Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc - Overview

Overview

Founded for the 2002 parliamentary elections the party always has attracted most of its voters from Western Ukrainian (Ukrainian speaking) provinces (Oblasts) and from central Ukraine. The party has low support in the east and the south of Ukraine (where the Russian language is dominant). The party has recruited several politicians from these Russian speaking provinces like Crimea (Lyudmyla Denisova) and Luhansk Oblast (Natalia Korolevska). The party is often associated with the 2004 Orange Revolution (the party's leader Yulia Tymoshenko was one of the leaders of the Orange Revolution) and thus named an Orange Party in media publications. The party also has some prominent members who used to be associated with the opponents of the Orange Revolutions (the Blue camp) like the former faction leader of the Bloc Yulia Tymoshenko (BYuT) faction in the Ukrainian Parliament Ivan Kyrylenko. Other noticeable (former) BYuT deputies are Soviet dissident Levko Lukyanenko and former UNA-UNSO leader Andriy Shkil.

BYuT is intending to include more representatives from the education sector into voting for its lists. According to the party's leader Tymoshenko: "Certain branches and sectors have powerful lobbies. And there are only three to four lobbyists who represent the spheres of education and health care in the Verkhovna Rada (Ukraine's parliament). Therefore some sectors lack financing, while others have excessive funding".

According to party-leader Tymoshenko representatives of business have no dominant influence on decision making in her political force. "Business is represented in the parliament, but it doesn't shape politics this is what distinguishes my political force from the Party of Regions for instance." Several billionaires have been member of the BYuT faction in the Verkhovna Rada.