Leonid Makarovych Kravchuk was a Ukrainian politician and the first president of Ukraine, serving from 5 December 1991 until 19 July 1994. In 1992, he signed the Lisbon Protocol, undertaking to give up Ukraine's nuclear arsenal. He was also the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada and a People's Deputy of Ukraine serving in the Social Democratic Party of Ukraine (united) faction.

The Socialist Party of Ukraine was a social democratic and democratic socialist political party in Ukraine. It was one of the oldest parties in Ukraine and was created by former members of the Soviet-era Communist Party of Ukraine in late 1991, when the Communist Party was banned. The party was represented in the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's parliament, from 1994 to 2007 and was the third and fourth largest party during that period. From 2007 onwards the party's electoral results became increasingly marginal, failing to win any seats in subsequent elections despite historically strong support in the central regions of the country. Oleksandr Moroz had led the party for more than twenty years before his resignation in 2012.