Oleksandr Moroz

File:Oleksandr Moroz Nemyriv.jpg

Oleksandr Moroz speaking during his presidential campaign of 2004.

Oleksandr Oleksandrovych Moroz (Ukrainian: Олександр Олександрович Мороз, Russian: Александр Александрович Мороз, born February 29, 1944, in Buda, a town located in the Tarashchansky Raion (district) of the Kiev Oblast) is a Ukrainian statesman and politician. He is currently the Speaker of Verkhovna Rada (parliament) of Ukraine, a post he previously held in 1994 through 1998. Moroz is a long-term chairman of the Socialist Party of Ukraine, which is currently the fourth largest faction in the Ukrainian parliament.

Career before the collapse of the Soviet Union

After graduating from the local school in 1960 Oleksandr Moroz graduated from the Agricultural Academy of the USSR becoming a mechanical engineer. Then he worked in many careers, including as a teacher and engineer for twelve years, and joined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, moving from the First Secretary of local Regional Committee of the CPSU to the position of the Head of the Kiev Oblast Committee and the Oblast Trade Union Committee. He was a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1972 to 1991. On October 26, 1991, he arranged the congress that formed the Socialist Party of Ukraine (SPU) as a successor of the Communist Party of Ukraine. He has been a deputy of Verkhovna Rada since 1990.

Career from the collapse of the Soviet Union until the Orange Revolution

Moroz ran as a presidential candidate from his Socialist Party of Ukraine in the 1994 and 1999 elections, he came third both times, with 13.04% of the vote in 1994 and 11.29% in 1999. In 1999, many experts predicted that Moroz had a chance to defeat incumbent Leonid Kuchma in the election run-off and according to many observers the government rigged the election results[1] in favor of the Petro Simonenko (of Communist Party of Ukraine) in order to make sure that unpopular Symonenko, rather than Moroz, would compete against Kuchma in the run-off vote.

In 1996, Moroz together with several other parties prevented President Leonid Kuchma's attempt to concentrate most of the powers in the president's hands and led the parliament to adopt on June 28 the new Constitution that includes many positions close to the demands of left parties. In 1999 after signing the treaty of "Kanev Four" he became an acknowledged leader of the non-Communist opposition to Kuchma.

In 2001 Moroz at a sitting of the Verkhovna Rada made public "Mykola Melnychenko’s tapes" that alleged the involvement of the top leaders of the state (including president Kuchma) in the murder of famous independent journalist Georgiy Gongadze that provoked the political crisis in Ukraine known as the Cassette Scandal. Moroz was a member of a special board "Forum of national salvation", a representative of a Public Committee of Protection of the Constitution "Ukraine Without Kuchma" (and later "Rise, Ukraine!") in charge of negotiations with representatives of the regime.

In 2002 the Socialist Party of Ukraine (which includes Yuriy Lutsenko, Josef Vinski, Mykola Rudkovski, Valentyna Semenyuk) got the fourth place in the Ukrainian parliamentary election, 2002. The socialists joined the “oppositional four” a group of parties that also included Our Ukraine, Yulia Tymoshenko Electoral Bloc and Communist Party of Ukraine.

Orange Revolution

In the 2004 Ukrainian presidential election, Moroz was nominated by the Socialist Party of Ukraine, which he has chaired since 1991. He won third place with 5.81% of the vote and supported Viktor Yushchenko against government backed Viktor Yanukovich in the run-off election. With compounding evidence of election fraud in the run-off Moroz supported the Orange Revolution, the mass protests that eventually led to the annulment of the rigged vote results and to a revote won by Yushchenko. The support of the Ukrainian socialists he brought to Yushchenko was important to widen Yushchenko's appeal to voters. Similarly, the votes of Moroz's Socialist party faction in Verkhovna Rada (parliament) were crucial for passing several important resolutions during the Orange Revolution, particularly the non-confidence vote in the Kuchma-Yanukovych government involved in election fraud scandal.

Political views

Since Oleksandr Moroz organized the left-centrist Socialist Party of Ukraine his party ideology largely evolved from orthodox Communism to Social democracy. He himself is a left-wing social democrat of the European type who uses both Marxist and Social democratic ideas. For this reason he met strong opposition from a more rigid wing of his party represented by the supporters of Nataliya Vitrenko. Finally, Vitrenko left the Socialist party, proclaimed the Progressive Socialist Party of Ukraine and bannered Moroz as "Opportunist" and "traitor", much helping Kuchma to fight the opposition of Ukraine of which Moroz' Socialist Party was part. After the last radicals headed by Ivan Chyzh left the party and formed an organization called "Spravedlyvist" ("Justness"), Moroz was able to transform his party closer to the European Social Democratic model. Now the Socialist party led by Moroz is a member of Socialist International and had three ministers in Yuri Yekhanurov's cabinet, which ended partly because of the socialist party’s defection from the coalition.

Moroz and his party support the political reform, which shifted the power balance in Ukraine striping the President from some of his powers in favor of the parliament. Moroz also speaks in support of the preservation of land for Ukrainian farmers and has made many promises about resolving social problems, using socialist rhetoric. The program of his party begins with a statement that demands real democracy for working people.

Oleksandr Moroz party boasts moral values in politics and represents the moderately left ideology in Ukraine.

Moroz is often villified by Vitrenko as well as some nationalists and communists.

Recent election as Chairman of Verkhovna Rada

Moroz was elected the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine late on the night of July 6, 2006 (238 ayes, 226 needed for election) with support of the Party of Regions, SPU, and communist factions.

The election was highly controversial, because the candidacy had been proposed in violation of the coalition agreement among Yulia Tymoshenko, Our Ukraine, and SPU factions.

Trivia

Moroz has written six books. He is fond of poetry and chess.

External links

• Socialist Party of Ukraine (website, in Ukrainian)
• "Tovarysh", the official newspaper of the Socialist Party of Ukraine (website, Ukrainian and Russian versions)