The Communist Party of Workers and Peasants ( uk, Комуністична партія робітників і селян, ''Komunistychna Partiya Robitnykiv i Selian'', KPRS) was a
political party
A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...
in
Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
, formed in 2001 following a split from the
Communist Party of Ukraine
The Communist Party of Ukraine, Abbreviation: KPU, from Ukrainian and Russian "" is a banned political party in Ukraine. It was founded in 1993 as the successor to the Soviet-era Communist Party of Ukraine which was banned in 1991 (accord ...
Ukrayinska Pravda
''Ukrainska Pravda'' ( uk, Українська правда, lit=Ukrainian Truth) is a Ukrainian online newspaper founded by Georgiy Gongadze on 16 April 2000 (the day of the Ukrainian constitutional referendum). Published mainly in Ukraini ...
Ukrinform
The National News Agency of Ukraine ( uk, Українське національне інформаційне агентство), or Ukrinform ( uk, Укрінформ), is a state information and news agency, and international broadcaster of ...
(1 October 2015)
History
The first chairman of the party was Oleksander Mykolayovych Yakovenko. In the
2002 Ukrainian parliamentary election
Parliamentary elections were held in Ukraine on 31 March 2002. Nohlen, D & Stöver, P (2010) ''Elections in Europe: A data handbook'', p1976 The Our Ukraine bloc emerged as the largest faction in the Verkhovna Rada, winning 111 of the 447 seats ...
, the party won 0.41% of the popular vote and no seats.Комуністична партія робітників і селян Since then it has not taken part in any nationwide election. In 2011, the KPRS chairman Leonid Grach was elected as the head of the party in February 2011; at the time he was member of the
Ukrainian parliament
The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine ( uk, Верхо́вна Ра́да Украї́ни, translit=, Verkhovna Rada Ukrainy, translation=Supreme Council of Ukraine, Ukrainian abbreviation ''ВРУ''), often simply Verkhovna Rada or just Rada, is the ...
. Grach did not return to parliament after the
2012 Ukrainian parliamentary election
The Ukrainian parliamentary election of 2012 took place on 28 October 2012.single-member districts
A single-member district is an electoral district represented by a single officeholder. It contrasts with a multi-member district, which is represented by multiple officeholders. Single-member districts are also sometimes called single-winner vot ...
number 1 (
first-past-the-post
In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast their ...
wins a parliament seat) located in the
Autonomous Republic of Crimea
The Autonomous Republic of Crimea, commonly known as Crimea, is a de jure autonomous republic of Ukraine encompassing most of Crimea that was annexed by Russia in 2014. The Autonomous Republic of Crimea occupies most of the peninsula,
Radio Free Europe
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) is a United States government funded organization that broadcasts and reports news, information, and analysis to countries in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Caucasus, and the Middle East where it says tha ...
Central Election Commission of Ukraine
The Central Election Commission of Ukraine ( uk, Центральна виборча комісія України, commonly abbreviated in Ukrainian as ЦВК (''Tse-Ve-Ka''); sometimes referred to as the Central Electoral Commission of Ukrai ...
In May 2015,
decommunization in Ukraine
Decommunization in Ukraine started during and after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. With the success of the Revolution of Dignity in 2014, the Ukrainian government approved Ukrainian decommunization laws, laws that outlawed commun ...
came into effect in Ukraine, banning
communist symbols
Communist symbolism represents a variety of themes, including revolution, the proletariat, peasantry, agriculture, or international solidarity.
Communist states, parties and movements use these symbols to advance and create solidarity within ...
, singing the
Soviet national anthem
The "State Anthem of the Soviet Union" was the national anthem of the Soviet Union and the regional anthem of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic from 1944 to 1991, replacing "The Internationale". Its original lyrics were written b ...
or "
The Internationale
"The Internationale" (french: "L'Internationale", italic=no, ) is an international anthem used by various communist and socialist groups; currently, it serves as the official anthem of the Communist Party of China. It has been a standard of th ...
". Because of these laws, the Ukrainian Interior Ministry stripped the party of its right to participate in elections on 24 July 2015.Ukraine's Justice Ministry outlaws Communists from elections
Kyiv Post
The ''Kyiv Post'' is the oldest English-language newspaper in Ukraine, founded in October 1995 by Jed Sunden.
History
American Jed Sunden founded the ''Kyiv Post'' weekly newspaper on Oct. 18, 1995 and later created KP Media for his holdings. ...
Interfax-Ukraine
The Interfax-Ukraine ( uk, Інтерфакс-Україна) is a Kyiv-based Ukraine, Ukrainian independent news agency founded in 1992. The company does not belong to the Russian news corporation Interfax Information Services. The company pub ...
, (24 July 2015) The party did not challenge this ban and was thus on 30 September 2015 terminated by the District Administrative Court in Kyiv.