370 registered political parties in Ukraine – Aivazovska

Some 370 political parties are currently registered in Ukraine, according to Olha Aivazovska, head of the OPORA Civil Network.

She stated this during a roundtable discussion.

"Currently, 370 parties are registered in Ukraine. For example, there are 77 of them in Lithuania, 87 in Poland, 116 in Germany, 379 in the United Kingdom, 680 political parties in France, and 5,000 political associations registered in Spain. Therefore, it is obvious that only statistical data do not tell us everything, they rather show a certain cycle of processes, and that in Ukraine there were proper conditions for the registration of political parties," Aivazovska said.

She noted that there is a market of political parties in Ukraine, which clearly demonstrates that parties are profitable organizations, and at least some of the legal entities use them for manipulative purposes.

According to her, there should be the most thorough liberal legislation on party activities.

"But liberalism does not mean complete lack of control in terms of accountability, transparency, openness for citizens and especially members of political parties," Aivazovska added.