The Narodny Rukh (People’s Movement) of Ukraine has elected MP Borys Tarasyuk to replace Hennadiy Udovenko as its leader

808 delegates backed the election of Tarasyuk to the thirteenth congress of the party; 10 delegates opposed his election while 16 abstained.
In his address to the delegates, Tarasyuk said that strengthening the party would be the main task of the party if he were elected leader.
He also said he favored involvement of the Narodny Rukh of Ukraine party in the creation of the Our Ukraine big united party.
Anatoliy Semenchenko, the leader of the Kharkiv regional chapter of the Narodny Rukh of Ukraine party, was Tarasyuk’s opponent in the party leadership race.
In his address to the delegates, Semenchenko said that the existing problems in the party forced him to announce his candidacy for the post of party leader.
In particular, Semenchenko cited lack of financing of the party’s lower regional and district organizations.
“District organizations are vegetating,” Semenchenko said.
He criticized Tarasyuk’s position that the Narodny Rukh of Ukraine party should be involved in the ongoing creation of a single political party on the basis of the Our Ukraine coalition of political parties. According to him, this is unacceptable.
“This is a significant threat to the NRU. I do not want it,” Semenchenko said.
The Our Ukraine coalition’s leader Viktor Yushchenko also called on members of the Narodny Rukh of Ukraine party to elect Tarasyuk as the leader of the party.
Udovenko resigned as the party’s leader in late January.
He was elected leader of the party in 1999 after a split in the original party, which resulted in the defection of some of its prominent members to the newly created Ukrainian Narodny Rukh party (now Ukrainian People’s Party), which is headed by Yuriy Kostenko.
Tarasyuk, 53, joined the Narodny Rukh of Ukraine party from the Reforms and Order party in early March. He became a MP after 2002 elections as # 9 of Our Ukraine voting list.
He heads the Parliamentary Committee for European Integration.
Before his election into the parliament, Tarasyuk was a director of the Institute of Social Sciences and International Relations at the Inter-Regional Academy of Personnel Management, Director of Institute for Euro-Atlantic Cooperation (since 2001), Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine (1998-2000). Being a Head of Ukraine’s mission to Brussels he was one of the initiators of Charter on Distinguished Partnership between NATO and Ukraine (1997).

The team of the Center for Peace, Conversion and Foreign Policy of Ukraine welcomes the decision of 13th Congress of Narodny Rukh of Ukraine to elect Ambassador Borys Tarasyuk as its leader. We hope this decision will bring new energy and dynamics necessary to achieve ambitious objectives of renovation of Ukrainian state and society. We wish new leader of NRU to make his party an influential actor of Ukrainian political process, to promote consistently Ukrainian national interests in their European perspective. We hope also that the role of national political leader will not prevent Amb. Tarasyuk from his very important work on Ukraine’s accession to the EU and NATO on the positions of Head of Parliamentary Committee on European Integration and Director of the Institute for Euro-Atlantic Cooperation.

 

 

Information by Center for Peace, Conversion and Foreign Policy of Ukraine