The Association "Self Reliance" () is a

liberal conservative Liberal conservatism is a political ideology combining conservative policies with liberal stances, especially on economic issues but also on social and ethical matters, representing a brand of political conservatism strongly influenced by libe ...

and

Christian democratic Christian democracy is an ideology inspired by Christian social teaching to respond to the challenges of contemporary society and politics. Christian democracy has drawn mainly from Catholic social teaching and neo-scholasticism, as well ...

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

. It was founded on 29 December 2012, and identifies with the ideology of "Christian morality and common sense." The name of the party is similar to the name of the

NGO A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an independent, typically nonprofit organization that operates outside government control, though it may get a significant percentage of its funding from government or corporate sources. NGOs often focus ...

, founded by former leader,

Andriy Sadovyi Andriy Ivanovych Sadovyi (; born 19 August 1968) is a Ukrainian politician and businessman who has served as the mayor of Lviv, the administrative centre of the Lviv Oblast of western Ukraine, since 2006. He is the former leader of the Self Re ...

in 2004. The party won 33 seats in the

2014 Ukrainian parliamentary election Fourteen or 14 may refer to: * 14 (number), the natural number following 13 and preceding 15 * one of the years 14 BC, AD 14, 1914, 2014 Music * 14th (band), a British electronic music duo * ''14'' (David Garrett album), 2013 *''14'', an un ...

.Poroshenko Bloc to have greatest number of seats in parliament

Ukrinform The National News Agency of Ukraine (), or Ukrinform (), is a state information and news agency, and international broadcaster of Ukraine. It was founded in 1918 during the Ukrainian War of IndependencePeople's Front 0.33% ahead of Poroshenko Bloc with all ballots counted in Ukraine elections - CEC

Interfax-Ukraine Interfax-Ukraine () is a Ukrainian news agency. Founded in 1992, the company publishes in Ukrainian, Russian, English and German. The company owns a 50-seat press centre. The staff of the agency is 105 people (as of the end of February 2022) ...

(8 November 2014)
Poroshenko Bloc to get 132 seats in parliament - CEC

(8 November 2014) In the

2019 Ukrainian parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Ukraine on 21 July 2019. Originally scheduled to be held at the end of October, the elections were brought forward after newly inaugurated President of Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy dissolved parli ...

, the party won a single seat, the 122nd electoral district in

Lviv Oblast Lviv Oblast (, ), also referred to as Lvivshchyna (, ), is an administrative divisions of Ukraine, oblast in western Ukraine. The capital city, capital of the oblast is the city of Lviv. The current population is History Name The region is named ...

.CEC counts 100 percent of vote in Ukraine's parliamentary elections

Ukrinform The National News Agency of Ukraine (), or Ukrinform (), is a state information and news agency, and international broadcaster of Ukraine. It was founded in 1918 during the Ukrainian War of IndependenceResults of the extraordinary elections of the People's Deputies of Ukraine 2019

Ukrainska Pravda ''Ukrainska Pravda'' is a Ukrainian socio-political online media outlet founded by Heorhii Gongadze in April 2000. After Gongadze’s death in September 2000, the editorial team was led by co-founder Olena Prytula, who remained the editor-in ...

(21 July 2019)

Etymology

The name and ideology of the party is referring to the history of Ukrainian cooperative movement, which started in

Western Ukraine Western Ukraine or West Ukraine (, ) refers to the western territories of Ukraine. There is no universally accepted definition of the territory's boundaries, but the contemporary Ukrainian administrative regions ( oblasts) of Chernivtsi, I ...

in the beginning of 20th century. The financial

societies A society () is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. ...

that appeared prior to

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

in Galicia were formed as a part of Ukrainian national movement. The idea to start Ukrainian national financial cooperation societies belonged to Dr. Yevhen Olesnytskyi, lawyer, the head of

Stryi Stryi (, ; ) is a city in Lviv Oblast, western Ukraine. It is located in the left bank of the Stryi (river), Stryi River, approximately south of Lviv in the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains. It serves as the administrative center of Stryi R ...

