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Congress of Ukrainian Nationalists

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Congress of Ukrainian Nationalists
Конгрес українських націоналістів
LeaderStepan Bratsiun[1]
FoundedOctober 18, 1992 (1992-10-18)
HeadquartersKyiv
Paramilitary wingTryzub
Ideology
Ukrainian nationalism
Right-wing populism
Social conservatism
Political positionFar-right
Colours  Red and   black
Party flag
Website
http://www.kun.org.ua

The Congress of Ukrainian Nationalists (Ukrainian: Конгрес українських націоналістів Konhres ukrayinskykh natsionalistiv) is a far-right political party in Ukraine. It was founded on October 18, 1992, and registered with the Ministry of Justice on January 26, 1993.[2] The party leader from its formation until her death in 2003 was Yaroslava Stetsko (people's deputy of three Verkhovna Rada conventions).

History

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See also: OUN-B § After the Second World War

The party was set up late 1992 by émigrés of OUN-B[3] on the initiative of Slava Stetsko and Roman Zvarych.[4] It was registered on 26 January 1993 by the Ukrainian Ministry of Justice and was the 11th political party in Ukraine that was officially registered.[1]

During the 1998 parliamentary election, the party was part (together with Ukrainian Conservative Republican Party and Ukrainian Republican Party[5]) of the Election Bloc "National Front"[2][5] (Ukrainian: Виборчий блок партій «Національний фронт») which won 2,71%[2] of the national votes and 6 (single-mandate constituency) seats.[5][6]

At the parliamentary elections on 30 March 2002, the party was part of the Viktor Yushchenko Bloc Our Ukraine.[2] Former party leader Oleksiy Ivchenko was the head of Naftogas of Ukraine under the Yekhanurov Government. He was elected as the party leader at the seventh convention of the party on April 13, 2003.

During the parliamentary elections of 2006 on 26 March, the party was part of the Our Ukraine alliance.[2] Roman Zvarych was Minister of Justice of Ukraine in the First Tymoshenko Government and Second Tymoshenko Government[7] and in the Alliance of National Unity.[8][9]

At the end of 2006, the Prosecutor General of Ukraine’s Office opened a criminal case against party leader Oleksii Ivchenko on charges of embezzlement and abuse of his official position as former head of Naftogaz.[10] Ivchenko was dropped from its party ticket in the spring of 2007.[10] The party refused to join the Our Ukraine–People's Self-Defense Bloc in August 2007[11] and almost a month before the elections decided not to run in the 2007 parliamentary elections.[2][10]

In the 2010 local elections, the party biggest achievement was winning two seats in the Lviv Oblast Counsel.[12] In December 2011, Stepan Bratsiun was elected party leader.[1]

The party competed on one single party under "umbrella" party Our Ukraine in the 2012 parliamentary election, together with Ukrainian People's Party; this list won 1.11% of the national votes and no constituencies and thus failed to win parliamentary representation.[13][14] The party itself had competed in 28 constituencies and lost in all.[15][16]

In the 2014 parliamentary election, the party was electable on a nationwide list and it participated in 8 constituencies; but its candidates lost in all of them and the party received only 0.05% of the votes nationwide and thus the party won no parliamentary seats.[17][18][19]

On 19 November 2018, the Congress of Ukrainian Nationalists and fellow Ukrainian nationalist political organizations Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, Right Sector and C14 endorsed the Ruslan Koshulynskyi candidacy in the 2019 presidential election.[20] In the election Koshulynskyi received 1.6% of the votes.[21]

In the 2020 local elections, the party gained 17 deputies (0.03% of all available mandates).[22]

Ideology

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The party supports the social conservatism, ultranationalism and a strong nation state independent from Russia.[23]

Relation with Jews

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Party members have in the past espoused in what was seen as anti-Semitic views. In 2005 the official organ of the party, newspaper "The Nation and Power", published an article which said: "The titular nation in Ukraine (ethnic Ukrainians) will disappear in 2006.... After the 2006 election, Ukrainians will dance around the Jews."[24] In his speech at the opening of the Holodomor Memorial in November 2007, the Head of the party in Zaporizhia Oblast Tymchina stated: "Our time has come, and the Dnieper will soon be red with the blood of Kikes (slur for Jews) and Moskals (slur for Russians)."[25] The Kommersant newspaper on 26 January 2010 quoted the head of the Kiev city organization Yuri Shepetyuk saying: "There is no anti-Semitism in Ukraine. The Jews themselves organize various provocations, and then talk about the persecution in their address, to get even more funding from abroad". Kommersant notes: "However, he (Yuri Shepetyuk) did not specify what provocations were staged in Ukraine by representatives of the Jewish community."[26]

The party appears to express support for Zionism and Israel (although not the Israeli government for prosecuting John Demjanjuk, who they believe is wrongly accused of Nazi war crimes), and regards Ze'ev Jabotinsky as a hero, as it features articles by Moysey Fishbein[27] as well as a few other articles.[28][better source needed]

Leaders

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Symbols

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The flag, seen in Kyiv, in December 2013

The flag of the Congress of Ukrainian Nationalists is a rectangular two-color flag with two horizontal halves. The upper half is red and the bottom half is black. It is inspired by the flag of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army. The official emblem is based on that of the former Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists. The red background circle is in-framed by the black (outside) and gold (inside) line with a cross which is placed in the middle and appears to be as a sword. The sword, being aimed blade down, has a dual meaning: the organization in its activities guidance by Christian morality, and the preparedness to protect the Ukrainian nation.

