1998 Ukrainian parliamentary election

Parliamentary elections were held in Ukraine on 29 March 1998.[1] The Communist Party of Ukraine remained the largest party in the Verkhovna Rada, winning 121 of the 445 seats.[2]

1998 Ukrainian parliamentary election

29 March 1998
All 450 seats of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine 226 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	70.78%
First party Second party Third party   Leader Petro Symonenko Vyacheslav Chornovil Oleksandr Moroz Party Communist Party People's Movement SPU-SelPU Leader since 1993 1989 1991 Last election 86 seats, 13.6% 20 seats, 5.5% 33 seats, 5.8% Seats won 122 46 35 Seat change 36 26 2 Popular vote 6,550,353 2,498,262 2,273,788 Percentage 24.7% 9.4% 8.6% Swing 11.1% 3.9% 2.8%   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Anatoliy Matviyenko Pavlo Lazarenko Vitaliy Kononov Party NDPU Hromada Greens Leader since 1996 1994 1990 Last election new party new party 0 seats, 0.3% Seats won 27 23 19 Seat change 27 23 19 Popular vote 1,331,460 1,242,235 1,444,264 Percentage 5.0% 4.7% 5.4% Swing n/a n/a 5.1%
Results of the 1998 parliamentary election.
Chairman of Parliament before election Oleksandr Moroz Socialist Party Elected Chairman of Parliament Oleksandr Tkachenko Peasants Party

After the election votes in five electoral districts had too many irregularities to declare a winner and the parliament was five members short of 450.

Electoral system

In comparison to the first parliamentary election, this time half of 450 parliament seats were filled by single-seat majority winners in 225 electoral regions (constituencies), and the other half were split among political parties and blocks[3] that received at least 4% of the popular vote.[4]

Results

The Communist Party of Ukraine was victorious in 18 regions including the city of Kiev, while in three other regions the party finished in second place. The People's Movement of Ukraine (Rukh) won in five regions, all of them located in Western Ukraine and was a strong runner-up in three others, mostly in the west and Kiev. The electoral block of Socialists and Peasants was able to secure a victory in only two regions, however it did finish strong in seven other regions across central Ukraine. The new and rising party of Hromada won the Dnipropetrovsk Region, while the Social-Democratic Party of Ukraine managed to secure the Zakarpattia Region.

Notable and strong runners up were the Party of Greens, the People's Democratic Party, the Progressive Socialist Party, the People's Party, Working Ukraine, the National Front and Our Ukraine.

  ← Summary of the 29 March 1998 Verkhovna Rada election results →

Parties and coalitions			Nationwide constituency			Const. seats	Total seats
			Votes	%	Seats		Seats	+/-
	Communist Party of Ukraine		6,550,353	24.65	84	38	122 / 450
	People's Movement of Ukraine		2,498,262	9.40	32	14	46 / 450
	Socialist Party – Peasant Party	Socialist Party of Ukraine Peasant Party of Ukraine	2,273,788	8.56	29	6	35 / 450
	Party of Greens of Ukraine		1,444,264	5.44	19	—	19 / 450
	People's Democratic Party		1,331,460	5.01	17	10	27 / 450
	Hromada		1,242,235	4.68	16	7	23 / 450
	Progressive Socialist Party of Ukraine		1,075,118	4.05	14	3	17 / 450
	Social Democratic Party of Ukraine (united)		1,066,113	4.01	14	3	17 / 450
	Agrarian Party of Ukraine		978,330	3.68	—	7	7 / 450
	Reforms and Order Party		832,574	3.13	—	4	4 / 450
	Laborious Ukraine	Civil Congress of Ukraine Ukrainian Party of Justice	813,326	3.06	—	1	1 / 450
	National Front	Congress of Ukrainian Nationalists Ukrainian Conservative Republican Party Ukrainian Republican Party	721,966	2.72	—	7	7 / 450
	Together	Liberal Party of Ukraine Party of Labor	502,969	1.89	—	2	2 / 450
	Forward Ukraine!	Christian Democratic Union Ukrainian Christian Democratic Party	461,924	1.74	—	3	3 / 450
	Christian Democratic Party of Ukraine		344,826	1.30	—	2	2 / 450
	Bloc of Democratic Parties — NEP	Democratic Party of Ukraine Party of Economic Revival	326,489	1.23	—	2	2 / 450
	Party of National Economic Development of Ukraine		250,476	0.94	—	—	—
	SLON — Social Liberal Association	Viche Inter-regional Bloc of Reforms	241,367	0.91	—	1	1 / 450
	Party of Regional Revival of Ukraine		241,262	0.91	—	2	2 / 450
	All-Ukrainian Party of Workers		210,622	0.79	—	1	1 / 450
	Union		186,249	0.70	—	1	1 / 450
	All-Ukrainian Party of Women's Initiatives		154,650	0.58	—	—	—
	Republican Christian Party		143,496	0.54	—	—	—
	Ukrainian National Assembly		105,977	0.39	—	—	—
	Social Democratic Party of Ukraine		85,045	0.32	—	—	—
	Motherland Defenders Party		81,808	0.31	—	—	—
	Party of Spiritual, Economic and Social Progress		53,147	0.20	—	—	—
	Party of Muslims of Ukraine		52,613	0.20	—	—	—
	Less Words	Social-National Party of Ukraine State Independence of Ukraine	45,155	0.16	—	1	1 / 450
	European Choice of Ukraine	Liberal Democratic Party of Ukraine Ukrainian Peasant Democratic Party	37,118	0.13	—	—	—
	Independents		—	—	—	105	105 / 450
Against all			1,396,592	5.26
Invalid ballot papers			821,699	3.09
Vacant (constituencies with no result)						5	5
Total			26,571,273	100	225	225	450
Registered voters/turnout			37,540,092	70.78
Source: Central Electoral Commission
Notes:

