Regional aspects of party political competition in Ukraine.

Abstract

Regional political processes through the prism of party struggle in Volyn region are analysed. The attention is focused on the fact that the state forming processes have opened up opportunities for the development of the national state, taking into account historical and cultural identity of its regions. It is proved that in condition of the absence of a sustainable social base the local organizations of political parties do not primarily represent interests of social groups, and are pragmatic projects of financial and industrial groups, the growth in the number of which correlates with the beginning of the next electoral campaign. Political competition of local cells of political parties at the regional level in Ukraine is considered. The factors that allow regional political parties to overcome the representational barrier and be represented in local authorities are determined. It is stated that all political parties represented in Volyn region use different methods of political campaigning, namely: administrative resources most effectively uses Pro-regime BPP «Solidarnist», a financial resource – UKROP, populism – the Radical party of Oleh Liashko, nationalism – Svoboda, the charismatic leader of the «Batkivshchyna», «new faces» – «Samopomich» and «Narodnyi control», «old faces» – «Nash krai». The current state of participation of political parties in local electoral processes is investigated. It is reasoned that the greatest opportunity to find the necessary resources for the election campaign, and therefore to be represented in local government are parliamentary parties which are in power at the national level. However, the political forces that do not have significant financial resources, in fact, are in the role of outsiders in the election race. It was investigated that this situation takes place in Ukraine for the lack of a tradition of public funding of parties and a developed system of membership dues.