Democratic Alliance (Ukraine)

Democratic Alliance
Leader	Viktoriya Ptashnyk and Vasyl Gatsko (co-chair)[1]
Founded	2011 (2011)[2]
Headquarters	Kiev
Ideology	Christian democracy[2][3]
Political position	Center-right[3]
International affiliation	Youth of the European People's Party[4]
Regions (2015)[5]	27 / 158,399
Kiev City Council	0 / 120
Website
http://www.dem-alliance.org/
Politics of Ukraine Political parties Elections

Democratic Alliance (Ukrainian: Демократичний альянс) is a political party in Ukraine, registered in September 2011, formed on an anti-corruption platform.^[6][7]

History

Before becoming a political party, Democratic Alliance was a youth organization.^[8] The objective of the organization was "to form a new Christian-democratic, responsible, patriotic-oriented social and political elite of the country through the creation of conditions for the development, improvement and implementation of youth".^[8]

The party has organized protests against corruption and fraud^[9] and it took part in the Euromaidan protests.^[10] Because of its involvement in various protests the party claimed that in May 2012 the Ukrainian Ministry of Justice attempted to eliminate its registration as a legal political party.^[9] Members of the party have been arrested while taking part in protests.^[11] Two party members were shot dead by Ukrainian security forces while participating in the deadly Euromaidan protests of February 2014.^[12]

The party did not participate in the 2012 parliamentary elections.^[13] During the Euromaidan protest movement, the party played an active role.^[2]

In early June 2014, the Democratic Alliance denied membership to LGBT activist Bohdan Globa because the party did not believe he shared the view "that family is made up of a man and a woman" with the party.^[2]

Early September 2014, it was established that the party would participate in the 2014 parliamentary election on the partly list of Civil Position.^[14] For elections in single mandate constituencies, both parties participated separately.^[15] In the election this combined party list failed to clear the 5% election threshold (it got 3.1% of the votes) and also both parties did not win a constituency seat and thus (both) no parliamentary seats.^[16] In the 2014 Kiev local election of the same day, Democratic Alliance won 2 council seats.^[17][18]

In the 2015 Kiev local election the party lost its seats in the Kiev City Council (it scored 4.56% of the vote).^[19] The party won 27 seats in the (other) 2015 Ukrainian local elections.^[5] In this election it did relatively well in the Donbass.^[20][21]

In August 2016 high-profile Ukrainian MPs Svitlana Zalishchuk, Serhiy Leshchenko and Mustafa Nayyem from the Petro Poroshenko Bloc joined to Democratic Alliance.^[22]

Political positions

According to party leader Vasyl Gatsko "Democratic Alliance is a Christian Democratic party".^[2][3]

Democratic Alliance's platform calls for democracy and social justice, and for a society "based on human values, upholding the priority of human rights and freedoms".^[2]

The party is pro-European and anti-corruption.^[2][23] The party wants to improve Ukrainian democracy,^[23] make laws that ensure that police and prosecutors enforce the law fairly^[23] and change public opinion in south and eastern Ukraine.^[23]

the party opposes same-sex marriages as Gatsko explained "Our position is that family is made up of a man and a woman".^[2]

The party is popular among young voters.^[2]

References

External links

• Official website (Ukrainian)

Euromaidan
Part of the Ukrainian crisis
Main topics	Timeline of the Euromaidan Domestic responses to the Euromaidan International reactions to the Euromaidan List of people killed during Euromaidan Order of the Heavenly Hundred Heroes Damaged communist monuments
Main events	1 December 2013 riots Fall of the monument to Lenin in Kiev 11 December 2013 assault Ukrainian–Russian action plan Anti-Maidan Vasylkiv terrorists case Anti-protest laws in Ukraine 2014 Hrushevskoho Street riots 2014 RSA occupations Agreement on settlement of political crisis in Ukraine 2014 Ukrainian revolution
Aftermath	2014 pro-Russian unrest Timeline Russian military intervention 2014 annexation of Crimea by Russia Timeline War in Donbass Timeline First Yatsenyuk Government Lustration in Ukraine
Elections	2014 Ukrainian presidential election 2014 Ukrainian local elections 2014 Kiev local election 2014 Crimean status referendum 2014 Donbass status referendums 2014 Ukrainian parliamentary election
Main places	Maidan Nezalezhnosti Khreshchatyk Lypky Bankova Street European Square Hrushevskoho Street Dynamo Stadium Kiev City Council Trade Unions Building Ukrainian House Mezhyhirya Mariinsky Park October Palace Kiev Conservatory
European integration	Ukraine–European Union relations Eastern Partnership European Union Association Agreement Ukraine–European Union Association Agreement Constitution of Ukraine
Protest figures	Organizations Maidan People's Union Parliamentary opposition parties Batkivshchyna Svoboda UDAR Other parties Congress of Ukrainian Nationalists Democratic Alliance UNA–UNSO Civic organizations AutoMaidan Road Control Vidsich Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People Militant groups Right Sector Spilna Sprava Lead figures Vitali Klitschko Arseniy Yatsenyuk Oleh Tyahnybok Petro Poroshenko Yuriy Lutsenko Oleksandr Turchynov Yulia Tymoshenko Andriy Parubiy Andriy Sadovyi Arsen Avakov Ruslana Tetiana Chornovol Dmytro Bulatov Dmytro Yarosh Refat Chubarov
Anti-protest figures	Organizations Second Azarov Government Ministry of Internal Affairs Internal Troops of Ukraine Security Service of Ukraine Berkut Party of Regions Titushky Night Wolves Don Cossacks Lead figures Viktor Yanukovych Mykola Azarov Serhiy Arbuzov Vitaliy Zakharchenko Oleksandr Yefremov Andriy Klyuyev Hennadiy Kernes Mykhailo Dobkin Viktor Pshonka Olena Lukash Yuriy Boyko Leonid Kozhara Dmytro Tabachnyk Oleksandr Klymenko