2019 Ukrainian parliamentary election

Snap elections to the Ukrainian parliament were held on 21 July 2019.[1] Originally scheduled to be held at the end of October, these elections were brought forward after newly inaugurated President Volodymyr Zelensky dissolved parliament on 21 May 2019, during his inauguration.[2] The election result was the one-party majority, a novelty in Ukraine, for President Zelensky's Servant of the People party with 254 seats.[3]

2019 Ukrainian parliamentary election

21 July 2019

424 (of the 450) seats to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine
226[lower-alpha 1] seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Turnout49.84%
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Dmytro Razumkov Yuriy Boyko
Vadim Rabinovich
Yulia Tymoshenko
Party Servant of the People Opposition Platform — For Life Fatherland
Leader since 27 May 2019 26 May 2019 9 February 2001
Last election 19 seats, 5.68%
Seats won 254 43 26
Seat change New party New party 7
Popular vote 6,307,793 1,908,111 1,196,303
Percentage 43.16% 13.05% 8.18%
Swing New party New party 2.50 pp

  Fourth party Fifth party
 
Leader Petro Poroshenko Svyatoslav Vakarchuk
Party European Solidarity Voice
Leader since 31 May 2019 16 May 2019
Last election 132 seats, 21.82%
Seats won 25 20
Seat change 107 New party
Popular vote 1,184,620 851,772
Percentage 8.10% 5.82%
Swing 13.72 pp New party

Prime Minister before election

Volodymyr Groysman
Petro Poroshenko Bloc

Elected Prime Minister

Oleksiy Honcharuk
Servant of the People

About 80 percent of the elected candidates were new to parliament; 83 deputies managed to get reelected from the previous parliament and 13 deputies from earlier convocations.[3] All deputies from Servant of the People were political newcomers.[3] 61 percent of the new MPs had never before been engaged in politics.[3]

Out of 225 constituencies, 26 were suspended due to the March 2014 annexation of Crimea by Russia and the ongoing occupation of parts of Donetsk Oblast and Luhansk Oblast by separatist forces of the self-declared Donetsk People's Republic and Luhansk People's Republic (since April 2014).

Background

Originally scheduled to be held at the end of October 2019, the 2019 Ukrainian parliamentary elections were brought forward after newly inaugurated President Volodymyr Zelensky dissolved parliament early on 21 May 2019 (a day after his inauguration), despite claims that he did not have the legal grounds to do this. After Zelensky issued the decree (calling early elections), a lawsuit was filed to the Constitutional Court of Ukraine, which sought to declare the decree unconstitutional and therefore illegal.[4][5] The court declared the decree to be legal on 20 June 2019.[2][6] The official reason why Zelensky dissolved parliament was "a lack of a government coalition".[7]

Following the 2014 parliamentary elections, the Petro Poroshenko Bloc (PPB) party became the largest party, after securing 132 seats. On 21 November 2014, the Petro Poroshenko Bloc, People's Front, Self Reliance, Fatherland and the Radical Party all signed a coalition agreement.[8] Arseniy Yatsenyuk became Prime Minister on 2 December 2014. The Radical Party left the coalition on 1 September 2015 in protest over a vote in parliament involving a change to the Ukrainian Constitution that would lead to decentralization and greater powers for areas held by separatists.[9] February 2016 saw the start of the fall of the Yatsenyuk cabinet after the economy minister Aivaras Abromavičius announced his resignation claiming the government did not have real commitment to fight corruption.[10] On 17 and 18 February 2016, the Fatherland and Self Reliance parties left the coalition; meaning that the coalition became 5 deputies short of the 226 needed.[11] On 14 April 2016, Volodymyr Groysman became the new Prime Minister and the Groysman government began with a new cabinet of ministers.[12] Due to the short period of time available to organize the 2019 parliamentary election, current Ukrainian public procurement laws were not followed and to bypass this, local election commissions will work under deferred payment.[4]

Electoral system

Under current law 225 members of the Verkhovna Rada are elected by nationwide closed party-list proportional representation with 5% electoral election threshold and the other 225 seats elected in constituencies with a first-past-the-post electoral system in one round (candidate with the highest vote total wins).[13][14][15][16] 21 parties take part in the election in the nationwide party-list.[17] For the elections there was established a state financing for all political parties that received 2% support, but on 2 October 2019 that law was canceled.[18]

Out of 225 constituencies, 26 are suspended due to the March 2014 annexation of Crimea by Russia and the occupation of parts of Donetsk Oblast and Luhansk Oblast by separatists (since April 2014).

