Unity of Oleksandr Omelchenko (Ukrainian: Єдність Олександра Омельченка), prior to 2020 Unity (Ukrainian: Єдність) is a political party in Ukraine created in 1999 as a protest party.[1] The party was led by the former mayor of Kyiv Oleksandr Omelchenko although in early 2008, he temporally halted his party membership in favor of a membership of Our Ukraine-Peoples Self Defence.[3][4] Omelchenko died on November 25, 2021.[5]
Prior to the 2020 Kyiv local election the party changed its name to its current name.[3] In this election the party was the third most popular party of Kyiv, winning 14 seats.[2]
The party (then called) Unity supported Yevhen Marchuk in the 1999 Ukrainian presidential election.[6] Marchuk took only the 5th place out of 13, while gaining 8.13% of the vote in the first round.[6]
In 2001 a parliamentary faction called "Unity" was formed in the Verkhovna Rada (Ukraine's parliament), which included 21 MPs.[6]
At the 2002 legislative elections, it was part of an alliance (also called Unity) that won 1.1% of the popular vote and 4 out of 450 seats.
The alliance consisted of:
During the 2006 parliamentary elections the party was part of an electoral alliance led by Yevhen Marchuk[7] (Electoral Bloc "Yevhen Marchuk – "Unity") which didn't make it into parliament winning only 0.06% of the votes.[8]
The alliance consisted of:[7]
The party did not run during the 2007 elections but advised its voters to vote for Forward, Ukraine! or Peoples Self-defence.[9]
In the 2010 local elections Unity won 22 representatives in the Vinnytsia Oblast Council (regional parliaments of Vinnytsia Oblast).[10][11]
During the 2014 Kyiv local election Unity won 3.3% of the votes and 2 seats in the Kyiv City Council; including a seat for Omelchenko.[12][13] 15 deputies of the party were elected to the Kyiv City Council in the 2015 Kyiv local election.[6] In other Ukrainian city councils across the country Unity gained 28 seats in the 2015 Ukrainian local elections.[6]
In the 2019 Ukrainian parliamentary election Unity nominated three candidates, all in constituencies located in Kyiv.[6] None won a parliamentary seat.[6] Omelchenko took the 5th place in his constituency, gaining a little more than 8%.[6]
Prior to the 2020 Kyiv local election the party changed its name to Unity of Oleksandr Omelchenko.[3][14] In this election the party won 14 seats, and took third place.[2] Omelchenko again was a member of the Kyiv City Council, until he died on November 25, 2021.[5]