Spilna Sprava

Spilna Sprava (Ukrainian: Спільна справа, lit. 'common cause', 'common issue', Russian: Спильна справа «Общее дело») is a political party in Ukraine registered on 19 March 2015, though active since late 2010. The name of the organisation, taken from Latin Res publica, indicates the republican nature of the movement, as well as symbolises the active civic solidarity of Ukrainians. It was founded in December 2010, during the Tax Maidan-2010 protests against the fiscal policies of Viktor Yanukovych.

Spilna Sprava has advocated for free and fair parliamentary and local elections, people's control over the Verkhovna Rada (the parliament of Ukraine) between elections, and fiscal reform. As a political pressure group, Spilna Sprava embraced non-parliamentary means of political mobilisation, and, along with the ultranationalist Right Sector, formed the radical wing of protesters during Euromaidan. The usage of reversed national colours in the party's flag represent a political standpoint, and symbolise national emergency, protest and call for action.

In December 2010, Spilna Sprava tried to implement a national referendum about discontinuing of the electoral mandates of the members of the Verkhovna Rada and the peaceful removal of President Viktor Yanukovych from power, whom Spilna Sprava accused of authoritarianism in running the country. After the referendum was denied, an electronic signature-gathering campaign began. It was claimed by Spilna Sprava that, by 12 April 2011, nearly 250,000 signatures had been collected.

On 14 May 2011, Spilna Sprava attempted to stage a number of protests across cities in Ukraine culminating with the Indignation Day (Day of Anger) in Kyiv: Massive demonstrations and rallies at the Presidential Administration and Verkhovna Rada buildings. The anti-government protest in Kyiv failed, as 300-400 protesters were confronted by nearly 1,500 riot police officers.

On 8 August 2011, Spilna Sprava tried unsuccessfully to start new anti-government protests, but met with little reaction from Ukrainian society as a whole.

During the 2012 Ukrainian parliamentary election, Spilna Sprava organized an independent monitoring of the pre-election situation and vote casting. It claimed at a press conference on 31 October 2012, after the elections, that significant vote fraud had been uncovered in the Vinnytsia, Khmelnytskyi, Zhytomyr, Poltava, Kyiv, Kirovohrad, and Cherkasy Oblasts of Ukraine.

In 2013, Spilna Sprava, along with major Ukrainian opposition factions, staged a number of rallies and demonstrations in Kyiv and elsewhere, including, at Kyiv's Saint Sofia Square on 18 May. The rally was dispersed by Berkut forces. Several Spilna Sprava activists were detained.

The group's leader is Oleksandr Danylyuk,^{[citation needed]} a lawyer, human rights activist and poet who was earlier involved in campaigns against former President Leonid Kuchma and Mayor of Kyiv Leonid Chernovetskyi, as well as in the 2004 Orange Revolution. Danylyuk has described Spilna Sprava as a "pro-democracy civil movement", though he has also advocated for radical action to oppose corruption in Ukraine. On 3 February 2014, Danylyuk reportedly arrived in London fleeing an imminent arrest in Ukraine after an arrest warrant was issued. He later returned to Kyiv after the fall of Viktor Yanukovych's administration on 22 February 2014.