Motto

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The motto of the party is "Glory to Ukraine! To Heroes, (her) Glory!". Other versions include "Glory to free Ukraine! To Heroes (her) Glory!".

Electoral results

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Presidential since 1994
(year links to election page)
Year Candidate Votes %
1994
2019
Ruslan Koshulynskyi
307,240
1.62 #9
Parliamentary since 1994
(year links to election page)
Year Votes % Mandates Notes
1994
361,352
1.30
5
 independently
1998
721,966
2.71
0
 as part "National Front"
2002
6,108,088
23.57
111
 as part of Yushchenko Bloc
2006
3,539,140
13.95
81
 as part of Our Ukraine
2007 DNP
2012
226,482
1.11
0
 under "umbrella" party Our Ukraine
2014
8,976
0.05
0
 independently
2019
315,530
2.15
0
 under "umbrella" party Svoboda

References

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  1. ^ a b c (in Ukrainian) «Конгрес Українських Націоналістів» офіційно повідомив про зміну партійного лідера, Ukrainian Ministry of Justice (9 September 2011)
  2. ^ a b c d e f (in Ukrainian) Конгресс Українських Націоналістів, Database DATA
  3. ^ Ukrainian Nationalism in the 1990s: A Minority Faith by Andrew Wilson, Cambridge University Press, 1996, ISBN 0521574579 (page 78)
  4. ^ Heroes and Villains: Creating National History in Contemporary Ukraine by David Marples, Central European University Press, 2007, ISBN 963-7326-98-7 (page 197)
  5. ^ a b c State-Building: A Comparative Study of Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus, and Russia by Verena Fritz, Central European University Press, 2008, ISBN 9637326995 (page 353)
  6. ^ Deputies/Elected in multi-mandate constituency/Elections 29.11.1998 Archived March 3, 2016, at the Wayback Machine, Central Election Commission of Ukraine
  7. ^ Heroes and Villains: Creating National History in Contemporary Ukraine by David Marples, Central European University Press, 2007, ISBN 963-7326-98-7 (page 102)
  8. ^ Analysis: The Faces Of Ukraine's New Cabinet, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (8 August 2006)
  9. ^ Verkhovna Rada approves new Cabinet members, UNIAN (11 November 2006)
  10. ^ a b c Shekhovtsov, Anton (2011). "The Creeping Resurgence of the Ukrainian Radical Right? The Case of the Freedom Party". Europe-Asia Studies. 63 (2): 203–228. doi:10.1080/09668136.2011.547696. S2CID 155079439. (source also available here)
  11. ^ (in Russian) КУН не пойдет в Раду вне очереди Archived 2011-07-18 at the Wayback Machine, Kommersant (August 7, 2007)
  12. ^ (in Ukrainian) Results of the elections, preliminary data, on interactive maps by Ukrayinska Pravda (November 8, 2010)
  13. ^ (in Ukrainian) Proportional votes Archived October 30, 2012, at the Wayback Machine & Constituency seats Archived November 5, 2012, at the Wayback Machine, Central Election Commission of Ukraine
  14. ^ "ukranews.com/uk/news/ukraine/2012/07/31/75903". ukranews.com. Retrieved 2017-06-18.
  15. ^ (in Ukrainian) Candidates, RBC Ukraine
  16. ^ Party of Regions gets 185 seats in Ukrainian parliament, Batkivschyna 101 - CEC, Interfax-Ukraine (12 November 2012)
  17. ^ Poroshenko Bloc to have greatest number of seats in parliament Archived 2014-11-10 at the Wayback Machine, Ukrainian Television and Radio (8 November 2014)
    People's Front 0.33% ahead of Poroshenko Bloc with all ballots counted in Ukraine elections - CEC Archived November 12, 2014, at the Wayback Machine, Interfax-Ukraine (8 November 2014)
    Poroshenko Bloc to get 132 seats in parliament - CEC, Interfax-Ukraine (8 November 2014)
  18. ^ Political parties in the electoral process in the 2014 Ukrainian parliamentary election Archived 2014-12-18 at the Wayback Machine, Central Election Commission of Ukraine
  19. ^ Data on vote counting in the nationwide election district, Central Election Commission of Ukraine
  20. ^ (in Ukrainian) The nationalists have been identified with a presidential candidate, Ukrayinska Pravda (19 November 2018)
  21. ^ Zelenskiy wins first round but that’s not the surprise, Atlantic Council (4 April 2019)
  22. ^ "Results of the 2020 Ukrainian local elections on the official web-server of the". Central Election Commission of Ukraine (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 12 January 2021.
  23. ^ Political Parties of Eastern Europe: A Guide to Politics in the Post-Communist Era by Janusz Bugajski, M. E. Sharpe, 2002, ISBN 1-56324-676-7 (page 956)
  24. ^ Nation and Power, № 52, 27.12.05-2.01.06 (translation from Ukrainian)
  25. ^ «Украина криминальная», 29 ноября 2007, 14:15
  26. ^ http://www.kommersant.ua/doc.html?DocID=1310744 Украине задали еврейский вопрос, Артем Скоропадский, 26.01.2010
  27. ^ ЄВРЕЙСЬКА КАРТА в російських спецопераціях проти України, Moysey Fishbein, CUN.org.ua (article on Zionism and Ukrainian Nationalism) (Ukrainian-language)
  28. ^ "Київ відзначив 65 річницю проголошення Акту відновлення Української Держави | Конгрес українських націоналістів". cun.org.ua. Retrieved 2017-06-18.
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