UKRAINIAN REPUBLICAN PARTY

 307621.11.2006

The Ukrainian Republican Party was the first party in Ukraine presenting an alternative to the Communist Party. It was created on the basis of the Ukrainian Helsinki Union at a founding congress on 29 April 1990 by re-registering the members of the UHU (of whom there were around 2,300, with about a quarter not wishing to re-register). The congress approved the name of the Party, the charter, program and elected as leader Levko LUKYANENKO, with his deputies Stepan KHMARA and H. Hrebenyuk, and formed a Council which elected its executive body – the secretariat. The Party was registered with the Ministry of Justice on 5.11.1990. From 1992 – 1995 the Party was headed by Mykhailo HORYN.

The Party united many former political prisoners and played a major role in the development of Ukrainian statehood and civic society. At present there are several different factions of the URP.