Elections in Ukraine

Ukraine

This article is part of the series: Politics and government of Ukraine

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Elections in Ukraine gives information on election and election results in Ukraine.

Ukraine elects on national level a head of state (president) and a legislature. The president is elected for a five-year term by the people. The Verkhovna Rada (Parliament of Ukraine) has 450 members, elected for a 5-year term (before a constitutional reform of 2004 this term was equal to 4 years).^[1]

Before 1998 all the members of the Parliament were elected by single-seat constituencies (from each electoral district). In 1998 and in 2002 half of the members were elected by proportional representation (faction vote) and the other half by single-seat constituencies. Since the 2006 parliamentary election, all 450 members of the Verkhovna Rada are elected by party-list proportional representation with closed lists^[2][3][4] (the same goes for local elections).^[5] But in the upcoming 2012 parliamentary election a mixed election system (50% under party lists and 50% under constituencies) will be used.^[6] The parliamentary election law has been changed 4 times since 1991.^[7][6]

Ukraine has a multi-party system, with numerous parties in which often not a single party has a chance of gaining power alone, and parties must work with each other to form coalition governments.

Representative bodies and heads of local government throughout Ukraine are elected simultaneously with the Verkhovna Rada.

A snap poll must have a voter turnout higher than 50%.^[8]

Since 1994 the average voter turnout for the Verkhovna Rada elections has been 68.13%^[9][10] and for presidential elections 73%.^[9][11]

The most popular presidential elections were the first one in 1991 where voted nearly 30.6 millions people and in 2004 election which gathered some 28 millions. There were only three presidential candidates who have gathered over 10 millions votes: Leonid Kravchuk (1991 - 19.6, 1994 - 10.0), Viktor Yushchenko (2004 - 11.1), and Viktor Yanukovych (2004 - 11.0). The 10 million voters mark was almost reached by Leonid Kuchma in 1999, but he only managed to gain trust of 9.6 millions. To this day Kravchuk is the only presidential candidate who managed to win the elections after the first round obtaining over 50% of votes in 1991. Most often participant of presidential elections is Oleksandr Moroz who took part in every presidential election since 1994 when he gained the biggest support of some 3.5 millions, while in 2010 for him voted less than .1 million. Viktor Yanukiovych became the strongest runner-up in the history of presidential elections, while Leonid Kuchma - the only runner-up of the first round who managed to pull a win in the second one. Thus far the top two presidential candidates always would get support of over 5 million voters each.

Despite a clear system for declaring donations to campaign funds, officials and experts say that Ukraine’s election law is consistently flouted, with spending from candidates’ official funds representing only a fraction of the amount truly spent while it’s rarely clear where the funding comes from.^[12]

Early May 2009 the "The Committee of Voters of Ukraine" stated they believe that the use of the state’s administrative resources by political forces for their own national and local election campaigns is no longer a decisive factor in the outcome of Ukrainian elections.^[13] According to a survey of 2,000 people conducted in October 2010 by two Ukrainian nongovernmental organizations, the Democratic Initiatives Fund and OPORA, one in five Ukrainians were willing to sell his or her vote in the then upcoming 2010 Ukrainian local elections.^[14] But according to (then) Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov these elections "were absolutely without the use of administrative resources, naturally. Nobody interfered with our citizens."^[15]

Voting analysis shows that during Ukrainian election there are traditional geographical voting patterns. Viktor Yanukovych (and his Party of the Regions) and Yulia Tymoshenko (and her party Bloc Yulia Tymoshenko) have been since about 2005 the main players in Ukrainian politics. Yanukovych traditional base of support is east and south Ukraine, whereas Tymoshenko traditional base of support is west and central Ukraine. Although this geographical division is decreasing.^[16]

A 2010 study by the Institute of Social and Political Psychology of Ukraine found that in general, Yulia Tymoshenko supporters are more optimistic compared with Viktor Yanukovych supporters. 46 percent of the Tymoshenko’s backers expect improvement in their well-being in the next year compared to 30 percent for Yanukovych.^[17]

