians keep beating each other up. The Washington Post. 14 August 2014. 26 August 2019.
  46. Web site: Arsenyi Svynarenko. Ukraine's political landscape is shifting. Politiikasta.fi. 29 August 2014. 29 November 2017.
  47. Web site: Kuzio. Taras. Taras Kuzio. Ukraine is heading for new parliamentary elections, but the country still lacks real political parties. LSE EUROPP Blog. 26 August 2014. 29 November 2017.
  48. News: The Communist Party May Be on Its Last Legs, But Social Populism is Still Alive. The Ukrainian Week. 23 October 2014. 29 November 2017.
  49. News: With Stunts and Vigilante Escapades, a Populist Gains Ground in Ukraine. David M. Herszenhorn. The New York Times. 24 October 2014. 29 November 2017.
  50. Web site: Shekhovtsov . Anton . 2014-05-29 . Ukraine's presidential election and the far right . Anton Shekhovtsov's blog.
  51. 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. Government and Opposition. 6.
  52. Web site: Ukraine’s political parties at the start of the election campaign . 17 September 2014 . Centre for Eastern Studies . Tadeusz A. . Olszański .

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  54. Parliamentary elections 2014 in Ukraine: national and regional dimension . 269 . Manailo-Prikhodko . Renata . 2016 . Uzhhorod National University . Journal of Central and Eastern Europe.
  55. News: A. Lyashko: each of us a role to play. Ukrainian National News. May 19, 2011. May 24, 2014. November 26, 2014. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20141126021849/http://www.unn.com.ua/en/publication/362211-o.lyashko:-kogeen-z-nas-vikonue-svoyu-rol. mdy-all.
  56. http://www.pravda.com.ua/articles/2015/09/18/7081809/ "З усіх вил: звідки взявся та до чого дійшов Олег Ляшко"
  57. News: Ukraine election: What to look for. BBC News. 24 October 2014. 29 November 2017.
  58. Web site: Observation of the early parliamentary elections in Ukraine (26 October 2014) . 17 November 2014 . Christopher . Chope . Ad hoc Committee of the Bureau.
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