Servant of the People

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Servant of the People
Слуга народу
AbbreviationSN
LeaderOlena Shuliak[1]
President of UkraineVolodymyr Zelenskyy[a]
Parliamentary leaderDavyd Arakhamia[2]
FounderIvan Bakanov[3]
Founded2 December 2017 (2017-12-02)
Registered31 March 2018 (2018-03-31)
Preceded byParty of Decisive Change[4][5]
HeadquartersNovoselytsʹka 7, Kyiv
Youth wingZe! Molodizhka
Women's wingZe! Women
Membership (2020 est.)500–1,000[nb 1]
Ideology
Political positionCentre
European affiliationAlliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party[nb 2]
Colours  Green
Verkhovna Rada
236 / 450
Regions[8]
6,400 / 43,122
Website
sluga-narodu.com Edit this at Wikidata

Servant of the People (Ukrainian: Слуга народу, romanizedSluha narodu) is a liberal, centrist, pro-European political party in Ukraine.

It was formed in late 2017 and was officially registered on 31 March 2018 on the basis of the previously registered Party of Decisive Changes.

Servant of the People.[12][11] In the 2019 parliamentary election the party won 124 seats on the nationwide party list and 130 constituency seats.[13] The current president of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy
(who starred in Servant of the People) is a member of the party.

History

Founding

Legally, the party is the successor of the Party of Decisive Change (Ukrainian: Партія рішучих змін)[4][5] that existed since April 2016 and was founded by Eugene Yurdiga.[14]

The party was renamed in December 2017 after the

Servant of the People that starred Volodymyr Zelenskyy and was made by his TV production company Kvartal 95.[12][11] The rebranded/renamed party's first leader was the CEO of Kvartal 95 Ivan Bakanov.[10][12] At the time Kvartal 95 created the party, they claimed it was important to do so to prevent others from stealing the name of the eponymous series for "cynical political purposes".[4] According to Zelenskyy in the summer of 2017 "some rogues" had almost registered a party called "Servant of the People" and that because of this Kvartal 95 had registered their Servant of the People party so voters would not be misled to think they would vote for a party that was not related to the TV series of the same name.[14] Early in 2018, Zelenskyy stated that the party was "not yet a political project", and said about its future: "Let's see".[14]

Former logo of Servant of the People

In December 2017, 4% of Ukrainians polled by the

Chesno tried to contact Zelenskyy and party representatives in September 2018 in an attempt to ask if the party would take part in elections a spokeswoman for Kvartal 95 responded "Unfortunately, party representatives are unable to comment on your request. There is currently no information that might be of interest to you."[14] The press service of Kvartal 95 could not provide Chesno a picture of party leader Bakanov.[14] Chesno was able to find out that the leadership of the party only consisted of people related to Kvartal-95.[14]

Billboards advertising "Servants of the People" appeared on the streets of Ukrainian cities in November 2018.[15] Zelenskyy later admitted that these billboards were legally only advertising the third season of the TV series "Servant of the People" but were also part of his election campaign so his campaign could "save a lot of money".[15] The party's first financiers were either NGO's that did not have to report the origins of their donations or companies that all changed their addresses in the same week, this led Chesno to believe these companies were interconnected.[15] Almost all of the 2018 funds were received on the eve of Zelenskyy's 2019 New Year's speech in which he announced his candidacy in the 2019 Ukrainian presidential election.[15]

Party winning the 2019 presidential and parliamentary election

Volodymyr Zelenskyy votes in 2019.

In late December 2018, Zelenskyy was declared a presidential candidate from the party at the 2019 presidential election.

Petro Poroshenko Bloc nor Opposition Platform — For Life.[20]

In his inauguration speech to parliament on 20 May 2019, President Zelenskyy dissolved parliament and decreed an early election to be held on 21 July 2019.