Prosvita Prosvita (), since 1991 officially known as All-Ukrainian Prosvita Society named after Taras Shevchenko () is an enlightenment society aimed to preserve and develop Ukrainian culture, education and science, that was created in the nineteenth cen ...

movement and member of the Austro-Hungarian Parliament. He started to organise seminars for like-minded people, who supported the idea of solving economic problems before resolving political issues. The fight against poverty and backwardness was the main goal of the organisation, which quickly acquired popularity. The local Prosvita activists supported the call for action, and already in 1904 Ostap Nyzhankivskyi, composer and priest from the village Zavadiv near Stryi, founded first cooperative of milk producers. The idea proved to be popular among Ukrainian peasants; in 1914, the Union of Milk Cooperatives united more than 100 unions under the leadership of Ostap Nyzhankivskyi. Soon the Union started to issue its own newspaper, which received the name 'Samopomich'. The

WWI World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting took place mainly in Europe and th ...

and the following Polish-Ukrainian war interrupted the movement, as its activists devoted themselves to the work for the

West Ukrainian People's Republic The West Ukrainian People's Republic (; West Ukrainian People's Republic#Name, see other names) was a short-lived state that controlled most of Eastern Galicia from November 1918 to July 1919. It included major cities of Lviv, Ternopil, Kolom ...

. The leader of the movement, Ostap Nyzhankivskyi, became the district commissar of

and died in the battle for the city on 13 May 1919. The cooperative activism reemerged after the

. The officers of the Ukrainian Galician Army who had emigrated to

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

and

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

, returned to Ukraine and brought there the experience of European cooperative movement. Until late 1930s, the new cooperative 'Ukrainian Milk Society 'Maslosoyiuz' united up to 500,000 farms, and became an important player in the European agriculture market. The practice of cooperation spread to other spheres of life: Galician Ukrainians founded their own bank (bank 'Dnister'), trade network (shops of 'Maslosoyiuz' and 'People's Trade'), supervision bodies (Revision Union of Ukrainian Cooperatives), insurance companies, educational system, etc. Such organisations, as Sokil,

Plast The Plast National Scout Organization of Ukraine (), commonly called Ukrainian Plast or simply , is the largest Scouting organization in Ukraine. History First Era: 1911–1920 Plast was founded in Lviv (Lwów, Lemberg), Austro-Hungarian Ga ...

, Sport Society 'Ukraine' popularised healthy lifestyle, the

Taras Shevchenko Taras Hryhorovych Shevchenko (; ; 9 March 1814 – 10 March 1861) was a Ukrainian poet, writer, artist, public and political figure, folklorist, and ethnographer. He was a fellow of the Imperial Academy of Arts and a member of the Brotherhood o ...

Academic Society united scientists and intellectuals. The

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and Soviet repressions brought an end to the civic activity on the territory of Ukraine.

History

Early history

The contemporary history of the political party Self Reliance started in 2004, with the creation of an

called "Self Reliance".

, who was the director of the Institute of the City Development, initiated the foundation of an organisation, which would derive from the history and traditions of the Ukrainian cooperation movement. Thus, the charity "Self Reliance" was established on 4 November 2004. The main activities of the organisation were: promoting legal literacy among the citizens, promoting healthy lifestyle, organisation of the volunteer movement and establishing local cooperation entities. In 2006, Andriy Sadovyi was elected the mayor of

Lviv Lviv ( or ; ; ; see #Names and symbols, below for other names) is the largest city in western Ukraine, as well as the List of cities in Ukraine, fifth-largest city in Ukraine, with a population of It serves as the administrative centre of ...

. He relied on the Self Reliance team in creating the development strategy for the city of Lviv. In 2010, Sadovyi was reelected for the office of mayor. On 14 October 2012, Sadovyi began the formation of the Self Reliance political party. The party united the legacy of Ukrainian cooperative movement and Christian-democratic ideology. Self Reliance was registered as a political party on 29 December 2012. In 2013, Self Reliance had its first

constituent assembly A constituent assembly (also known as a constitutional convention, constitutional congress, or constitutional assembly) is a body assembled for the purpose of drafting or revising a constitution. Members of a constituent assembly may be elected b ...

in the Building of Pedagogical Museum in

Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

. The party started to form local representation units and develop ideological approach. Self Reliance activists participated in

Euromaidan Euromaidan ( ; , , ), or the Maidan Uprising, was a wave of Political demonstration, demonstrations and civil unrest in Ukraine, which began on 21 November 2013 with large protests in Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square) in Kyiv. The p ...