Candidates had until 20 June to submit documents to the Central Election Commission of Ukraine to register as candidates for the position of deputy of the Verkhovna Rada.[19] On 25 June 2019, the Central Election Commission ended its registration process.[17] It registered 5,845 candidates for the elections:[17] 3,171 candidates in the single-member constituencies and 2,674 candidates in the single nationwide constituency with 22 parties.[17][20]

Since 2014, various politicians have proposed to reform the electoral system to 100% party-list proportional representation with open lists.[13] President Zelensky is the main proponent.[21] The proposal is opposed by Yulia Tymoshenko.[22] A vote on the proposal (authored by the president) was supposed to take place on 22 May 2019, but members of parliament voted against including it in the agenda.[21][23]

Contesting parties

Electoral ballot of the 2019 Ukrainian parliamentary election, featuring 22 parties

List of registered parties[24][25]

Opinion polls

Opinion polls prior to the Ukrainian parliamentary election

Results

Turnout in electoral districts
Turnout in regions
Results of party-list voting by electoral districts
Results of single-mandate constituencies
Party PLPR FPTP Total +/–
Votes % ±pp Seats Votes % Seats
Servant of the People 6,307,793 43.16 New 124 130 254 New
Opposition Platform — For Life 1,908,111 13.05 New 37 6 43 New
Fatherland[lower-alpha 2] 1,196,303 8.18 2.50 24 2 26 7
European Solidarity 1,184,620 8.10 13.72 23 2 25 107
Voice 851,772 5.82 New 17 3 20 New
Radical Party of Oleh Lyashko 586,384 4.01 3.43 0 0 0 22
Strength and Honor 558,652 3.82 3.74 0 0 0 0
Opposition Bloc 443,195 3.03 New 0 6 6 New[lower-alpha 3]
Ukrainian Strategy of Groysman 352,934 2.41 New 0 0 0 New
Party of Shariy 327,152 2.23 New 0 0 0 New
Svoboda[lower-alpha 4] 315,568 2.15 2.56 0 1 1 6
Civil Position 153,225 1.04 2.06 0 0 0 0
Party of Greens of Ukraine 96,659 0.66 0.41 0 0 0 0
Self Reliance 91,596 0.62 10.35 0 1 1 32
Agrarian Party 75,509 0.51 [lower-alpha 5] 0 0 0 [lower-alpha 6]
Movement of New Forces 67,740 0.46 New 0 0 0 New
Force of People 27,984 0.19 0.08 0 0 0 0
Power of Law 20,340 0.14 New 0 0 0 New
Patriot 16,123 0.11 New 0 0 0 New
Social Justice 15,967 0.11 New 0 0 0 New
Independence 7,970 0.05 New 0 0 0 New
Torch 7,739 0.05 New 0 0 0 New
United Centre 0 1 1
Bila Tserkva Together 0 1 1
Independents 0 46 46[lower-alpha 7] 22
Total valid votes 100 225 100 199 424 1
Invalid ballot papers
Vacant (constituencies with no voting) 26 26 1
Total 225 225 450
Registered voters/turnout 35,550,428
Source: CEC (Proportional votes, Single-member constituencies) Ukrainian Pravda (Seats and regions)

Electoral support for the parties

Single-mandate constituency results

About 80 percent of the elected candidates had never been elected to parliament; 83 deputies managed to get reelected from the previous parliament and 13 deputies from earlier convocations.[3] All deputies from Servant of the People were political newcomers.[3] 61 percent of the new MPs had never before been engaged in politics.[3]