Oleksandr Kornienko had been made head of the party's election headquarters, and Mykhailo Fedorov was installed as the party's chief of digital strategies.[22] On 2 June 2019, the registration of potential candidates to run for the party in majority constituencies during the 2019 Ukrainian parliamentary election ended.[23] Party leader Razumkov assured on 7 June 2019 that no incumbent MPs would be on the party list for the 2019 parliamentary election, but that the election list would consist of "new ambitious politicians".[24]

Pre-election concert held for a Servant of the People parliamentary candidate

The party held its first congress on 9 June 2019.[25] It took place in Kyiv's Hryshko National Botanical Garden and was attended by President Zelenskyy and party leader Razumkov, among others. During the congress the first names of the party's majority constituency candidates and the 97 candidates of the nationwide closed party list were made public.[26] Well-known names in the nationwide party list were: Olympic athletes Olha Saladukha, Vadym Gutzeit and Zhan Beleniuk and long-term CEO of 1+1 Media Group Oleksandr Tkachenko.[26] Three days later Gutzeit and two other candidates had withdrawn themselves from the election, whilst a fourth was excluded from the list "after additional checks".[27][28] During the post-primaries, press and activists highlighted the most controversial representatives of the party, such as Oleksandr Dubinsky and Max Buzhanskiy.[citation needed] Neither of them was withdrawn from the final list of the party after the registration deadlines.[29][nb 3] The party excluded seven candidates from its list on 7 July 2019; five candidates were removed "as a result of information submitted [to the party] via the website and chat bot", whilst two others requested to be removed from the list, including the No. 31 candidate.[31] On 19 July 2019, the leader of the Movement of New Forces party Mikheil Saakashvili called on his supporters to vote for the Servant of the People party at the parliamentary election.[32]

In the (21 July) 2019 parliamentary election, the top ten party candidates

Ukrainian oligarch Ihor Kolomoyskyi) won constituency seats as candidates for Servant of the People (the two parties had no formal allegiance).[35] In parliament Davyd Arakhamia became the party's faction leader.[36]

Party since winning the 2019 parliamentary election

On 11 November 2019,

Oleksandr Kornienko replaced Razumkov as party chairman.[37]

The party won about 25% of the votes in December 2019 local

United territorial community elections (non-aligned candidates gained 44% of the votes).[38]

In June 2020, the party started to create its local organisation by appointing "Cell leaders".[6] In May 2020 the party had no official registered local branch.[6][nb 4]

In the

Petro Poroshenko Bloc and other political parties.[48] In elections held in places with a population of less than 10,000 voters, the party won two seats.[49]

In the spring of 2021, the party created a youth wing called "Ze! Molodizhka" ("Ze! Youth").[50]

The party did not nominate a candidate for the October 2021 snap mayoral election in Kharkiv (the second-largest city of Ukraine[51]).[52]

According to Ukrainska Pravda, in December 2021, the party de facto had no majority in parliament anymore since it could only rely on 210 of its deputies during important votes, while any bill required 226 votes to pass.[53] Since 2019, nine deputies had been expelled from the faction and Dmytro Razumkov did not return to the faction after his removal from post as Chairman of parliament on 7 October 2021.[53][54] (Razumkov was replaced by Servant of the People member Ruslan Stefanchuk.[55])

On 28 February 2022, the party was granted affiliate status by the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party.[56]

Ideology and position

It is positioned in the centre on the political spectrum,[57][58][59] while its political ideology has been described as populist[60][61][62] and liberal.[63]

On 23 May 2019, Ruslan Stefanchuk, Zelenskyy's representative in the Verkhovna Rada, announced that the party had chosen

denies political extremes and radicalism. But it is creative centrism."[68]

In the election program for the 2019 parliamentary election, the party stated, "we will introduce the most favored regime for foreign investors of Ukrainian origin."[69] It also promised to introduce "a mechanism for withdrawing deputies who have lost the confidence of the voters".[69] The program also puts forward a number of direct democracy and anti-corruption proposals.[69][70][71] The party has also vowed to expand Ukraine's cooperation with the European Union and NATO.[69][72] The party also claimed that its key goal is to achieve a higher than average European income and quality of life for Ukrainians.[69][nb 5]

In early July 2019, Ruslan Stefanchuk, number two in the party's election list, expressed his belief that Ukrainian language should be promoted (in a process of the so-called "Ukrainization") but only "quite mildly" and that "one needs to fight for the language to provide quality. Neither by bans, nor by persecution, but only by equality. When Ukrainian language content becomes more interesting and higher quality, then we will absolutely have another attitude. Meanwhile, the state should work out all mechanisms for that", he said.[74]