Kyiv City Council elections

Self Reliance participated in the 25 May 2014 elections to the

Kyiv City Council Kyiv City Council (, ), also known as Kyivrada (), is the city council of Kyiv municipality, the highest representative body of the city community. The members of city council are directly elected by Kyivans and the council is chaired by the M ...

. The party asked the citizens to propose candidates for the election, and assigned the position in the party list according to the preferences of the public. In that election, the party received 7.4% of votes and won five seats in the Council.

2014 parliamentary elections and faction

On 28 February 2014, the party's leader

, said Self Reliance would take part in the snap parliamentary elections scheduled for October 2014. In the Ukrainian parliamentary election

Hanna Hopko Hanna Hopko (; born 4 March 1982) is a Ukrainian civil society leader and politician, a former Member of Parliament and head of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada. She did not participate in the 2019 Ukrainian parliamen ...

headed the party list, followed by

Donbas Battalion The Donbas Battalion () is a unit of the National Guard of Ukraine under the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine and formerly based in Severodonetsk. It was created in 2014 as a Ukrainian volunteer battalions, volunteer unit () by Semen Semen ...

commander

Semen Semenchenko Semen Ihorovych Semenchenko (; born 6 June 1974) is a former deputy to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, First Deputy Chairperson of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Committee on National Security and Defence and the commander-founder of the Donbas ...

, while Sadovyi obtained the 50th place. The party campaigned for local self-organisation and decentralisation. The party finished third in the election. It was the only party which did not have any former parliamentarians on its election list but rather people from community

s and medium-sized businesses. Candidates of

Volia ''Volia'' is an extinct monospecific genus of mekosuchine crocodylian closely related to '' Mekosuchus'' and '' Trilophosuchus''. ''Volia'' is known from a collection of largely fragmentary remains including skull bones and limbs recovered fr ...

were included in the election list of Self Reliance. Its parliamentary faction received 33 mandates including one won at

constituency An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provi ...

elections. The faction includes experts-activists out of the Reanimation Package of Reforms (a public initiative), military personnel and business representatives (mostly IT-related).Dear Deputies (partology)
Hromadske.tv. 9 February 2015 By party affiliation, the faction consists mostly out of unaffiliated deputies, while there is one deputy of the Ukrainian People's Party and only three members of the Self Reliance party. The top ten members of parliament were

, Oleksiy Skrypnyk, Oksana Syroyid, Viktor Kryvenko, Iryna Suslova, Pavlo Kyshkar,

Aliona Babak Aliona Valeriyivna Babak (, born September 27, 1969) is a Ukrainian politician and former Minister of Regional Development.Natalia Veselova and Oleksandr Danchenko. Following the elections the party became a member of the coalition supporting the current

second Yatsenyuk Government The second Yatsenyuk government was created in Ukraine after the 2014 Ukrainian parliamentary election. On 2 December 2014, 288 People's Deputy of Ukraine, members (of the 423Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food Oleksiy Pavlenko.Rada supports coalition-proposed government lineup

(2 December 2014)
Rada approves new Cabinet with three foreigners

Kyiv Post The ''Kyiv Post'' is Ukraine’s first and most prominent English-language newspaper. It was founded in 1995 in Kyiv by American businessman Jed Sunden. In 2018, the publication was acquired by prominent Ukrainian businessman Adnan Kivan, foun ...

(2 December 2014)
Rada voted the new Cabinet

(2 December 2014) Hopko and Kryvenko were expelled from Self Reliance on 31 August 2015 for violating faction discipline, as they supported the amendments to the

Ukrainian Constitution The Constitution of Ukraine (, ) is the fundamental law of Ukraine. The constitution was adopted and ratified at the 5th session of the ''Verkhovna Rada'', the parliament of Ukraine, on 28 June 1996. The constitution was passed with 315 ayes o ...

that would lead to

decentralization Decentralization or decentralisation is the process by which the activities of an organization, particularly those related to planning and decision-making, are distributed or delegated away from a central, authoritative location or group and gi ...

and greater powers for the pro-Russian separatists on the territory they occupied during the

War in Donbas The war in Donbas, or the Donbas war, was a phase of the Russo-Ukrainian War in the eastern Donbas region of Ukraine. The war Timeline of the war in Donbas (2014), began in April 2014, when Russian separatist forces in Ukraine, Russian para ...