2012 parliament elections

Next parliament elections in Ukraine are set for October 28, 2012. Candidates will be elected using a mixed voting system, 50% on party list and 50% winners in electoral Constituencies with a 5% election threshold and the participation of blocs of political parties will not be allowed no more.^[6]

2010 local election

Results and mayors after the local elections

Local elections for local government were held on October 31, 2010. Candidates were elected in mixed voting system, 50% on party list and 50% winners in electoral Constituencies.^[18] Party of Regions won most places, followed by All-Ukrainian Union "Fatherland".^[18] The Ukrainian nationalistic party Svoboda achieved notable success in Eastern Galicia.^[18]

2010 presidential election

Results of the February 7, 2010, run-off.

Electoral Maps

Maps showing the top five candidates support in the first round of voting- percentage of total national vote

2007 parliamentary election

Results of the 2007 parliamentary election

e • d Summary of the 30 September 2007 Verkhovna Rada election results

Parties and blocs	Votes	%	Swing %	Seats	(2006)
Party of Regions (Партія регіонів)	8,013,895	34.37	+2.23	175	-11 (186)
Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc (Блок Юлії Тимошенко) All-Ukrainian Union "Fatherland" Ukrainian Social Democratic Party Reforms and Order Party	7,162,193	30.71	+8.43	156	+27 (129)
Our Ukraine–People's Self-Defense Bloc (Блок Наша Україна–Народна Самооборона) People's Union "Our Ukraine" Forward, Ukraine! People's Movement of Ukraine Ukrainian People's Party Ukrainian Republican Party Assembly Christian Democratic Union European Party of Ukraine Citizen's Party "PORA" Motherland Defenders Party	3,301,282	14.15	+0.21	72	–9 (81)
Communist Party of Ukraine (Комуністична партія України)	1,257,291	5.39	+1.73	27	+6 (21)
Lytvyn Bloc (Блок Литвина) People's Party Labour Party of Ukraine	924,538	3.96	+1.53	20	+20 (0)
Socialist Party of Ukraine (Соціалістична партія України)	668,234	2.86	-2.82		-33 (33)
Progressive Socialist Party of Ukraine (Прогресивна соціалістична партія України)	309,008	1.32
All-Ukrainian Union "Freedom" (Всеукраїнське об'єднання "Свобода")	178,660	0.76	+0.41
Party of Greens of Ukraine (Партія Зелених України)	94,505	0.40	-0.13
Electoral Bloc of Liudmyla Suprun – Ukrainian Regional Asset (Виборчий блок Людмили Супрун — Український регіональний актив) Popular Democratic Party Democratic Party of Ukraine Republican Christian Party	80,944	0.34
Communist Party of Ukraine (renewed) (Комуністична партія України (оновлена))	68,602	0.29
Party of Free Democrats (Партія Вільних Демократів)	50,852	0.21
Bloc of the Party of Pensioners of Ukraine (Блок партії пенсіонерів України) Party of Pensioners of Ukraine Party of Protection of Pensioners of Ukraine	34,845	0.14
Party of National Economic Development of Ukraine (Партія національно-економічного розвитку України)	33,489	0.14
Ukrainian People's Bloc (Український Народний Блок) Political Party "Cathedral Ukraine" All-Ukrainian Chornobyl People's Party "For the Welfare and Protection of the People"	28,414	0.12
Peasants' Bloc "Agrarian Ukraine" (Селянський Блок "Аграрна Україна") Rural Revival Party People's Party New Ukraine	25,675	0.11
Christian Bloc (Християнський блок) Social-Christian Party All-Ukrainian Political Party "Ecology and Social Protection"	24,597	0.10
Electoral Bloc of Political Parties "KUCHMA" (Виборчий блок політичних партій «КУЧМА») Party "Union" All-Ukrainian Union "Center"	23,676	0.10
Bloc "All-Ukrainian Community" (Блок "Всеукраїнська громада") All-Ukrainian Party of Peace and Unity National-Democratic Association "Ukraine" Conscience of Ukraine Political Party of Small and Medium-sized Businesses of Ukraine	12,327	0.05
All-Ukrainian Party of People's Trust (Всеукраїнська партія Народної Довіри)	5,342	0.02
Against all	637,185	2.73
Invalid ballot papers	379,658	1.62
Total (turnout 62.02%)	23,315,257	100		450
Source: Central Election Commission of Ukraine (English) More detailed information: Центральної виборчої комісії України (Ukrainian)