Electoral performance

Verkhovna Rada

Results of the 2019 Verkhovna Rada elections
Election Party leader Performance Rank Government
Votes % ± pp Seats +/–
2019 Dmytro Razumkov 6,307,793
43.16%
New
254 / 450
New 1st Majority

Presidential elections

Election Candidate First round Second round Result
Votes % Votes %
2019 Volodymyr Zelenskyy 5,714,034
30.24%
13,541,528
73.22%
Elected Green tickY

Notes

  1. Oleksandr Kornienko in May 2020.[6] He also stated that a third of the party's parliamentary faction was a member of the party.[6]
  2. ^ Servant of the People delegates to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe instead sit with the European Conservatives Group and Democratic Alliance.[7]
  3. ^ On 21 June 2019 Ukrainian media reported that a businessman who had been a suspect in various embezzlement cases was a candidate for the party in a majority constituency.[30]
  4. Oleksandr Kornienko stated, in a September 2020 interview, that in March–April local branches had been planned to be created but that this was disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic.[39] Kornienko also claimed that "the real party building will begin after the October 2020 local elections with those who will win them."[39]
  5. ^ In an interview in April 2019, party leader Zelenskyy stated that he supported the free distribution of medical cannabis, was a supporter of free abortion in Ukraine and would like to see the legalisation of prostitution and gambling in Ukraine.[20] He spoke out against the legalization of weapons.[20] None of these ideas were to be found in the party election program for the 2019 parliamentary election.[69] The program instead promises to legally regulate the right to own weapons.[73]

