Progressive Socialist Party of Ukraine
 |
|
| Leader | Nataliya Vitrenko |
| Founded | 1996 |
| Split from | Socialist Party of Ukraine |
| Headquarters | Kiev |
| Youth wing | Young Guard of PSPU |
| Ideology |
Social conservatism Left-wing populism Pro-Russia Panslavism National Bolshevism |
| Political position | Third Position |
| International affiliation |
Eurasian Youth Union, All-Russia People's Front |
| Colours | Red, blue |
| Website | |
| www.vitrenko.org | |
The Progressive Socialist Party of Ukraine (PSPU) (Ukrainian: Прогресивна соціалістична партія України) is a pro-Russian political party in Ukraine, led by Nataliya Vitrenko.
The party was created by Nataliya Vitrenko a then dissident member of the Socialist Party of Ukraine (SPU) in April 1996. She led a group of more radical SPU members who opposed what they regarded as revisionist tendencies in the Socialist Party. In October 1995 they had left that party. The Progressive Socialist Party of Ukraine is a party that supports the Eurasian Economic Union as an alternative to the EU and uses left-wing rhetoric. PSPU traditionally campaigns on an anti-NATO, anti-IMF and pro-Russian platform. During the 1998 parliamentary elections the party won 4,04% of the vote, and its candidate for the 1999 presidential elections, Nataliya Vitrenko, came 4th, with 10.97% of the vote in the first round. The party's parliamentary faction was dissolved in February 2000.
At the legislative elections on 30 March 2002, the party established the Nataliya Vitrenko Bloc alliance, including the Party of Educators of Ukraine (Ukrainian: Партія Освітян України). It won 3.22% of the votes, little short of passing the 4% threshold needed to enter the Verkhovna Rada. PSPU was a vocal opponent of President Leonid Kuchma but supported Viktor Yanukovych, Ukrainian prime minister since 2002, during the 2004 elections. After the Orange Revolution of 2004, the party joined the opposition to new president Viktor Yushchenko in a coalition with the "Derzhava" (State) party led by former Ukrainian prosecutor Gennady Vasilyev. In the March 2006 parliamentary elections, the party again failed to gain any seats in Parliament, participating as People's Opposition Bloc of Natalia Vitrenko winning 2,93%. At the 2007 parliamentary elections the party failed once more to enter the parliament, its result dropped to 1,32%.
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