Elections in Ukraine

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

Ukraine elects on national level a head of state - the 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). Before 1998 all the members of the Parliament were elected by single-seat constituencies. In 1998 and in 2002 half of the members were elected by proportional representation and the other half by single-seat constituencies. Since the 2006 parliamentary election, all 450 members of the Verkhovna Rada are elected by proportional representation.

Ukraine has a multi-party system, with numerous parties in which no one party often 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.

2008 parliamentary election

2007 parliamentary election

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

Charts 2006

2006 parliamentary election

2004 presidential election

2002 parliamentary election

1999 presidential election

1998 parliamentary election

1994 presidential election

1991 presidential election

Mayoral Election

Kiev

2008

ee also

*Electoral calendar
*Electoral system
*2007 Ukrainian political crisis
*2008 Ukrainian political crisis

External links

* [http://psephos.adam-carr.net/countries/u/ukraine/ Adam Carr's Election Archive]
* [http://www.parties-and-elections.de/ukraine.html Parties and Elections]