Holos ( uk, Голос), translated as Voice or Vote, is a

liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

and

pro-European Pro-Europeanism, sometimes called European Unionism, is a political position that favours European integration and membership of the European Union (EU).Krisztina Arató, Petr Kaniok (editors). ''Euroscepticism and European Integration''. Politi ...

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 ideological or p ...

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 ...

, which was led by Ukrainian musician

Svyatoslav Vakarchuk Sviatoslav "Slava" Vakarchuk ( uk, Святослав Іванович Вакарчук; born May 14, 1975) is a Ukrainian musician, politician and public activist. He is the lead vocalist of Okean Elzy, a rock band in Ukraine. Vakarchuk is a for ...

until March 2020. The party won 20 MPs in the 2019 parliamentary election and became part of the opposition in the current Ukrainian parliament. The party split late July 2021 and seven MPs were expelled from the party. As of September 2021, only nine of the party's 20 seats in the Verkhovna Rada are held by MPs who are loyal to the party; the remaining 11 are held by MPs who have formed a breakaway group called

Justice Justice, in its broadest sense, is the principle that people receive that which they deserve, with the interpretation of what then constitutes "deserving" being impacted upon by numerous fields, with many differing viewpoints and perspective ...

( uk, Справедливість; ''Spravedlyvist'').

Name

The name of the party has two meanings in the

Ukrainian language Ukrainian ( uk, украї́нська мо́ва, translit=ukrainska mova, label=native name, ) is an East Slavic language of the Indo-European language family. It is the native language of about 40 million people and the official state lan ...

- ''voice'' and ''vote''. The founder of the party,

, said that the name of the party was chosen because this word characterizes Ukrainian voters and their desire for change in the country: '

History

Establishment and entry to parliament

The party was presented to the public on 16 May 2019 in

Kyiv Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the seventh-most populous city in Europe. Kyi ...

and announced it would run in the upcoming July 2019 Ukrainian parliamentary election. Legally, Holos is an "upgraded" version of the party "Platform of Initiatives" that was founded in 2015 to take part in the 2015 Ukrainian local elections.The Ministry of Justice registered the party of Vakarchuk
Lb.ua (May 21, 2019) The creation of the party marks Vakarchuk's second venture into politics – he previously served as an MP for almost a year after being elected in the

2007 Ukrainian parliamentary election Early parliamentary elections in Ukraine took place on 30 September 2007. The date of the election was determined following agreement between the President Viktor Yushchenko, the Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych and the Chairman of the Verkhovna ...

. The party was first featured in the

opinion polling An opinion poll, often simply referred to as a survey or a poll (although strictly a poll is an actual election) is a human research survey of public opinion from a particular sample. Opinion polls are usually designed to represent the opinions ...

carried out from 16 to 21 May 2019, its rating was 4.6%. The party held its first congress on 8 June 2019, at which part of its party list for the then forthcoming elections was announced. The top 10 candidates were as follows: 1) Svyatoslav Vakarchuk, 2) Yulia Klimenko, 3) Kira Rudyk, 4) Yaroslav Zheleznyak, 5) Oleksandra Ustinova, 6) Oleh Makarov, 7) Yaroslav Yurchyshyn, 8) Serhiy Rakhmanin, 9) Solomiya Bobrovska, and 10) Olha Stefanyshyna. Prior to the congress, the

Ukrainian Galician Party The Ukrainian Galician Party ( uk, Українська Галицька партія, Ukrayins'ka Halyts'ka partiya) or UGP ( uk, УГП) is a Christian democratic political party active in the western Ukrainian region of Galicia, which consis ...

and Voice agreed to cooperate, Ukrainian Galician Party members ran as Voice candidates in

single-member constituencies 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 ...

and were added to Voice's national electoral list. On 12 June, the party withdrew two of its constituency candidates because they had "affiliated with or co-operated with

pro-Russian Russophilia (literally love of Russia or Russians) is admiration and fondness of Russia (including the era of the Soviet Union and/or the Russian Empire), Russian history and Russian culture. The antonym is Russophobia. In the 19th Century, ...

forces", namely

Ukrainian Choice Ukrainian Choice, officially since 2016Opposition Bloc. Party leader Vakarchuk had assured on 19 May 2019 that no incumbent MPs would be on the party's list for the 2019 parliamentary election. However, such deputies, whose political views coincided with the party's ideology, were allowed to be elected by majority constituencies. In the election, four incumbent MPs stood as candidates for the party in majority constituencies: Victoria Voytsitska, Pavlo Rizanenko, Victoria Ptashnyk, and Leonid Yemets. None of them were elected.CEC counts 100 percent of vote in Ukraine's parliamentary elections

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 ...

(26 July 2019)
Results of the extraordinary elections of the People's Deputies of Ukraine 2019

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 Ukrai ...

(21 July 2019) In the 2019 parliamentary election, Voice finished with 5.82% of the vote, 17 MPs elected nationwide and three MPs elected in a constituency. 47.6% of the party's elected deputies are women. On 11 March 2020, Vakarchuk stepped aside as head of the party. Voice selected

Kira Rudyk Kira Oleksandrivna Rudyk (; born 14 October 1985) is a Ukrainian and European public and political figure, vice-president of the European transnational political party Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe since June 4, 2022, deputy of th ...

as its new leader. Vakarchuk left parliament in June 2020, stating that his "mission" (bringing new people with new politics into parliament) was complete."Voice" took away Vakarchuk's deputy mandate

(26 June 2020) The CEC recognized the new People's Deputy of the Voice instead of Vakarchuk

(8 July 2020) Golos-Lviv-vybory-2020-08-20 8168 HBR LUFA

The party was admitted to the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) on 18 November 2020. In the October 2020 Ukrainian local elections, Voice had some local success, having led its factions to the Lviv Oblast Council, to the city councils of

Lviv Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in western Ukraine, and the seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is one of the main cultural centres of Ukrain ...

Cherkasy Cherkasy ( uk, Черка́си, ) is a city in central Ukraine. Cherkasy is the capital of Cherkasy Oblast ( province), as well as the administrative center of Cherkasky Raion (district) within the oblast. The city has a population of C ...

, and a number of other city councils, including even in the Donbas.Party measurement of the results of local elections in 2020

(23 November 2020) The party's mayoral candidate made it to the second round of the election in Cherkasy, which he lost. The party failed to get into the Top-10 of parties that won the most seats in the election (10th place on this list was the

Radical Party of Oleh Liashko The Radical Party of Oleh Liashko ( uk, Радикальна Партія Олега Ляшка, translit=Radykal'na partiia Oleha Liashka, RPOL) and formerly known as the Ukrainian Radical-Democratic Party ( uk, Українська демокр� ...

who won 1.62% of the available seats, which was 535 seats).The CEC showed the top 10 parties that won the most seats in the election

(18 November 2020) The party's mayoral candidate for Kyiv, showman

Serhiy Prytula Serhiy Dmytrovych Prytula ( uk, Сергій Дмитрович Притула; born 22 June 1981) is a Ukrainian public and political figure, who gained his popularity as a TV presenter and actor. Since the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukrain ...

, failed to win in the city, coming third with less than 8% of the vote. In June 2021, he quit the party, claiming it had "moved so far away from our initial principles." In January 2021, the National Agency for Prevention of Corruption (NAPC) blocked the payment of state funds to the party's accounts.NAPC won the cassation and blocked the state funding of "Voice"

(15 December 2021) The NAPC found agreements and acts of work performed by contractors and the payment of rent for three offices to be illegal.

Disunion

In June 2021, 10 of the party's 20 MPs announced that they would create a separate association named

( uk, Справедливість; ''Spravedlyvist'') and expressed their lack of confidence in faction leader Yaroslav Zhelezniak. In addition, three of the party's regional branches called on party leader Kira Rudyk to resign and demanded that the party hold a congress to select a new leader. The party responded by admitting that it was "going through a difficult period" and announcing a congress at which the conflict within Voice will be addressed. The split was triggered by the decision of five of the party's MPs (including Rudyk and Zhelezniak) to vote in favour of the ruling party's initiative to delay the introduction of

quotas for the country's

film industry The film industry or motion picture industry comprises the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking, i.e., film production companies, film studios, cinematography, animation, film production, screenwriting, pre-production, p ...

; the dissenting MPs called this "betrayal" and a "vote for Russification". In late July 2021, a group made up of 11 of the party's MPs attempted to replace faction leader Yaroslav Zhelezniak with his deputy, Roman Kostenko, as acting head of the faction. This move failed because for the faction leader to be replaced, firstly two-thirds of the faction have to vote (in this case, 14 MPs), and secondly such a decision can only be made at a faction meeting. A statement countering the attempt was signed by the remaining MPs, including Zhelezniak and Kostenko. At the party congress of 29 July 2021 it was decided to expel seven of the party MPs. Five of the expelled MPs had already written statements to leave the party."Voice" expelled 7 people's deputies from the party

(29 July 2021) The expelled members were dissatisfied with, according to them, the "cementing of Kira Rudyk's control over the party." At the same meeting, 86% of the delegates expressed their confidence in Rudyk as the party leader. As of September 2021, only nine of the party's 20 seats in the

Verkhovna Rada 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 ...

(Ukraine's national parliament) are held by MPs who are loyal to the party; the remaining 11 are held by MPs who are part of ''Spravedlyvist''. On 15 December 2021, Voice lost its appeal to the

Supreme Court of Ukraine The Supreme Court of Ukraine ( uk, Верховний Суд України, ) is the highest judicial body in the system of courts of general jurisdiction in Ukraine.National Agency for Prevention of Corruption (NAPC). The court verdict remanded the case for retrial, but allowed the NAPC to continue blocking the funds.

Criminal case

On 2 February 2022, party leader Kira Rudyk stated that a criminal case had been opened against the party regarding its economic activities. In comments on the party's official site Rudyk stated that the case was politically motivated, and that Ukraine's

State Bureau of Investigation A state bureau of investigation (SBI) is a state-level detective agency in the United States. They are plainclothes agencies which usually investigate both criminal and civil cases involving the state and/or multiple jurisdictions. They also typ ...

was "systematically attempting to muzzle those who criticise the government while ignoring cases involving 'Ze-friends'".

Political positions

The party declares a democratic approach, supporting the separation of money from politics. In economic matters, the party is in favor of introducing a tax on withdrawn capital, a land market, privatization of state-owned enterprises, and the fight against illegal customs and tax schemes. Party leader Vakarchuk stated on 10 June 2019 that the party wants to abolish the current Ukrainian election constituencies (in which 225 seats are elected in

constituencies An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other polity ...

with a

first-past-the-post electoral system 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 ...

in one round), instead favoring a shift to full

open list Open list describes any variant of party-list proportional representation where voters have at least some influence on the order in which a party's candidates are elected. This is as opposed to closed list, which allows only active members, par ...

proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...

. According to the analysis of human rights activist Volodymyr Yavorsky, the party's program pays great attention to human rights, while there are no populist statements in it. According to experts from the Center for Economic Strategy Dmytro Yablonovsky and Daria Mikhailishin, the program focuses on combating corruption through de-oligarchization and by increasing the efficiency of the state through the introduction of modern technologies. In November 2019, the party's parliamentary faction stated that because Ukraine could not regain control of separatist Donetsk People's Republic and

Luhansk People's Republic The Luhansk or Lugansk People's Republic (russian: Луга́нская Наро́дная Респу́блика, Luganskaya Narodnaya Respublika, ; abbreviated as LPR or LNR, rus, ЛНР) is a disputed entity created by Russian-backed ...

and Russian annexed

Crimea Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a pop ...

it should " freeze the conflicts", abandon the

Minsk Agreements The Minsk agreements were a series of international agreements which sought to end the Donbas war fought between armed Russian separatist groups and Armed Forces of Ukraine, with Russian regular forces playing a central part. The first, known ...

and focus on strengthening its own positions. In October 2020, the party claimed that Russia must pay $500 bln in reparations to cover the damage it has caused to the Donbas since 2014.

Leadership

Party Leaders

Faction Leaders

Prominent party members

Inna Sovsun Inna Romanivna Sovsun ( uk, Інна Романівна Совсун, born 21 September 1984) is a Ukrainian professor and politician. She served as Ukraine's deputy Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine from 2014 to 2016. On August 23, 20 ...

, Member of Ukraine Parliament, Deputy Head of Holos party, First Deputy Minister of Education and Science from 2014 to 2016, vice-president of the

Kyiv School of Economics Kyiv School of Economics (KSE) is an undergraduate and graduate school of economics and management in Kyiv, Ukraine, founded in 1996 by the Economics Education and Research Consortium (EERC) and the Eurasia Foundation. KSE has an agreement with ...

from 2016 to 2018, co-founder and former director of the think tank CEDOS, professor of the department of political science

National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy ( NaUKMA) ( uk, Національний університет «Києво-Могилянська академія» (НаУКМА)) is a national, research university located in Kyiv, Ukraine. The ...

and

* Pavlo Kukhta, program director of the party *Serhiy Rakhmanin, journalist and TV presenter *Yuri Sokolov, cardiologist and doctor of medical sciences * Lesia Vasylenko, human rights activist and founder of the Legal Hundred * Oleksandra Ustinova * Yaroslav Zhelezniak, Government Relations Advisor A number of prominent party members were excluded from the party in July 2021 due to their disagreement with the party's leadership.

Electoral performance

Verkhovna Rada

Notes

References

External links

* {{Authority control 2019 establishments in Ukraine Anti-corruption parties in Ukraine Centrist parties in Ukraine E-democracy Liberal parties in Ukraine Parliamentary factions in Ukraine Political parties established in 2019 Pro-European political parties in Ukraine