Notes

    1. Although only 424 of the 450 seats will be elected, article 83 of the constitution mandates that a parliamentary majority consists of 226 seats.
    2. In electoral alliance with Osnova
    3. New party, but had 65 MPs in the last parliament, seats decreased by 59. 39 MPs from the first version of Opposition Bloc, 25 Revival and 1 independent MP which is a total of 65 MPs.[26][27]
    4. In electoral alliance with National Corps, Right Sector, Ukrainian Volunteer Army, Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, and Congress of Ukrainian Nationalists
    5. Did not contest in 2014
    6. Did not contest in 2014
    7. Including 4 members of Our Land, 3 members of UKROP, 1 member of Agrarian Party and 1 member of "For specific cases" party. They were not nominated by their parties.

    References

    1. Указ Президента України №303/2019 [Decree of the President of Ukraine No. 303/2019]. Official internet site of the President of Ukraine (in Ukrainian). 21 May 2019. Retrieved 6 July 2019.
    2. "Ukrainian Constitutional Court OKs Parliament's Dissolution, Early Elections". Radio Free Europe. 20 June 2019. Retrieved 6 July 2019.
    3. Who Is Who in the Ukrainian Parliament?, Carnegie Europe (24 September 2019)
    4. Vuyets, Pavlo (11 June 2019). Виборів не буде? Над чим чаклує Конституційний суд [There will be no elections? What the Constitutional Court is conjuring]. glavcom.ua (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 13 July 2019.
    5. Sazonov, Kyrylo (5 June 2019). Конституційний суд до кінця червня вирішить чи був законним указ Зеленського про розпуск Ради [By the end of June, the Constitutional Court will decide whether Zelensky's decree on the dissolution of the Council was lawful]. glavcom.ua (in Ukrainian). Archived from the original on 13 July 2019. Retrieved 13 July 2019.
    6. КСУ визнав конституційним указ Зеленського про розпуск Ради [The Constitutional Court recognised Zelensky's constitutional decree to dissolve the Council] (in Ukrainian). www.unian.ua. 20 June 2019. Retrieved 14 July 2019.
    7. "Presidential Administration in Ukraine says move to dissolve Rada legally correct". UNIAN. 16 June 2019. Retrieved 14 July 2019.
    8. "Five political forces sign coalition agreement". Interfax-Ukraine. 21 November 2014. Retrieved 14 July 2019.
      "Ukraine's parliamentary parties initial coalition agreement". Interfax-Ukraine. 21 November 2014. Retrieved 14 July 2019.
    9. Krasnolutska, Daryna; Verbyany, Volodymyr (1 September 2015). "Ukraine Radical Party Quits Ruling Coalition After Deadly Clash". Bloomberg News. Retrieved 14 July 2019.
    10. "Ukraine Economy Minister decides to resign". UNIAN. 3 February 2016. Retrieved 14 July 2019.
    11. "Samopomich pulls out from ruling coalition in parliament". Interfax-Ukraine. 18 February 2016. Retrieved 14 July 2019.
      "Самопоміч" виходить із коаліції ["Self-help" emerges from the coalition] (in Ukrainian). Ukrayinska Pravda. 18 February 2016. Retrieved 14 July 2019.
      "Batkivschyna faction pulls out of coalition". UNIAN. 17 February 2016. Retrieved 14 July 2019.
      Goncharova, Olena (17 February 2016). "Batkivshchyna faction leaves ruling coalition". Kyiv Post. Archived from the original on 17 February 2016. Retrieved 14 July 2019.
    12. "Ukraine MPs approve Volodymyr Groysman as new PM". BBC News. 14 April 2016. Retrieved 14 April 2016.
    13. Pryshliak, Nadia (29 September 2016). "Electoral dead-end for Rada". UNIAN. Retrieved 6 July 2019.
    14. "Parliament passes law on parliamentary elections". Kyiv Post. Interfax-Ukraine. 17 November 2011. Archived from the original on 9 August 2012. Retrieved 6 July 2019.
