Servant of the People (, ; SN) is a liberal, centrist, pro-European political party in Ukraine. Since both the 2019 Ukrainian presidential election and the 2019 Ukrainian parliamentary election, it has been the ruling political party in Ukraine. It is best known for being the political party of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The party is named after the popular Ukrainian TV series Servant of the People, in which Zelenskyy played a fictional Ukrainian president. It was formed in late 2017 and was officially registered on 31 March 2018 on the basis of the previously registered Party of Decisive Changes."The Ministry of Justice registered the party "Servant of the people" . Ukrainian News Agency. 26 April 2018. Retrieved 29 April 2019. In the 2019 parliamentary election the party won 124 seats on the nationwide party list and 130 constituency seats.CEC counts 100 percent of vote in Ukraine's parliamentary elections, Ukrinform (26 July 2019) Results of the extraordinary elections of the People's Deputies of Ukraine 2019, Ukrainska Pravda (21 July 2019)
History Founding The Servant of the People party is the successor of the Party of Decisive Change ()"Party of Decisive Change" changed its name to "Servant of the people" . Left Bank. 2 December 2017. Retrieved 29 April 2019. that existed since April 2016 and was founded by Eugene Yurdiga. "Servant of the people": Zelensky does not answer to the people whether the party will go to the polls, Civil movement "Chesno" (4 September 2018)
The party was renamed in December 2017 after the eponymous Ukrainian hit TV series Servant of the People that starred Volodymyr Zelenskyy and was made by his TV production company Kvartal 95. The rebranded/renamed party's first leader was the CEO of Kvartal 95 Ivan Bakanov."Lawyer Zelensky has registered a new political party "Servant of the people" . UNIAN. 3 December 2017. Retrieved 29 April 2019. At the time Kvartal 95 created the party, they claimed it was important to do so to prevent others from stealing the name of the eponymous series for "cynical political purposes"."The boundary of a joke. As Zelensky prepares for the election" . Ukrainska Pravda. 25 October 2018. Retrieved 29 April 2019. According to Zelenskyy, in the summer of 2017, "some rogues" had almost registered a party called "Servant of the People" and that because of this Kvartal 95 had registered their Servant of the People party so voters would not be misled to think they would vote for a party that was not related to the TV series of the same name. Early in 2018, Zelenskyy stated that the party was "not yet a political project", and said about its future: "Let's see".
In December 2017, 4% of Ukrainians polled by the Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation and the Razumkov Center declared their readiness to vote for a party named "Servant of the People" in parliamentary elections, and in May 2018 this number had grown to 5% (the minimum necessary to pass Ukraine's election threshold). When democracy watchdog Chesno tried to contact Zelenskyy and party representatives in September 2018 in an attempt to ask if the party would take part in elections, a spokeswoman for Kvartal 95 responded "Unfortunately, party representatives are unable to comment on your request. There is currently no information that might be of interest to you." The press service of Kvartal 95 could not provide Chesno a picture of party leader Bakanov. Chesno was able to find out that the leadership of the party only consisted of people related to Kvartal 95.
Billboards advertising "Servants of the People" appeared on the streets of Ukrainian cities in November 2018. Zelenskyy later admitted that these billboards were legally only advertising the third season of the TV series "Servant of the People" but were also part of his election campaign so his campaign could "save a lot of money". The party's first financiers were either NGOs that did not have to report the origins of their donations or companies that all changed their addresses in the same week, leading Chesno to believe that these companies were interconnected. How the "Servant of the People" was born and where she took over 200 million for the elections, Civil movement "Chesno" (13 February 2020) Almost all of the 2018 funds were received on the eve of Zelenskyy's 2019 New Year's speech in which he announced his candidacy in the 2019 Ukrainian presidential election.
Party winning the 2019 presidential and parliamentary election
In late December 2018, Zelenskyy was declared a presidential candidate from the party at the 2019 presidential election."Zelensky: Party "Servant of the people" goes into politics" . Interfax-Ukraine. 26 December 2018. Retrieved 29 April 2019. While lagging behind in January 2019, Zelenskyy began to lead the polls by March."'Parallel universe': The front-runner seeking to be Ukraine's president plays one on TV". The Washington Post. 9 March 2019. Retrieved 29 April 2019. He would go on to win the first round of the presidential elections, taking first place and moving on to the run off against incumbent President Poroshenko on 21 April 2019, winning the election with over 73% of the votes cast. Zelenskyy stated that the party would enter a coalition government with neither the Petro Poroshenko Bloc nor Opposition Platform — For Life."Vladimir Zelensky: It is beneficial for us to dissolve the Rada, but we will think and act according to the law" . RBC Ukraine. 18 April 2019. Retrieved 29 April 2019.
