Ihor Palytsia
Ihor Palytsia | |
|---|---|
| Born | December 10, 1972 Lutsk, Ukraine |
| Occupation(s) | Entrepreneur, politician |
| Years active | 1993–present |
| Known for | Governor of Odesa Oblast (2014–2015), Chairman of Volyn Oblast regional council, Member of Ukrainian parliament |
Ihor Petrovych Palytsia (; born 10 December 1972) is a prominent Ukrainian entrepreneur and political figure. He held the position of Governor of Odesa Oblast from May 2014 until May 2015. In November 2015, Palytsia was chosen as the head of the Volyn Oblast regional council. During the July 2019 Ukrainian parliamentary election, he secured a parliamentary mandate as an independent candidate and later affiliated himself with the For the Future parliamentary group.
Biography
Born on 10 December 1972 in Lutsk, Palytsia completed his studies at Lesya Ukrainka Volyn National University in Lutsk in 1994. His business career began in 1993, and he was a member of the board at Ukraine's national oil and gas company, Naftogaz, from 2003 to 2007. In the 2006 Ukrainian parliamentary election, he ran unsuccessfully representing the Peasant Party of Ukraine, which garnered only 0.31% of votes.
During the 2007 Ukrainian parliamentary election, Palytsia gained a parliamentary seat placed at number 68 on the list of Our Ukraine–People's Self-Defense Bloc. In the 2012 Ukrainian parliamentary election, he was elected as an independent candidate from constituency #22 (Lutsk), obtaining 40.27% of votes, and remained unaffiliated within the parliament.
Following the deadly events of the 2014 Odesa clashes, on 6 May 2014, President Petro Poroshenko appointed him as Governor of Odesa Oblast. He was re-elected in the 2014 Ukrainian parliamentary election as number 34 on the list of the Petro Poroshenko Bloc. Palytsia served as Governor until 30 May 2015, when his successor became Mikheil Saakashvili.
In July 2015, he became a member of the political council for the party UKROP. On 26 November that year, he was elected chairman of the regional parliament of Volyn Oblast. During the July 2019 Ukrainian parliamentary election, he won a seat again as an independent and subsequently joined the For the Future faction. In May 2020, Palytsia was appointed chairman of For the Future, which he views as a continuation of UKROP.
Political image
In early 2014, Ukrainian press associated Palytsia with oligarch and then Governor of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, Ihor Kolomoyskyi. He notably played a significant role in financially supporting the establishment of the 18th Marine Bataillon (Ukraine) by personally funding its equipment needs. By August 2021, reports from Ukrainska Pravda indicated that Palytsia and Kolomoyskyi had divided their business ventures.
Awards
- Honored Economist of Ukraine (September 2004)
- Order of Merit, third class (January 2009)
- Recipient of the Yevhen Chykalenko Prize (October 2013)