Ukrainian Republican Party

In November 1976, Ukrainian community groups were established to promote the implementation of the Helsinki agreements. Almost all members of the Ukrainian Helsinki Group were subsequently repressed; four of them (Vasyl Stus, Yuriy Lytvyn, Oleksa Tykhy, and Valeriy Marchenko) died in Soviet camps (Gulag).^{[citation needed]}

In March 1988, the Ukrainian Helsinki Union (UHU) was formed. Since 1989, the UHU has engaged in open propaganda promoting Ukrainian independence.^{[citation needed]}

Between 29–30 April 1990, the Ukrainian Republican Party (URP) was established out of the UHU. The party was registered on 5 November 1990 by the Ministry of Justice of the Ukrainian SSR as the first political party in Ukraine.^{[citation needed]}

A 1992 split in the party resulted in the creation of the rival Ukrainian Conservative Republican Party (UKRP), led by Stepan Khmara.^[7]

In the 1994 Ukrainian parliamentary election, the URP core party obtained nine seats, initially adding three more by the end of the year.^{[citation needed]}

During the 1998 Ukrainian parliamentary election, the party was part (together with Congress of Ukrainian Nationalists and Ukrainian Conservative Republican Party) of the Election Bloc "National Front"^[4] (Ukrainian: Виборчий блок партій «Національний фронт»), which won 2.71% of the national vote^[4] and six (constituency) seats.^[8][9] In January 2001, the "National Front" parliamentary faction had grown to 17 deputies.^[8]

After being part of the National Salvation Committee^[10][11], the party became part of the Yulia Tymoshenko Electoral Bloc alliance during the Ukrainian 2002 parliamentary elections.^[12][13] On 21 April 2002, the party merged with the Ukrainian People's Party "Sobor" as the Ukrainian Republican Party "Sobor".^[6]

In May 2006, Levko Lukianenko tried to reestablish URP after URP Sobor switched to Our Ukraine–People's Self-Defense Bloc from the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc; the new party became known as the URP of Lukyanenko and was registered in 2006.^[14] In November 2010, Lukyanenko was elected leader of the Ukrainian Republican Party.^[15][16][17]