Oleksandr Omelchenko - Political Career

Political Career

During the 1999 Kiev mayoral election, Omelchenko defeated a noted oligarch Hryhoriy Surkis, with 76 percent of the vote to Surkis's 16 percent. Omelchenko became the first elected mayor in Ukraine's modern history, with a platform highlighting his work in restoring much of Kiev's historic buildings and renovating parts of downtown Kiev.

Omelchenko was a candidate in the 2004 Ukrainian presidential election, nominated by the Unity Party, which he formerly chaired. Omelchenko was the only candidate for President whose son was a deputy in the Ukrainian parliament. His program included the urgent withdrawal of Ukrainian forces from Iraq. After the Orange Revolution, Omelchenko joined the People's Union "Our Ukraine" party but did not disband his old party.

While he was running for a third term as Mayor of Kiev in what was expected to be an easy victory in the March 2006 election, he was badly defeated and came third behind Leonid Chernovetsky (mayor-elect) and Vitali Klitschko.

During the 2007 parliamentary elections Omelchenko was elected as a Our Ukraine–People's Self-Defense Bloc deputy to the Verkhovna Rada. He was expelled from that fraction in September 2011 because of supporting the Azarov Government.