By regions (single constituency)

[5]

1998 constituents winners

Crimea (10/10)

• No party affiliation: Serhiy Ivanov, Anatoliy Rakhansky, Valeriy Horbatov, Refat Chubarov, Anatoliy Franchuk
• Communist Party of Ukraine: Yevhen Leshan, Viktor Myronenko
• Soyuz: Lev Myrymsky
• People's Democratic Party of Ukraine: Ihor Franchuk, Valeriy Khoroshkovsky

Vinnytsia Region (8/8)

• No party affiliation: Petro Poroshenko (No.12), Oleh Yukhnovsky, Oleksandr Shpak, Yevhen Smirnov, Oleksandr Stoyan
• People's Democratic Party of Ukraine: Ihor Kvyatkovsky, Anatoliy Matviyenko
• Communist Party of Ukraine: Mykola Pasyeka

Volyn Region (4/5)

• National Front (Republican): Valeriy Dibrova
• Agrarian: Kateryna Vashchuk
• No party affiliation: Mykola Martynenko
• Democratic Party of Ukraine: Oleksandr Svyryda
• People's Democratic Party of Ukraine: Serhiy Shevchuk

Dnipropetrovsk Region (16/17)

• Hromada 6 (1-Independent)
• No party affiliation 5
• Communist 3
• Interregional bloc 1
• Agrarian 1

Donetsk Region (21/23)

• No party affiliation 12
• Communist 7
• Party of Regions 2

Zhytomyr Region (5/6)

• No party affiliation 2
• People-Democratic 1
• Communist 1
• Christian-Democratic 1

Zakarpattia Region (5/5)

• Social-Democratic (u) 3
• No party affiliation 2

Zaporizhia Region (7/9)

• No party affiliation 3
• Communist 3 (1-Independent)
• Agrarian 1

Ivano-Frankivsk Region (6/6)

• No party affiliation 2
• National Front 2 (all CUN)
• Labor and Liberal together 1 (Independent)
• Christian people 1

Kirovohrad Region (3/5)

• No party affiliation 3

Luhansk Region (12/12)

• Communist 8
• No party affiliation 4

Lviv Region (10/12)

• People's Movement 2
• Reforms and Order 2
• National Front 2 (all Independent)
• Fewer words 1
• No party affiliation 1
• Christian-Democratic 1
• Agrarian 1

Mykolaiv Region (3/6)

• No party affiliation 2
• Reforms and Order 1

Odessa Region (10/11)

• No party affiliation 6
• Communist 2
• Agrarian 1 (Independent)
• Social and Peasant 1

Kiev Region (7/8)

• No party affiliation 4
• Social and Peasant 1 (Socialist)
• Agrarian 1
• People's Movement 1

Poltava Region (8/8)

• Communist 3
• No party affiliation 2
• People's Movement 1
• People-Democratic 1 (Independent)
• Forward 1 (Independent)

Rivne Region (5/5)

• People's Movement 3
• No party affiliation 2

Sumy Region (6/6)

• No party affiliation 2
• Progressive Socialist 2
• Communist 1
• Justice 1

Ternopil Region (4/5)

• People's Movement 2
• No party affiliation 1
• National Front 1 (CUN)

Kharkiv Region (12/14)