References

  1. ^ (in Ukrainian) Elena Shulyak was re-elected head of "Servants of the People", Civil movement "Chesno" (14 December 2023)
  2. ^ Later, the new head of the Ministry of Health will be replaced by Radutsky - Arachamia. Ukrainska Pravda. 31 August 2019
  3. ^ "Zelensky's Advisor Razumkov to head "Servant of the People" party". 112.international. 27 May 2019. Retrieved 20 July 2019.
  4. ^ a b c "The boundary of a joke. As Zelensky prepares for the election" (in Ukrainian). Ukrainska Pravda. 25 October 2018. Retrieved 29 April 2019.
  5. ^ a b "Party of Decisive Change" changed its name to "Servant of the people" (in Ukrainian). Left Bank. 2 December 2017. Retrieved 29 April 2019.
  6. ^ a b c d (in Ukrainian) Non-partisan Ukraine, The Ukrainian Week (24 June 2020)
  7. ^ "European Conservatives Group and Democratic Alliance". Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. Archived from the original on 7 June 2022. Retrieved 12 November 2022.
  8. ^ Обрані депутати місцевих рад. www.cvk.gov.ua (in Ukrainian). 23 November 2020. Archived from the original on 14 February 2022. Retrieved 23 November 2020.
  9. ^ "Журналісти показали, хто фінансує партію "Слуга народу"". Українська правда (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 20 May 2020.
  10. ^ a b ""Партія Рішучих змін" змінила назву на "Слуга народу"". LB.ua. 2 December 2017. Retrieved 20 May 2020.
  11. ^ a b c "The Ministry of Justice registered the party "Servant of the people" (in Russian). Ukrainian News Agency. 26 April 2018. Retrieved 29 April 2019.
  12. ^ a b c "Lawyer Zelensky has registered a new political party "Servant of the people" (in Ukrainian). UNIAN. 3 December 2017. Retrieved 29 April 2019.
  13. ^ a b CEC counts 100 percent of vote in Ukraine's parliamentary elections, Ukrinform (26 July 2019)
    (in Russian) Results of the extraordinary elections of the People's Deputies of Ukraine 2019, Ukrainska Pravda (21 July 2019)
  14. ^
    Civil movement "Chesno"
    (4 September 2018)
  15. ^
    Civil movement "Chesno"
    (13 February 2020)
  16. ^ "Zelensky: Party "Servant of the people" goes into politics" (in Ukrainian). Interfax-Ukraine. 26 December 2018. Retrieved 29 April 2019.
  17. ^ "'Parallel universe': The front-runner seeking to be Ukraine's president plays one on TV". The Washington Post. 9 March 2019. Retrieved 29 April 2019.
  18. Central Election Commission of Ukraine
    . 31 March 2019. Retrieved 29 April 2019.
  19. Central Election Commission of Ukraine
    . 31 March 2019. Retrieved 31 March 2019.
  20. ^
    RBC Ukraine
    . 18 April 2019. Retrieved 29 April 2019.
  21. [The Constitutional Court recognised Zelenskyy's constitutional decree to dissolve the Council] (in Ukrainian). www.unian.ua. 20 June 2019. Retrieved 14 July 2019.
  22. ^
    Radio Free Europe
    (27 May 2019)
  23. ^ "Клони атакують Зеленського. У Кривому Розі на виборах зареєструвалося кілька "слуг народу"". glavcom.ua. 5 June 2019.
  24. ^ a b "Лещенка не взяли у список партії "Слуга народу"". glavcom.ua. 7 June 2019.
  25. ^ "Servant of the People party to hold congress on 9 June". www.ukrinform.net. 7 June 2019. Retrieved 9 June 2019.
  26. ^ a b Перша сотня партії Зеленського: без «95 кварталу», з олімпійськими чемпіонами і ЗеКомандою. glavcom.ua (in Ukrainian). 9 June 2019. Retrieved 9 June 2019.
  27. ^ Із першої сотні “Слуги народу” вилетіли три кандидати. Українська правда (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 12 June 2019.
  28. ^ Екс-заступник міністра оборони передумав іти в Раду від "Слуги народу". Українська правда (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 12 June 2019.
  29. ^ "Центральна виборча комісія - Вибори народних депутатів України 2019". www.cvk.gov.ua. Retrieved 22 July 2019.
  30. ^ The media found in the lists of "Servants of the people" candidate Majoritarian, who was repeatedly tried. glavcom.ua (in Ukrainian). 21 June 2019. Retrieved 21 June 2019.
  31. ^ "Партія "Слуга народу" викреслила з виборчого списку 7 кандидатів". www.unian.ua. Retrieved 22 July 2019.
  32. ^ "Саакашвілі закликав прихильників віддати голоси за "Слугу народу"". LB.ua (in Ukrainian). 19 July 2019. Retrieved 20 July 2019.
  33. Central Election Commission of Ukraine
    . Retrieved 8 December 2019.
  34. ^ "The party "Servant of the People" announced its list for the elections" – Партія "Слуга народу" оголосила список на вибори" (in Ukrainian). LB.ua. 9 June 2019. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
  35. ^ "Партійці Коломойського в обгортці "Слуги народу" (in Ukrainian). Deutsche Welle. 24 July 2019. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
  36. (31 August 2019)
  37. KyivPost
    (10 November 2019)
  38. ^ (in Ukrainian) Party long-term construction, The Ukrainian Week (28 July 2020)
