Party of Shariy

In the beginning of June 2019, Anatoly Shariy - a Ukrainian blogger famous for his criticism of the Ukrainian media and government - recorded a video in which he announced the establishment of his own political party.[20][21] Soon he published a video splash screen on his pages in social networks, in which he throws a red balloon towards the audience. Shariy did not explain what this means, but on his website there was a message that it was a hint of creating a party. Later on, the red balloon became a symbol of the party and its pre-election campaign.[22][23]

On June 6, 2019, this political party was officially registered in Ukraine.[24][25] The party took part in the 2019 Ukrainian parliamentary election. The namesake leader of the party, Shariy, as the candidate for the parliamentary election himself was denied registration by the Central Election Commission of Ukraine on the grounds that he did not meet the requirement of a term of five-year residence in the country immediately preceding the elections.

Previously, Shariy was known primarily for his investigations on corruption in the police and other law enforcement agencies during the Yanukovych government and, subsequently, sought asylum in the European Union in 2012 due to libel, defamation, and alleged politically motivated persecution by Ukrainian law enforcement bodies of the time.[26][27][28] However, the party was officially registered by the Central Election Commission of Ukraine and entered into the election ballot under number 17, immediately following the Radical Party and preceding political party Holos on the list.[29] On July 2, 2019, Anatoly Shariy was registered as a candidate for parliamentary election 2019 by the Central Election Commission of Ukraine. On the next day, July 3, 2019, the decision was reverted.[30]

In the 2019 parliamentary election the party gained 327,152 votes (2.23% of total, position #10).[31] Falling under the 5% threshold, it won no parliamentary seats. The party also failed to win a constituency seat.[32]

Winning more than the threshold of 2%, it was originally subject to funding from the budget for its support. However, on 2 October 2019, the Verkhovna Rada adopted the draft law No. 1029, which deprived parties of state funding that had won less than 5 per cent of the vote.. After the adoption of this law, Party of Shariy lost about 441,511 thousand euros of state funding.[33]

On July 21, 2019 the party got 2.23% (almost 330 thousand voters) and failed to pass the threshold of 5%.[34] The highest result it achieved in the east and south of Ukraine (5.55% in Donetsk and 4.72% in Odessa regions).

The political party of blogger Anatoly Shariy, was included in the top five political forces, which won the leadership in the extraordinary parliamentary elections in 2019 in Ukraine's foreign constituency.[35] "The Party of Shariy" took fourth place in the electoral district abroad with 4.72% of the voters.[36]

On 4 July 2019, Anatoly Shariy said in his video that his party was going into opposition to the pro-presidential party " Servant of the People" because Volodymyr Zelensky failed to meet expectations

Anatoly Shariy's party will take part in the local elections. He said this in a video on his Youtube channel.

Representatives of the "Party of Shariy" do not set up archaic tents or hand out leaflets. Instead, representatives of political forces hold charity marathons and participate in events to support children and homeless animals. Activists speak out for all the good and against all the bad.

In the 2020 Ukrainian local elections the party gained 52 deputies (0.12% of all available mandates).[37]

The party is in favour of an authoritarian style of governing.[4]

The immediate three goals of the political movement and its rationale as a future Ukrainian parliament party are:

1. Cleansing of the Ukrainian political landscape and war on corruption.
2. Total transparency and permanent control over the bodies of legislative and executive power in Ukraine.
3. Informing the population of the country about the official and unofficial, shadow processes in Ukrainian politics.

Generally, the party stands on a number of fundamental principles shared by its members, such as:

1. Аbsolute priority of personal dignity and human rights in Ukraine.
2. Freedom of speech and conscience, yet the accountability of the press and public figures for libel and defamation.
3. Direct democracy: electronic voting and cooperative decision-making.[5][6][7][8]
4. Euro-optimism and Euro-integration.
5. Modernization of Ukrainian society, its politics, science and technology.
6. Economic liberalism, yet continued support to the socially neglected strata of population.

Also, on the party's program said that:

1. They are in favour of the pro-European vector of Ukraine's development.
2. They are in favour of differentiated budget and insurance medicine
3. Observance of the law, inevitability of punishment, effective functioning, guarantee of the independence of the judicial branch are their priority.
4. They also oppose nuclear weapons and nuclear capability.
5. "The Party of Shariy" allows for the presence of several citizenship,

After Verkhovna Rada adopted neoliberal land reform laws,[38] Anatoliy Shariy posted a partisan program video on his YouTube channel, where he promoted renegotiation of conditions of IMF debt payments, while embracing sympathetic rhetoric towards Viktor Orbán's eurosceptic nationalist policies, describing EU as "an agressor, which suppresses facts about Icelandic Revolution" and alleging those, who support land reform as people who "got education and worked in financial structures of George Soros.[39] Also, in another interview, which Shariy described as "his manifesto", he stated that "IMF wants to divide Ukraine" and compared Ukraine to a "drug abuser, where loans are syringes".[40]

Apart from the leader of namesake party Anatoly Shariy, the top-10 of the Party list during the 2019 Ukrainian parliamentary election included:

• Olha Shariy (Bondarenko) - Ukrainian journalist and blogger
• Pavlo Ullakh - journalist and historian, Ph.D. in World History
• Yevgeniy Yevtukhov (aka DJ Sender) - Ukrainian DJ, music producer, songwriter and singer; the owner of Send Records and its sublabels; the founder of the DJFM radio station
• Ivan Mamchur - businessperson, expert in online-marketing and online education
• Artur Talabira - journalist and reporter; theatre and movie actor[41]
• Mykola Gladenky - political science specialist
• Dmytro Butenko - IT-entrepreneur
• Roman Katerinchuk - IT-entrepreneur

Antonina Beloglazova was the third number in the party list until 2019. Antonina Beloglazova lost her position in the " Shariy Party" due to the scandal of 2015-2016.[42] According to the media, she cooperated with Russia and the Russian National Liberation Movement,[43] which is known for its presence at pro-Putin demonstrations.[44] As soon as this information became available - Anatolij Shariy ended his cooperation with Antonina Beloglazova.

• Party of Shariy on Facebook
• Party of Shariy on Instagram
• Official profile of Party of Shariy at VK