FEATURES OF ETHNO-POLITICAL LEADERSHIP IN THE CONTEXT OF THE PARLIAMENTARY REPRESENTATION OF MINORITY ETHNIC GROUPS IN UKRAINE

Abstract

Ethno-political leadership is an important indicator of the social and political representation of minority groups in a multicultural social environment. The most effective form of its implementation provides for the representation of the ethnic community at the level of the highest legislative body of the state. A number of countries in Central and Eastern Europe have developed their own models of such representation over the last past decades. They are implemented through guaranteed reservation of seats for representatives of ethnic communities, lower numerical thresholds for representation in parliament, inclusion of ethno-political leaders in the lists of national parties, single-member districts may provide sufficient minority representation as well. The relevance of the study of the ethno-political leadership in the context of parliamentary representation of ethnic minorities is objectively determined by the multi-ethnicity of Ukrainian society, declaration of Ukraine's integration into the EU structures and implementation of European democratic principles of governance.The subject of the research are public and political leaders, mostly heads of national-cultural societies, foundations, ethnopolitical parties. The author applies the method of electoral statistic analysis for parliamentary elections of 1990, 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2007, 2012, 2014 and 2019. Synthetically generalized of minority representation in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine of all nine convocations. Emphasis is made on the political participation of representatives of the multi-ethnic regions in Ukraine (Crimea, Eastern Ukraine, Northern Azov, Southern Bessarabia, Bukovina, Transcarpathia).Adequate representationof people's deputies of Russian and Jewish ethnic origin has considered in the article. Among the ethnopolitical leaders of Jewish ethnicity, the figure of Kharkiv resident Olexander Feldman stands out, who since 2002 has invariably been a people's deputy of Ukraine. Vadim Rabinovych, the leader of the All-Ukrainian Jewish Congress is represented in parliament for only the last two terms. The most constant (since 1998 as a people's deputate) is the position of the Crimean Tatar leader, national democrat Mustafa Dzhemilev. A similar ideological orientation is taken by the head of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people Refat Chubarov. The co-founder of the «Our Land» Party Anton Kisse is a stable ethno-political leader of the Bulgarians in Ukraine. The unbalanced position of the ethno-political leadership of the Romanian (Ivan Popescu) and the Hungarian (Ishtvan Haidosh, Vasyl Brenzovich) representatives is also has considered. It is indicated about the first steps at the parliamentary representation of the Azov Greeks in the person of Dmytro Lubinets.The author concludes about the low efficiency of parliamentary representation of ethnic minorities in Ukraine, which is caused by permanent changes in electoral legislation, negative electoral and engineering practice of gerrymandering and neglecting of European good practices of including minority ethnic groups in politics, which are defined in international documents.