Yushchenko's New Party Targets 2006 Parliamentary Elections

A new political party was created this weekend, as the political bloc Our Ukraine transformed itself into the People?s Union-Our Ukraine on 5 March. President Viktor Yushchenko will serve as Honorary Chairman, while Deputy Prime Minister for Administrative Reform, Roman Bezsmertnyi, will lead the party. Yushchenko said he would like to create a joint-coalition with the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc and the People?s Party for the 2006 parliamentary elections. The Ukrainian People?s Party and People?s Rukh of Ukraine have decided to run in the elections separately from Yushchenko — which is a major blow to his desire to unite the opposition. Concorde Capital: As we predicted, the democratic coalition that stood firm in the 2004 Presidential Elections is now losing its members, most notably the Socialist Party. It is unlikely that the People?s Party, led by Volodymyr Lytvyn, will join Yushchenko?s new coalition, although the party is too weak to run in the 2006 elections alone. The new political picture is being shaped as follows: