Opposition Platform — For Life


Opposition Platform — For Life is a political party in Ukraine founded in December 2018 with the aim to contest together the 2019 Ukrainian presidential election and then the 2019 Ukrainian parliamentary election. The party is the successor of For life, formerly All-Ukrainian Union "Center" from 1999 to 2016. It was originally registered in December 1999. In the 2019 parliamentary election the party won 37 seats on the nationwide party list and 6 constituency seats.
The current party is composed by members from For Life, Opposition Bloc, Ukraine – Forward!, Party of Development of Ukraine, and Ukrainian Choice.

History

All-Ukrainian Union "Center"

At the 2002 Ukrainian parliamentary election the party won only 0.16% of the votes as part of "National Movement Bloc" along with People's Movement of Ukraine for Unity.
During the legislative elections of 26 March 2006, the party was part of the Opposition Bloc "Ne Tak". In the 30 September 2007 elections, the party failed as part of the Electoral Bloc of Political Parties "KUCHMA" to win parliamentary representation.
The party did not participate in the 2012 parliamentary elections.
For the 2014 Ukrainian parliamentary election, the party joined the Opposition Bloc along with other five parties; in these elections Opposition Bloc won 29 seats.

For life

In July 2016 former members of the Opposition Bloc Vadim Rabinovich and Yevhen Murayev reconstituted the party under the name For life.
In September 2018 Murayev left For life and created the new political party Ours.
The Ministry of Justice of Ukraine did not register the name change of All-Ukrainian Union "Center".

Foundation of Opposition Platform — For life

According to Ukrayinska Pravda, the negotiations on the unification of the parties For Life and Opposition Bloc started in the summer of 2018. Ukrayinska Pravda claims these talks were instigated by Serhiy Lyovochkin who, along with Dmytro Firtash, controlled one of the wings of Opposition Bloc, whereas Rinat Akhmetov controlled the other wing of Opposition Bloc. In early November 2018, the Opposition Bloc members loyal to Akhmetov decided to take a pause in the negotiations.
On 5 November 2018, one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s closest associates and chief of staff to former Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma, Viktor Medvedchuk was elected chairman of the party For Life political party's council. Medvedchuk was also leader of the Ukrainian Choice NGO, a socially conservative pro-Russian political group and partially prohibited in Ukraine as openly anti-Ukrainian.
On 9 November 2018, Opposition Bloc chairman Yuriy Boyko and For Life signed an agreement for cooperation in the 2019 Ukrainian presidential election and the parliamentary election of the same year. , Ukrayinska Pravda The same day Opposition Bloc leading members Vadym Novynskyi and Borys Kolesnikov claimed the agreement was a "personal initiative" of Boyko and that the party had not take any decisions on cooperation with For life.
Opposition Bloc members, Ukraine – Forward! and Party of Development of Ukraine joined the Opposition Platform — For life alliance on 17 November 2018. The same day, Opposition Platform-For life nominated Boyko as its candidate in the 2019 Ukrainian presidential election.
After Boyko was excluded from the parliamentary faction of the Opposition Bloc, on 20 November 2018 he announced the creation of a new parliamentary group called "Opposition Platform — For life". According to Boyko, part of the Opposition Bloc is to join this new parliamentary group and he claimed "we have several offers from MPs belonging to other groups".
On 13 December 2018, it was announced that a new party, called Opposition Platform — For life, had been formed.
Boyko's official nomination was announced on 17 November. Because Opposition Platform-For life was not yet registered as a party in January 2019, it could not nominate him as a presidential candidate. Hence on 17 January 2019 Boyko submitted documents to the Central Election Commission of Ukraine for registration as a self-nominated candidate.
Yuriy Boiko Vadym Rabinovych Viktor Medvedchuk Natalya Korolevska Serhiy Lyovochkin

Vasyl Nimchenko Nestor Shufrych Serhiy Larin Serhiy Dunaev Taras Kozak
In the 2019 Ukrainian parliamentary election the party won 37 seats on the nationwide party list and 6 constituency seats. 11.4% of the party's elected deputies were women.

Stances

In the party election program for the 2019 Ukrainian parliamentary election the party promised to undo decommunization, lustration and Ukrainization policies, renegotiate the Ukraine–European Union Association Agreement and revive trade with the CIS countries. The group wants the "neutrality of Ukraine in the military-political sphere and non-participation in any military-political alliances". As a means of fighting poverty, the party advocates the "reduction of gas tariffs for the population of Ukraine to 3800 - 4000 UAH per thousand cubic meters due to direct gas supplies from the Russian Federation". The party wants to end the War in Donbass by negotiating directly with the Donetsk People's Republic and the Luhansk People's Republic. The party program
does not mention the issue of Crimea.
On 17 February 2020 at conciliation council among leaders of parliamentary factions Vadim Rabinovych urged to send Ukrainian delegation to participate in the 9 May Victory parade in Moscow and started to sing the Soviet song "The Sacred War".
With the ongoing Kiev perceived Russian military intervention in Ukraine, on 10 March 2020 the parliamentary deputy group of Opposition Platform — For Life sent its delegation as official parliamentary delegation of Ukraine to the Russian Duma. The OPFL delegation was met with standing ovations in the Russian Duma. Soon after the information appeared, the press service office of the Verkhovna Rada denied that the parliament commissioned the delegation to conduct any negotiations with the Russian Duma representatives and no official documents were issued for foreign visit of the delegation.

Election results

Verkhovna Rada

;All-Ukrainian Union Center
;Opposition Platform — For Life
YearPopular vote% of popular voteOverall seats wonSeat changeGovernment
20191,908,08713.05 43

Presidential elections