Electoral Maps

Maps showing the top six parties support - percentage of total national vote

Election results compared with the previous Ukrainian parliamentary election

In 2006, 27% of the registered vote represented support for minor parties that received less than the 3% statutory representation threshold. In 2007 the number of voters that supported minor parties that received less than the 3% statutory threshold (Including the Socialist Party of Ukraine the support of 2.86%) was only 7%.

The 20% difference shows a consolidation of voter's support towards major political parties. This fact needs to be taken into consideration when making any assessment as to the positive swing recorded for Bloc Yulia Tymoshenko, Party of Regions, The Communist Party of Ukraine and Bloc Lytvyn. The Our Ukraine bloc merged with the new party "People's Self-Defence" but only recorded a marginal gain in the overall percentage of the vote representing a reduction of 236964 votes in comparison with the 2006 data.

Further review of the regional vote shows a consolidation of the vote by Yulia Tymoshenko in regions in which her party already maintained strong support. Apart from the Socialist Party of Ukraine and a marginal gain by Our Ukraine all major political parties recorded an increase in the overall percentage the voter support when comparing the 2006 to 2007 results.

The other fact that needs to also be considered is that in 2006 the participation rate was 67% and in 2007 the participation rate dropped down to 62%.

Charts 2007

Results of the parliamentary elections:

Charts 2006

Results of the parliamentary elections:

2006 parliamentary election

Results of the 2006 parliamentary election.

Electoral maps

Maps showing the top six parties support - percentage of total national vote (minimal text)

2004 presidential election

Results of the December 26, 2004 repeated run-off presidential election. Orange and Blue denotes regions where Yushchenko and Yanukoych respectively were the highest polling candidates.

Electoral Maps

Maps showing the top three Candidates support - percentage of total national vote

2002 parliamentary election

Results of 2002 parliament elections

1999 presidential election

Blue-Leonid Kuchma, red -Petro Symonenko

Summary of 1999 Ukraine presidential election results

1998 parliamentary election

Results of the 1998 parliamentary election.

1994 presidential election

Second round:Blue-Leonid Kuchma, orange-Leonid Kravchuk

Second elections in independent Ukraine were won by Leonid Kuchma in second round.

Summary of 1994 Ukraine presidential election results

1991 presidential election

blue-Leonid Kravchuk, orange-Viacheslav Chornovil

On first presidential elections in Ukraine, Leonid Kravchuk was elected president in first round with 61.59% of votes. Second was Viacheslav Chornovil with 23.27% of votes. Third place took Levko Lukyanenko with 4.49%

Autonomous Republic of Crimea

Presidential election

• Crimean presidential election, 1994

Parliamentary elections

• Crimean parliamentary election, 2006
• Crimean parliamentary election, 2010

Local elections

• Ukraine local elections, 2010

Provincial Elections

• Ternopil Oblast local election, 2009

Mayoral Election

Kiev

• Kiev mayoral election, 2008

See also

• Electoral calendar
• Electoral system
• 2007 Ukrainian political crisis
• 2008 Ukrainian political crisis
• Elections in the Soviet Union

References

External links

• Central Election Commission of Ukraine
• Adam Carr's Election Archive
• Parties and Elections
• Serhiy Vasylchenko: Electoral Geography of Ukraine 1991 - 2010
• If parliamentary elections were held next Sunday how would you vote? (recurrent poll, 2010-2011) by Razumkov Centre
• Rating of parties since 2006 by Sociological group "RATING"

v t e Elections and referendums in Ukraine Presidential elections 1991 1994 1999 2004 2010 2015 Parliamentary elections 1918 1938 1939* 1947 1951 1955 1959 1963 1967 1971 1975 1980 1985 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2007 2012 Local elections 2006 2010 Referendums 1991 (Mar) 1991 (Dec) 2000 * Western Ukraine