Opposition Bloc (2019)

Chairman:

• Evgeny Murayev (leader of electoral list)
• Oleksandr Vilkul (co-chair)

Political Council

• Borys Kolesnikov

Fraction in Verkhovna Rada leader

• Vadym Novynskyi

In 2014 as six parties that did not endorse Euromaidan merged into a new party called Opposition Bloc.[15][16] In the 2014 Ukrainian parliamentary election, the party won 29 seats predominantly in the Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Zaporizhia, Luhansk and Kharkiv oblasts.[17][18]

According to Ukrayinska Pravda in the summer of 2018 negotiations on the unification of the parties For life (who split into Opposition Bloc in 2016) and Opposition Bloc started.[11] Ukrayinska Pravda says these talks were instigated by Serhiy Lyovochkin who, along with Dmytro Firtash, controlled one of the wings of the party.[11] While Rinat Akhmetov controlled the other wing of Opposition Bloc.[11] Early November 2018 the party members loyal to Akhmetov decided to take a pause in the negotiations.[11]

On 9 November 2018 Opposition Bloc chairman Boyko and Vadim Rabinovich's party For life signed an agreement for cooperation in the 2019 Ukrainian presidential election and the parliamentary election of the same year and created the alliance Opposition Platform — For life.[19][20] The same day Opposition Bloc leading members Vadym Novynskyi and Borys Kolesnikov claimed the agreement was a "personal initiative" of Boyko and that the party had not take any decisions on cooperation with For life.[21] On 17 November 2018 Opposition Platform — For life nominated Boyko as its candidate in the 2019 Ukrainian presidential election.[20] The same day Opposition Bloc member Party of Development of Ukraine joined the Opposition Platform — For life alliance.[20] On 20 November 2018 Boyko and Serhiy Lyovochkin (leading member of the Party of Development of Ukraine[22]) were excluded from the Opposition Bloc faction (the reason given was) "because they betrayed their voters" interests.[23]

On 17 December 2018 an Opposition Bloc congress nominated Oleksandr Vilkul as their candidate in the 2019 Ukrainian presidential election.[24] But a Ukrainian court ruled three days before (in response to a lawsuit filed by People's Deputy of Ukraine for Opposition Bloc Serhiy Larin) that Opposition Bloc's congress at which Vikul was to be nominated could not "reorganize the party by any means".[25] On 18 December 2018 the website of Opposition Bloc stated that therefore all the decisions made at the congress were invalid.[26] On 20 December 2018 the website of Opposition Bloc was down.[27] Vilkul was nominated for the presidency again by Opposition Bloc — Party of Peace and Development (the recently renamed Industrial Party of Ukraine) on 20 January 2019.[9] According to Liga.net Rinat Akhmetov had renamed Industrial Party of Ukraine to Opposition Bloc — Party of Peace and Development solely to circumvent the courts injunction of 20 December 2018 (which prohibited any changes to the statute of the (party) Opposition Bloc).[9] The Industrial Party of Ukraine was registered by the Ministry of Justice on 13 June 2014, and Rostyslav Shurma was then the chairman of this party.[14] Shurma was at the time General Director of Zaporizhstal.[14] Zaporizhstal is part of the industrial complex owned by Rinat Akhmetov.[14]

In the 2019 Ukrainian parliamentary election the alliance was formed by Rinat Akhmetov's wing in the Opposition Bloc party and Borys Kolesnikov's and Oleksandr Vilkul's party, Party of Peace and Development. The alliance was later joined by Revival, Nashi and Trust Deeds, where the alliance selected Evgeny Murayev as leader of the united party list.[28][29] In the election the mayors of Kharkiv (Hennadiy Kernes) and Odessa (Gennadiy Trukhanov) are placed in the top ten of the nationwide party list.[30]

In the 2019 Ukrainian parliamentary election the party won 6 single-seat constituencies, and because the nationwide list with 3.23% of the votes did not overcome the 5% election barrier, those 6 seats were the only seats that the party won in the election.[13]

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• Opposition Platform — For Life
• Party of Regions
• Opposition Bloc
• Nashi
• Revival
• Trust Deeds

• Official website