Democratic Bloc - History

History

The elections in the spring of 1990 were the first where the Soviet-authorities allowed the formation of full-fledged political parties that varied in their political agendas. The first democratic bloc that consisted of various smaller parties was formed during the election. The "Democratic Bloc" included the People's Movement of Ukraine (Rukh), Helsinki Watch Committee of Ukraine, Green World Association, and various other organizations. It managed to obtained 111 seats out of 442 in Verkhovna Rada. The democratic deputies formed the "Narodna Rada" group, which consisted of around 90 to 125 members and was the opposition to the conservative-communist "group of 239" in the parliament ("for the sovereign Soviet Ukraine"). Ihor Yukhnovskyi became the leader of the group.

During the next parliamentary election of 1994 the above mentioned parties didn't cooperate as "Democratic Bloc", but rather went their separate ways. Eventually by the end of 2000s the People's Movement of Ukraine became part of the Our Ukraine block (an electoral alliance of 72 out of 450 parliamentary seats). Helsinki Watch Committee of Ukraine ceased to exist, but its 1990s offspring, Ukrainian Republican Party "Sobor", became also part of Our Ukraine. The Green World Association transformed itself into the Party of Greens of Ukraine, but that party hasn't won any seats in the Ukrainian Parliament since the 1998 parliamentary election.