Social Democratic Party of Ukraine The Social Democratic Party of Ukraine () was founded in May 1990. Unlike the originally-united SD, the Social Democratic refused to follow
democratic socialism and was against the Ukrainian federalist movement. The party joined the
People's Movement of Ukraine, which already had some of its members in
Verkhovna Rada. During the
1991 presidential elections, it supported
Viacheslav Chornovil. In May 1992,
Yuriy Zbitnyev was elected a head of the party replacing,
Oleksandr Suhonyako. Suhonyako, who wanted the party to follow
social liberalism policies left the party with his supporters. Following the 1994 parliamentary election, the party split into two factions. The first was led by Buzduhan, and was re-registered as the
Social Democratic Party of Ukraine. The other faction, led by
Yuriy Zbitnyev also wanted to be registered as SDPU, but was denied registration under such name.
Social Democratic Party of Ukraine (united) In 1995, a new merger was registered by
Ministry of Justice of Ukraine where the Zbitnyev's faction of former SDPU merged with Party of Human Rights () of
Vasyl Onopenko and Ukrainian Party of Justice () of
Mykhailo Hrechka to form the Social Democratic Party of Ukraine (united). The head of the new party was
Minister of Justice Vasyl Onopenko, while his deputies were
Viktor Medvedchuk,
Yuriy Zbitnyev and
Mykhailo Hrechka. According to Ukrainian newspaper
Halytski Kontrakty, in 1998 the
Cabinet of Ukraine transferred under administration to the Ukrainian Credit Bank a share stock package of the Zaporizhia Factory of Ferroalloys, as well as number of regional power distributors such as Kirovohrad Power Distribution Company, Ternopil Power Distribution Company, and Kherson Power Distribution Company. The leaders of the SDPU(o) denied any relations to the energy distribution business, and Medvedchuk particularly called it "child's talk" (). Grigorishin was also the owner of Sozidanie, which owned number of strategically-important Ukrainian companies, among them the Sumy Engineering Association. In February 1999, the SDPU(o) also dismissed Marchuk, who wanted with help of the party to run for the President of Ukraine. Late poll results in 2002 had predicted the party to win 9 to 10% of total votes. During the 2002 parliamentary election, the party promoted a
Russophile agenda which would later become evocative of Medvedchuk's political views. It did considerably better in the
Donbas and
Crimea than 4 years earlier. Analysts stated that TV channels and other media controlled by the party, such as Inter,
1+1, and
TET began a sharply anti-American and anti-NATO campaign in response to Yushchenko's pro-Western proposals. Around the time of the Orange Revolution in late 2004, more ten 10 deputies left the SDPU(o) faction in the
Verkhovna Rada; by late January 2005, the faction included 27 deputies out of the Verkhovna Rada's 450 seats. Said claim was later confirmed by another historian,
Yuri Felshtinsky, and presaged Medvedchuk's later attempts to connect with Russian forces during the
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Ivan Rizak, the head of the Zakarpattia SDPU(o) branch and governor of Zakarpattia Oblast, was arrested in May 2005 and charged with abuse of public office and driving a pro-opposition university rector to suicide the year before. That same month, the party was accused of involvement in the 2000 murder of
Georgiy Gongadze, with the journal
Ukrayina Moloda (14 April 2005) accusing party members of using the dead journalist's corpse in a plot to discredit President Leonid Kuchma and force early elections, which could have led to Medvedchuk succeeding Kuchma. The SDPU(o) claimed these accusations to be part of a political campaign by the Ukrainian Government. Supporters of the Orange Revolution, on the other hand, have claimed that the party enjoyed privileged status under Kuchma and was closely associated with big business, organized crime, corruption, and government media. Despite being one of the most active political parties, with a wide range of political activities and a significant number of student and youth members, the SDPU(o) lost a significant number of votes due to the notoriety of its leaders for their business and political practices.
Post-Orange Revolution Before the
2006 parliamentary elections, some commentators regarded the SDPU(o) as one of three hard-line anti-Yushchenko forces, with the others being
Viktor Yanukovych's
Party of Regions and
Petro Symonenko's Communist Party of Ukraine. At the time, the SDPU(o) also became close to the
Socialist Party of Ukraine. The current leader is
Yuriy Zahorodnyi, who was also a member of the pro-Russian
Opposition Platform — For Life until its ban and dissolution amidst the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. The party did not participate in the
2007 Ukrainian parliamentary election. The party participated in the
2010 Ukrainian presidential election as part of the
Bloc of Left and Center-left Forces. This decision caused Kravchuk to leave the party, with him declaring he had left due to the party's political council behind the closed doors in non-democratic order. Kravchuk also referred to the Bloc of Left and Center-left Forces as "an artificial union without any perspectives." The party did not take part in the
2012 Ukrainian parliamentary election nationwide proportional party-list system; instead, one member of the party tried to win a seat in one of the 225 local single-member districts; in this district, situated in
Brovary, the candidate got 340 votes (the winner 31,678 votes) and thus failed to win a seat in the Verkhovna Rada. The party failed again to win a seat in the
7 July 2013 by-election in constituency 224 in
Sevastopol. The party did not participate in the
2014 Ukrainian parliamentary election. ==Oil-for-Food Programme==