. By late October 2015, the Self Reliance faction in the Rada had shrunk from 33 seats to 26 seats. The party did not do particularly well in the

2015 Ukrainian local elections On 25 October 2015 local elections took place in Ukraine. The elections were conducted a little over a year since the 2014 snap local elections, which were only held throughout parts of the country. A second round of voting for the election of ...

(winning approximately 10% of the votes); but its candidate

Oleksandr Senkevych Oleksandr Fedorovych Senkevych (also spelled Sienkevych or Senkevich, ; born 4 February 1982) is a Ukrainian politician who currently serves as the mayor of Mykolaiv. During his administration, Russia invaded Ukraine and the city came under att ...

was elected Mayor of Mykolayiv in the elections. But the following years party factions in city councils dissolved themselves, some factions rebranded themselves to a new local party (as happened to the party's

and

Kyiv Oblast Council The Kyiv Oblast Council () is the regional oblast council (parliament) of the Kyiv Oblast (province) located in central Ukraine. Council members are elected for five year terms. In order to gain representation in the council, a party must gain m ...

factions) and party deputies transferred to other factions. On 4 February 2016, leader of Self Reliance parliamentary faction Oleh Berezyuk said Pavlenko no longer represented his party in the second Yatsenyuk Government.Berezyuk Pavlenko no longer represents the "Self"

(4 February 2016) On 17 February 2016, after a supported by the party but failed motion of no confidence against the government, Self Reliance issued an official statement on its

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

page in which it argued "A cynical coup has occurred in Ukraine, with the help of the president, the prime minister, the kleptocratic part of the coalition, and the oligarch bloc" that led to the second Yatsenyuk government being an "illegitimate government".Batkivschyna faction pulls out of coalition

UNIAN The Ukrainian Independent Information Agency of News () is a Kyiv-based Ukraine, Ukrainian news agency. It produces and provides political, business and financial information, and a photo reporting service. As of October 2022, it was the most v ...

(17 February 2016)
Batkivshchyna faction leaves ruling coalition

(17 February 2016) The next day Self Reliance left the coalition.Samopomich pulls out from ruling coalition in parliamen

(18 February 2016)
"Self" comes from the coalition

(18 February 2016) The party did not join the coalition that supports 14 April 2016 installed

Groysman Government The Groysman government was formed on 14 April 2016, led by Volodymyr Groysman. It was the third Ukrainian cabinet formed since the 2014 Ukrainian revolution, following on from the first and second Yatsenyuk governments. History Formation ...

. From Autumn 2015 until June 2016, party members were engaged in talks on an attempt to form a political party around then Governor of Odesa Oblast

Mikheil Saakashvili Mikheil "Misha" Saakashvili (born 21 December 1967) is a Georgian and Ukrainian politician and jurist. He was the third president of Georgia for two consecutive terms from 25 January 2004 to 17 November 2013. He is the founder and former chair ...

with members of the parliamentary group Interfactional Union "Eurooptimists", Democratic Alliance and possibly Self Reliance until this projection collapsed in June 2016.

2019 and 2020 elections

Self Reliance announced on 3 October 2018 that party leader

would be their candidate in the

2019 Ukrainian presidential election Presidential elections were held in Ukraine on 31 March 2019. As none of the 39 candidates on the ballot received an absolute majority of the initial vote, a runoff was held on 21 April between the top two vote-getters: Volodymyr Zelenskyy, a t ...

. He indeed became a candidate in the election from 8 January until 1 March 2019, when he decided to withdraw to support the candidacy of

Anatoliy Hrytsenko Anatoliy Stepanovych Hrytsenko (; born 25 October 1957) is a Ukrainian politician, independent deputy of the 7th Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada, former Minister of Defence, and member of the Our Ukraine political party and leader of the Civil Posi ...

. In these elections, Hrytsenko did not proceed to the second round of the election; in the first round, he placed fifth with 6.91% of the votes. In April and May 2019, seven members of the party's parliamentary faction left the party but remained in the Self Reliance faction. In the July

, 13 of the party's incumbent MPs were on the Self Reliance party list, while four incumbent Self Reliance MPs tried to get reelected for the party

Voice The human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal tract, including talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, shouting, humming or yelling. The human voice frequency is specifically a part of human sound produ ...