    15. The Law of Ukraine No. 4061-VI, Enacted November 17, 2011: On Election of the People's Deputies [Unofficial translation by the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) Ukraine Electoral Law Reform Program) (PDF) (Report). 17 November 2011. Retrieved 7 July 2019.
    16. Kramar, Oleksandr (5 November 2012). "The Distorted Will of the People". The Ukrainian Week. Retrieved 7 July 2019.
    17. До Верховної Ради балотуються 5845 кандидатів [5845 candidates are running for the Verkhovna Rada]. glavcom.ua (in Ukrainian). 26 June 2019. Retrieved 7 July 2019.
    18. The Rada canceled the state financing of political parties that lost elections (Рада скасувала держфінансування партій, які програли вибори). RBC-Ukraine. 2 October 2019
    19. Fesenko, Volodymyr (11 June 2019). Дневник парламентских выборов-2019 (30 мая – 10 июня 2019 г.) [Diary of the parliamentary elections-2019 (30 May – 10 June 2019)] (in Russian). Ukrayinska Pravda. Retrieved 14 July 2019.
    20. Выборы в Верховную Раду 2019 [Elections to Verkhovna Rada]. fakty.com.ua (in Ukrainian). 12 July 2019. Retrieved 12 July 2019.
    21. Зеленский экстренно собирает Раду 22 мая [Zelensky urgently assembles Rada on 22 May] (in Russian). hromadske.ua. 22 May 2019. Archived from the original on 22 May 2019. Retrieved 14 July 2019.
    22. Тимошенко выступила против выборов с открытыми списками [Tymoshenko has opposed open-list elections]. focus.ua (in Ukrainian). 7 April 2014. Retrieved 14 July 2019.
    23. "Ukraine's Rada fails to vote for election law amendments". www.unian.info. 22 May 2019. Retrieved 14 July 2019.
    24. Хто йде на вибори в Раду: список партій [Who is in the Rada elections: the list of parties] (in Ukrainian). rbc.ua. 26 June 2019. Retrieved 19 July 2019.
    25. Партія Саакашвілі братиме участь у виборах до Ради: вже відомо під яким номером [The Saakashvili party will take part in the elections to the Rada: their number is already known] (in Ukrainian). 24tv.ua. 1 July 2019. Retrieved 19 July 2019.
    26. "Opposition Bloc, Peace And Development Party, Ours, Revival, Trust The Deeds Parties Unite To Run For Parliament". ukranews.com. 7 June 2019. Retrieved 26 July 2019.
    27. Оппозиционный блок, "Наши", "Відродження", "Доверяй делам", Партия мира и развития объединились для участия в парламентских выборах [Opposition bloc, "Ours", "Revival", "Trust in Deeds", the Party of Peace and Development have united to participate in parliamentary elections]. gordonua.com (in Russian). 7 June 2019. Retrieved 26 July 2019.
    28. "2012 Parliamentary Elections Boundary Delimitation Summary and Analysis" (PDF). International Foundation for Electoral Systems. May 2012. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 September 2014.
    29. "Extraordinary parliamentary election on 26.10.2014". Central Election Commission (Ukraine). 2014. Archived from the original on 29 October 2014. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
      Парламентські вибори - Результати - Кандидати на мажоритарних округах [Parliamentary Elections - Results - Candidates in Majority Districts] (in Ukrainian). RBK Ukraine. Archived from the original on 5 February 2015.
    30. Results. Ukrayinska Pravda.
    31. ЦИК начал публиковать первые результаты выборов [The CEC has begun to publish the first election results] (in Russian). ura-inform.com. 21 July 2019. Retrieved 23 July 2019.
    32. https://24tv.ua/vibori_v_harkovi_na_179_okruzi_rezultati_ekzitpol_14_03_2020_n1297213
    This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.