Mykola Tomenko

Biography

Early life Mykola Tomenko (born in a village of Mali Kanivtsi, Chornobai Raion, currently Zolotonosha Raion, in Cherkasy Oblast of Ukraine) is one of the few veterans of the Soviet-Afghan War among the Ukrainian politicians. Between 1983, and 1985 Tomenko served his conscript service in the Soviet Airborne Troops, reaching a rank of Sergeant during the war.

In 1989, after his military service, Tomenko graduated from Kyiv University specializing in Ukrainian political history. Shortly after, in 1992 he obtained his Kandidat degree (roughly equivalent to Ph.D.) defending his thesis on the topic "The issue of statehood in the program, documents and activities of the present-day parties in Ukraine (historical-political analysis)."

During his student years, after initially being a Komsomol activist, Tomenko later became the initiator of the local Komsomol organization's dissolution.

Tomenko began his professional career in 1992 at the Institute of National Operation and Self-government as the Head of the Political Science Department. Between 1992 and 1998 he was the vice-president of the Foundation "The Ukrainian Outlook", the director of the Institute of Post-communism Society and the Institute of Politics (listed are non-governmental politics research organizations). At the same time he continued lecturing history and political science courses at Kyiv universities, finally becoming the Head of the Politology department in the National University "Kyiv-Mohyla Academy".

Political career Mykola Tomenko seated with Arseniy Yatsenyuk, then the leader of the All-Ukrainian Union "Fatherland".

In mid-1990s Tomenko began his political career as a member of "My" (Ukrainian for Us) Political Union - a liberal-patriotic group close to Reforms and Order Party. In 1998 he was number 15 in the electoral list of Parliament candidates for Reforms and Order Party, but the party obtained no seats in parliament.

In 2002 Tomenko was elected to the Parliament on the list of the "Our Ukraine" Block (which contained Reforms and Order Party).

In late 2005 he left the party over a split on whether to back Yulia Tymoshenko or President Viktor Yuschenko (at the time he accused Petro Poroshenko and other Yuschenko allies of corruption ), and became a member of Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc. In 2006 Tomenko became elected to Verkhovna Rada on the list of that Bloc. Tomenko was placed at number 8 on the electoral list of Batkivshchina during the 2012 Ukrainian parliamentary election.

In the 2014 Ukrainian parliamentary election Tomenko was re-elected into parliament after being in the top 10 of the electoral list of Petro Poroshenko Bloc.

After declaring support for the candidature of Anatoliy Hrytsenko in the 2019 Ukrainian presidential election Tomenko became the supervisor of Hrytsenko's media strategy in Hrytsenko's election headquarters.

In the July 2019 Ukrainian parliamentary election Tomenko was placed in the top five in the top ten of the party list of Civil Position. But the party did not win any seats (winning 1.04% of the national vote and not one constituency).

Tomenko is a candidate (and party leader) for the Kyiv City Council and was simultaneously candidate for Mayor of Kyiv for the party "Native Land" in the 2020 Kyiv local election. He finished 8th place with 15.039 votes. "Native Land" also failed to win any seats in the Kyiv City Council.