Holos (political party)

Holos (Голос), translated as Voice or Vote, is a liberal and pro-European political party in Ukraine, which was led by Ukrainian musician Svyatoslav Vakarchuk until March 2020. The party won 20 MPs in the 2019 parliamentary election and became part of the opposition in the current Ukrainian parliament. The party split late July 2021 and seven MPs were expelled from the party. As of September 2021, only nine of the party's 20 seats in the Verkhovna Rada are held by MPs who are loyal to the party; the remaining 11 are held by MPs who have formed a breakaway group called Justice (Справедливість; Spravedlyvist). The name of the party has two meanings in the Ukrainian language - voice and vote. The founder of the party, Svyatoslav Vakarchuk, said that the name of the party was chosen because this word characterizes Ukrainian voters and their desire for change in the country: It has two meanings, and both are very important to us. Because Voice is their [the voters'] voice, by which they demonstrate a desire for change, it is their voice of change. On the other hand, it is their vote, that they can cast [in elections]. The voice, in fact, characterizes Ukrainian voters and their desire for change. What else, if not the voice? The party was presented to the public on 16 May 2019 in Kyiv and announced it would run in the upcoming July 2019 Ukrainian parliamentary election. Legally, Holos is an "upgraded" version of the party "Platform of Initiatives" that was founded in 2015 to take part in the 2015 Ukrainian local elections. The creation of the party marks Vakarchuk's second venture into politics – he previously served as an MP for almost a year after being elected in the 2007 Ukrainian parliamentary election. The party was first featured in the opinion polling carried out from 16 to 21 May 2019, its rating was 4.6%. The party held its first congress on 8 June 2019, at which part of its party list for the forthcoming elections was announced.