  39. ^ a b (in Ukrainian) Alexandr Kornienko: "We are discussing the main candidates for regional councils, for city councils, and the president looks at them too", LB.ua (8 September 2020)
  40. ^ (in Ukrainian) The CEC showed the top 10 parties that won the most seats in the election, Ukrainska Pravda (18 November 2020)
  41. Civil movement "Chesno"
    (15 September 2021)
  42. ^ "Ukraine's Zelensky suffers setback in local elections". France 24. 25 October 2020. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  43. ^ Ukrainian local elections: Zelenskyy fairytale is over by Anders Åslund, Atlantic Council (26 October 2020)
  44. ^ Vitali Klitschko wins in first round of Kyiv mayor election, Ukrinform (6 November 2020)
  45. Central Election Commission of Ukraine
  46. Pryamiy kanal
    (23 July 2019)
  47. ^ a b (in Ukrainian) Mayoral and village mayoral elections: CEC shows ranking of winning parties, Ukrainska Pravda (18 November 2020)
  48. Civil movement "Chesno"
    (21 October 2020) (in Ukrainian)
  49. Central Election Commission of Ukraine
    (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 12 January 2021.
  50. ^ (in Ukrainian) "Servant of the People" wants to create a youth wing of the party, which "will share the ideas and principles of the president", Lb.ua [uk] (2 March 2021)
    (in Ukrainian) The Servant of the People party organized a camp with "incendiary dances" and yoga, Ukrainska Pravda (8 August 2021)
  51. ^ Kharkiv "never had eastern-western conflicts", Euronews (23 October 2014)
  52. ^ (in Ukrainian) "Servant of the people" will not nominate a candidate for mayor of Kharkiv, Ukrainska Pravda (6 September 2021)
  53. ^ a b (in Ukrainian) Top 5 failures and achievements of Ukraine in 2021. And how they will affect us in the new year, Ukrainska Pravda (29 December 2021)
  54. ^ "Ukrainian Lawmakers Vote To Remove Parliament Speaker Razumkov". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. 7 October 2021. Retrieved 7 October 2021.
  55. RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty
    . 8 October 2021. Retrieved 8 October 2021.
  56. ^ "ALDE welcomes Zelenskyy's party to the liberal family". ALDE Party. Retrieved 1 March 2022.
  57. ^ "Do European values still matter in Ukraine?". www.eurozine.com. 21 December 2020. Retrieved 6 April 2022.
  58. ^ "'This is my country, we have to defend it': Ukrainian MP takes up AK-47 to protect Kyiv". inews.co.uk. 25 February 2022. Retrieved 6 April 2022.
  59. ^ Свобода, Радіо (15 February 2020). "Партія Зеленського визначила свою ідеологію". Радіо Свобода (in Ukrainian).
  60. .
  61. .
  62. ISBN 978-8366709386. Retrieved 26 March 2022. The chapter analyzes what is the specificity of populism used in the election campaign of the Servant of the People party in 2019 and tries to answer the question whether it is based on the socio-political values of citizens. The hypothesis stated that the Ukrainian populism used in the election campaign by the Servant of the People party is largely based on the socio-political values of citizens.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link
    )
  63. ^ Buyak, Bogdan; Kuzhyshyn, Andrii (2021). Change of the Electoral Sympathies of the Voters in the Western Ukrainian Region According to the Parliamentary Elections Results in 2019. p. 2.
  64. ^ Партия Зеленского выбрала своей идеологией либертарианство [Zelensky's party chose libertarianism as its ideology]. meduza.io (in Russian). Retrieved 23 May 2019.
  65. ^ Master of improvisation, The Ukrainian Week (23 June 2019)
  66. ^ "Партия Зеленского выбрала своей идеологией либертарианство". Meduza.io. Retrieved 13 June 2019.
  67. ^ a b (in Ukrainian) "The "servant of the people" will change the ideology into something between the liberal and the socialist". Ukrainska Pravda. 12 November 2019. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
  68. ^
    RBC Ukraine
    (15 February 2020)
  69. ^ a b c d e f З якими обіцянками «Слуга народу» йде на вибори: 16 пунктів програми. glavcom.ua (in Ukrainian). 9 June 2019. Retrieved 9 June 2019.
  70. ^ "Zelensky names fighting corruption, raising investment as priorities - KyivPost - Ukraine's Global Voice". KyivPost. 25 January 2019. Retrieved 6 April 2022.
  71. ^ Minich, Ruslan (19 February 2019). "How Ukraine's Leading Comedian Pulled Ahead in Polls". Atlantic Council. Retrieved 29 April 2019.
  72. ^ Karmanau, Yuras. "Comedian who plays Ukraine's president on TV leads real race". ABC News. Retrieved 14 March 2022.
  73. ^ ПЕРЕДВИБОРНА ПРОГРАМА ПОЛІТИЧНОЇ ПАРТІЇ «СЛУГА НАРОДУ». LB.ua (in Ukrainian). 12 June 2019. Retrieved 12 June 2019.
  74. ^ "Ukrainization should be 'quite mild' – Zelensky's envoy to Verkhovna Rada". Interfax-Ukraine. 2 July 2019. Retrieved 8 December 2019.

Notes

  1. ^ Formally an independent, but closely associated with SN

External links