In his inauguration speech to parliament on 20 May 2019, President Zelenskyy announced the dissolution of parliament; he issued a decree for this the next day, as well as for an early election to be held on 21 July 2019. On 27 May 2019 Dmytro Razumkov was appointed as party chairman in place of Ivan Bakanov. Oleksandr Kornienko had been made head of the party's election headquarters, and Mykhailo Fedorov was installed as the party's chief of digital strategies.Ukrainian President's Party Names New Head, Will 'Interview' Candidates For July Elections, Radio Free Europe (27 May 2019) On 2 June 2019, the registration of potential candidates to run for the party in majority constituencies during the 2019 Ukrainian parliamentary election ended. Party leader Razumkov assured on 7 June 2019 that no incumbent MPs would be on the party list for the 2019 parliamentary election, but that the election list would consist of "new ambitious politicians".
The party held its first congress on 9 June 2019. It took place in Kyiv's Hryshko National Botanical Garden and was attended by President Zelenskyy and party leader Razumkov, among others. During the congress, the first names of the party's majority constituency candidates and the 97 candidates of the nationwide closed party list were made public. Well-known names in the nationwide party list were: Olympic athletes Olha Saladukha, Vadym Gutzeit, Zhan Beleniuk and long-term CEO of 1+1 Media Group Oleksandr Tkachenko. Three days later, Gutzeit and two other candidates had withdrawn themselves from the election, whilst a fourth was excluded from the list "after additional checks".
During the post-primaries, press and activists highlighted the most controversial representatives of the party, such as Oleksandr Dubinsky and Max Buzhanskiy. Neither of them were withdrawn from the final list of the party after the registration deadlines. The party excluded seven candidates from its list on 7 July 2019; five candidates were removed "as a result of information submitted [to the party] via the website and chat bot", whilst two others requested to be removed from the list, including the No. 31 candidate. On 19 July 2019, the leader of the Movement of New Forces party Mikheil Saakashvili called on his supporters to vote for the Servant of the People party at the parliamentary election.
In the (21 July) 2019 parliamentary election, the top ten party candidates"Party list of the Servant of the People". Central Election Commission of Ukraine. Retrieved 8 December 2019. were Dmytro Razumkov, Ruslan Stefanchuk, Iryna Venediktova, Davyd Arakhamia, Halyna Yanchenko, Mykhailo Fedorov, Oleksandr Kornienko, Anastasia Krasnosilska, Oleksandr Tkachenko and Zhan Beleniuk."The party "Servant of the People" announced its list for the elections" – Партія "Слуга народу" оголосила список на вибори" (in Ukrainian). LB.ua. 9 June 2019. Retrieved 8 December 2019. In the election the party won 124 seats on the nationwide party list (43.16% of the votes) and 130 constituency seats. Several members of the political party UKROP (a party that has openly been supported by Ukrainian oligarch Ihor Kolomoyskyi) won constituency seats as candidates for Servant of the People (the two parties had no formal allegiance)."Партійці Коломойського в обгортці "Слуги народу" (in Ukrainian). Deutsche Welle. 24 July 2019. Retrieved 8 December 2019. In parliament, Davyd Arakhamia became the party's faction leader. Factions were formed in the Rada, RBC Ukraine (29 August 2019) Later, the new head of the Ministry of Health will be replaced by Radutsky - Arachamia, Ukrainska Pravda (31 August 2019)
Party since winning the 2019 parliamentary election On 11 November 2019, Oleksandr Korniyenko replaced Razumkov as party chairman.Razumkov resigns as head of Zelensky's party, new leader elected, KyivPost (10 November 2019) The party won about 25% of the votes in December 2019 local United territorial community elections (non-aligned candidates gained 44% of the votes). Party long-term construction, The Ukrainian Week (28 July 2020) In June 2020, the party started to create its local organisation by appointing "cell leaders". In May 2020 the party had no official registered local branch.