• No party affiliation 6
• Communist 2
• Agrarian 1
• Social and Peasant 1 (Independent)
• Progressive Socialist 1 (Independent)
• People-Democratic 1

Kherson Region (6/6)

• No party affiliation 2
• Hromada 1
• Communist 1
• Christian-Democratic 1
• Social and Peasant 1 (Socialist)

Khmelnytsky Region (7/7)

• No party affiliation 4
• Republican 1
• Socialist 1
• Communist 1

Cherkasy Region (7/7)

• No party affiliation 3
• Communist 2
• Social and Peasant 1 (Peasant)
• People-Democratic 1

Chernivtsi Region (4/4)

• No party affiliation 3
• People's Movement 1

Chernihiv Region (5/6)

• No party affiliation 4
• People-Democratic 1

Kiev (11/12)

• No party affiliation 8
• Democratic Parties 1 (Independent)
• People's Movement 1
• Reforms and Order 1

Sevastopol (2/2)

• No party affiliation 1
• Communist 1

Party affiliation changes after 1998 election

The size of the factions created in parliament after the election fluctuated.[6] By January 2000, the Progressive Socialist Party of Ukraine and Hromada had not had any deputies; while Peasant Party of Ukraine had deputies only in 1999.[6] All these factions where disbanded due to the lack of members.[7]

Party of Regional Revival of Ukraine (later to become the biggest party of Ukraine as Party of Regions[8]) grew massively in parliament (after in March 2001 it united with four parties) from 2 deputies elected in this election to a faction of 24 people in July 2002 (one deputy left the faction later).[6][9][10] Later to become second biggest party of Ukraine,[8] Batkivshchyna, started its existence as a faction when in the spring of 1999 members of Hromada left their party to join other parliament factions, among them Yulia Tymoshenko who set up the parliamentary faction "Batkivshchyna" in March 1999.[11][12][13]

People's Movement of Ukraine split into 2 different factions in the spring of 1999 (the largest membership of the breakaway faction led by Hennadiy Udovenko was 19 and ended with 14, the "other" faction ended with 23; meaning that 10 elected People's Movement of Ukraine deputies did not represent any segment of the party anymore by June 2002).[6][7]

Other mayor "non-elected" factions/parties to emerge in parliament after the election were: Solidarity[14] (27 to 20 members[6]) and Labour Ukraine[15] (38 members in June 2002[6]); by June 2002 the parliament had 8 more factions then its original 8 in May 1998.[6]

References

1. Nohlen, D & Stöver, P (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p1976 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
2. Nohlen & Stöver, p1991
3. Against All Odds: Aiding Political Parties in Georgia and Ukraine (UvA Proefschriften) by Max Bader, Vossiuspers UvA, 2010, ISBN 90-5629-631-0 (page 93)
4. Parliamentary chronicles, The Ukrainian Week (30 November 2018)
5. Deputies/Elected in multi-mandate constituency/Elections 29.11.1998 Archived 2011-06-07 at the Wayback Machine, Central Election Commission of Ukraine
6. Understanding Ukrainian Politics: Power, Politics, and Institutional Design by Paul D'Anieri, M.E. Sharpe, 2006, ISBN 978-0-7656-1811-5
7. Ukraine and Russia: The Post-Soviet Transition by Roman Solchanyk, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2001 ISBN 0742510174
8. After the parliamentary elections in Ukraine: a tough victory for the Party of Regions, Centre for Eastern Studies (7 November 2012)
9. 2001 Political sketches: too early for summing up, Central European University (January 4, 2002)
10. Ukraine Political Parties, GlobalSecurity.org
11. Revolution in Orange: The Origins of Ukraine's Democratic Breakthrough by Anders Aslund and Michael A. McFaul, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 2006, ISBN 978-0-87003-221-9
12. State Building in Ukraine: The Ukrainian Parliament, 1990-2003 by Sarah Whitmore, Routledge, 2004, ISBN 978-0-415-33195-1, page 106
13. (in Ukrainian) Всеукраїнське об'єднання "Батьківщина" All-Ukrainian Union Batkivshchyna, RBC Ukraine
14. Ukrainian Political Update by Taras Kuzio and Alex Frishberg, Frishberg & Partners, 21 February 2008 (page 22)
15. Explaining State Capture and State Capture Modes Archived 2012-09-29 at the Wayback Machine by Oleksiy Omelyanchuk, Central European University, 2001 (page 22)
    Trudova Ukraina elects a new chairman, Policy Documentation Center (November 27, 2000)

External links

• Central Election Commission of Ukraine