, another four for

Strength and Honor Strength and Honor (, SiCh) is a Ukrainian political party led by Ihor Smeshko. History Before the creation of the political party "Strength and Honor" Ihor Smeshko led the NGO "Strength and Honor". The party was officially registered as ...

and one for

Servant of the People Servant of the People (; ''SN'') is a Liberalism, liberal, Centrism, centrist, Pro-Europeanism, pro-European List of political parties in Ukraine, political party in Ukraine. Since both the 2019 Ukrainian presidential election and the 2019 Ukra ...

. In the parliamentary election, Self Reliance won one seat (in one of the electoral constituencies) while only scoring 0.62% of the national vote. Self Reliance candidate

Pavlo Bakunets Pavlo Andriiovych Bakunets () is a Ukrainian politician and a People's Deputy of the 9th Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada. Biography Pavlo Andriiovych Bakunets was born on July 10, 1987, in Yavoriv, Lviv Oblast, Ukraine. He received a BA from the Ukr ...

won their only parliamentary seat by winning the electoral district of

Yavoriv Yavoriv (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city in Lviv Oblast, western Ukraine. It is situated about from the Poland, Polish border. It serves as the administrative centre of Yavoriv Raion and is situated approximately west of the oblast capital, Lviv. Yavoriv ...

with 14.84% of the votes. In October 2019, the former party leader Sadovyi was succeeded by Oksana Syroyid. In the

2020 Ukrainian local elections The 2020 Ukrainian local elections took place on Sunday 25 October 2020.Ukrai ...

, the party did not make the top 10 of winners of the election; thus, she scored less than the 1.62% of the available seats won by the

Radical Party of Oleh Lyashko The Radical Party of Oleh Liashko (; RPL), formerly known as the Ukrainian Radical-Democratic Party (), is a political party in Ukraine. It was registered in September 2010. It was primarily known for its radical populism, especially in 2014, whe ...

.The CEC showed the top 10 parties that won the most seats in the election

(18 November 2020) In total, the party gained 223 deputies (0.52% of all available mandates) in the elections. The party won nine of the 84 seats of the

Lviv Oblast Council The Lviv Oblast Council or Lviv Regional Council () is the regional council (parliament) of the Lviv Oblast (region) located in western Ukraine. Legislative framework The Regional Council is a local self-government body representing the common ...

(the winner in this election with 28 seats was

European Solidarity European Solidarity (, ; , YeS) is a political party in Ukraine. It has its roots in a parliamentary group called Solidarity dating from 2000 and has existed since in various forms as a political outlet for Petro Poroshenko. The party with its the ...

) and 17 of the 64 seats in the

Lviv City Council The Lviv City Council () is the municipal council that governs the Ukrainian city of Lviv. The council has 64 seats and is elected every 5 years. History On May 19, 2011, the Lviv City Council voted in favor of expanding the jurisdiction of th ...

(coming second to European Solidarity's 26 seats) and Sadovy was reelected mayor of Lviv in the second round of the Lviv mayoral election with 62.25% of the vote (he had gained 40.09% in the first round).The TEC officially announced Sadovy's victory in Lviv

(25 November 2020)Results of the 2020 elections of the Lviv City Council

Central Election Commission of Ukraine The Central Election Commission of Ukraine (, commonly abbreviated as , ); sometimes referred to as the Central Electoral Commission of Ukraine) is a permanent and independent collegiate body of the Ukrainian state that acts on the basis of th ...

Ideology

According to former party leader

, Self Reliance shares the

liberal conservatism Liberal conservatism is a political ideology combining conservative policies with liberal stances, especially on economic issues but also on social and ethical matters, representing a brand of political conservatism strongly influenced by libe ...

ideology, but Timofey Milovanov of the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The university is composed of seventeen undergraduate and graduate schools and colle ...

disagrees, claiming, "They have no ideology. Some of their laws are

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

, some are

populist Populism is a contested concept used to refer to a variety of political stances that emphasize the idea of the " common people" and often position this group in opposition to a perceived elite. It is frequently associated with anti-establis ...

, and some are liberal".

Election results

Verkhovna Rada

Lviv Oblast Council

Notes

References

External links

*
Official website
* {{European People's Party 2012 establishments in Ukraine Christian democratic parties in Europe Christian political parties in Ukraine Conservative parties in Ukraine Liberal conservative parties Parliamentary factions in Ukraine Parties related to the European People's Party Political parties established in 2012 Political parties in Ukraine Pro-European political parties in Ukraine