By early January 2003, the SDPU(o) faction consisted of 40 seats. Analysts stated that TV channels and other media controlled by the party, such as Inter, 1+1, and TET began a sharply anti-American and anti-NATO campaign in response to Yushchenko's pro-Western proposals. Around the time of the Orange Revolution in late 2004, more ten 10 deputies left the SDPU(o) faction in the Verkhovna Rada; by late January 2005, the faction included 27 deputies out of the Verkhovna Rada's 450 seats. Said claim was later confirmed by another historian, Yuri Felshtinsky, and presaged Medvedchuk's later attempts to connect with Russian forces during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Ivan Rizak, the head of the Zakarpattia SDPU(o) branch and governor of Zakarpattia Oblast, was arrested in May 2005 and charged with abuse of public office and driving a pro-opposition university rector to suicide the year before. That same month, the party was accused of involvement in the 2000 murder of Georgiy Gongadze, with the journal Ukrayina Moloda (14 April 2005) accusing party members of using the dead journalist's corpse in a plot to discredit President Leonid Kuchma and force early elections, which could have led to Medvedchuk succeeding Kuchma.
The SDPU(o) claimed these accusations to be part of a political campaign by the Ukrainian Government. Supporters of the Orange Revolution, on the other hand, have claimed that the party enjoyed privileged status under Kuchma and was closely associated with big business, organized crime, corruption, and government media.
Despite being one of the most active political parties, with a wide range of political activities and a significant number of student and youth members, the SDPU(o) lost a significant number of votes due to the notoriety of its leaders for their business and political practices.
Post-Orange Revolution
thumb|Current logo of the party
Before the 2006 parliamentary elections, some commentators regarded the SDPU(o) as one of three hard-line anti-Yushchenko forces, with the others being Viktor Yanukovych's Party of Regions and Petro Symonenko's Communist Party of Ukraine. At the time, the SDPU(o) also became close to the Socialist Party of Ukraine. The current leader is Yuriy Zahorodnyi, who was also a member of the pro-Russian Opposition Platform — For Life until its ban and dissolution amidst the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The party did not participate in the 2007 Ukrainian parliamentary election.
The party participated in the 2010 Ukrainian presidential election as part of the Bloc of Left and Center-left Forces. This decision caused Kravchuk to leave the party, with him declaring he had left due to the party's political council behind the closed doors in non-democratic order. Kravchuk also referred to the Bloc of Left and Center-left Forces as "an artificial union without any perspectives."
The party did not take part in the 2012 Ukrainian parliamentary election nationwide proportional party-list system; instead, one member of the party tried to win a seat in one of the 225 local single-member districts; in this district, situated in Brovary, the candidate got 340 votes (the winner 31,678 votes) and thus failed to win a seat in the Verkhovna Rada. The party failed again to win a seat in the 7 July 2013 by-election in constituency 224 in Sevastopol.
The party did not participate in the 2014 Ukrainian parliamentary election.
Oil-for-Food Programme
The party received 1 million barrels worth of oil vouchers in the United Nations Oil-for-Food Programme.
Election results
Verkhovna Rada
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|-
! Election year
! # of<br>constituency votes
! # of<br>party list votes
! % of<br>party list votes
! # of<br>overall seats won
! +/–
|-
! 1998
| bgcolor="lightgrey"|
| 1,066,113
| 4.1
|
| bgcolor="lightgrey"|
|-
! 2002
| bgcolor="lightgrey"|
| 1,626,721
| 6.5
|
| 7
|-
! 2006
| colspan=2|As part of Ne Tak
| 1.0
|
| 24
|-
! 2007
| colspan=2|did not participate
| -
|
|
|-
! 2012
| bgcolor="lightgrey"|
| did not participate
| -
|
|
|-
! 2014
| colspan=2|did not participate
| -
|
|
|-
! 2019
| colspan=2|did not participate
| -
|
|
|}
Party leaders
- 1990–1991 Andriy Nosenko