2014 Ukrainian parliamentary election

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2014 Ukrainian parliamentary election
Ukraine
← 2012 26 October 2014 2019 →
423 of the 450 seats in the
Verkhovna Rada[a]

226 seats needed for a majority
Turnout51.91%
Party Leader % Seats +/–
People's Front Arseniy Yatsenyuk 22.14 82 New
Petro Poroshenko Bloc
 Yuriy Lutsenko 21.82 131 New
Self Reliance Andriy Sadovyi 10.98 33 New
Opposition Bloc Yuriy Boyko 9.43 29 New
RPOL Oleh Liashko 7.45 22 +21
Batkivshchyna Yulia Tymoshenko 5.68 20 −81
Svoboda Oleh Tyahnybok 4.71 6 −31
Strong Ukraine Serhiy Tihipko 3.12 1 New
Zastup Vira Ulianchenko 2.66 1 New
Right Sector Dmytro Yarosh 1.81 1 +1
Independents – – 97 +54
This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.
Prime Minister before Prime Minister after
Arseniy Yatsenyuk
People's Front		 Arseniy Yatsenyuk
People's Front

Snap parliamentary elections were held in Ukraine on 26 October 2014 to elect members of the Verkhovna Rada. President Petro Poroshenko had pressed for early parliamentary elections since his victory in the presidential elections in May.[1] The July breakup of the ruling coalition gave him the right to dissolve the parliament, so on 25 August 2014 he announced the early election.[2]

Voting did not take place in the

war in Donbas.[3]
Because of this, 27 of the 450 seats remained unfilled.

The elections were seen as a

Fatherland in August 2014), Self Reliance (registered in 2012) and Opposition Bloc (formed in September 2014 by a group of the former Party of Regions
members).

The work of the

second Yatsenyuk government was approved.[6]

Background

According to the election law of November 2011, elections to the Verkhovna Rada must take place at least every five years.[7][8] That law came into effect with the 2012 Ukrainian parliamentary election. If the Rada had sat for the maximum allotted time, the next parliamentary election would have occurred on 29 October 2017.[7] Despite this, the president-elect Petro Poroshenko said that he wanted to hold early parliamentary elections following his victory in the presidential election on 25 May 2014.[1] At 26 June session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Poroshenko said that he hoped to hold parliamentary elections in October 2014, portraying this as "the most democratic way".[9][b]

The parliamentary coalition that supported the

2014 Ukrainian revolution and of the Euromaidan movement, was dissolved on 24 July.[11] If no new coalition formed within thirty days, President Poroshenko would become entitled to dissolve the Rada and to call early parliamentary elections.[11] On the same day as the dissolution, the Sovereign European Ukraine faction submitted a bill to the Rada that called for elections to take place on 28 September 2014.[12]

In an interview with Ukrainian television channels on 14 August, Poroshenko justified early elections because the Rada refused to recognise the self-proclaimed breakaway

war in Donbas.[14] President Poroshenko said: "I don't know how to work with a parliament in which a huge number [of deputies], whole factions, make up 'the fifth column' controlled from abroad [referring to Russia]. And this danger is only increasing".[13] He also said that new elections "are the best and the most efficient form of lustration
of not only the parliament but also the political forces".

Poroshenko announced on 25 August that he had called for elections to the Rada to take place on 26 October 2014.

Heavenly Hundred".[16] Poroshenko also stated that many of the (then) current MPs were "direct sponsors and accomplices or at least sympathizers of the militants/separatists".[16]

Electoral system

The

electoral blocs were failed.[18]

The division into 225 electoral districts was the same as at the 2012 election. Voting was only organized in 198 of them.

Electoral districts

Non-voting areas

The voting was impossible to provide on the territories that was not under government control. Particularly, because of Russian occupation of Crimea there was no voting in all 10 districts in

OPORA estimated that 4.6 million Ukrainians were unable to vote: 1.8 million in Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, 1.6 million in Donetsk Oblast and 1.2 million in Luhansk Oblast.[19]

elections
and yellow parts took part in neither.

Crimea

About 1.8 million of eligible voters live in Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, that is 5% of the whole number of voters in Ukraine. Ukrainian government lost control over the region in March 2014 during the Crimean crisis. Since that time no legitimate elections are provided there. In the 2014 legislative election Crimean voters had ability to vote in any other region for party-lists in the single nationwide constituency, but they were unable to vote for candidates in single-member constituencies.[20]

Donbas

"

war in Donbas in the summer 2014 and September ceasefire, roughly a half of the region remained to be controlled by separatists loyal to Yanukovych. On the day before the election, the CEC stated that there was no ability to provide voting in the captured areas.[3] Thus, full-fledged voting was provided only in 8 districts of 32. Other 9 districts were split by the front line for controlled and not controlled areas, so voting was provided there only partly. In 2 of them only slight number of polling station was opened: in 53rd district only 9% of voters were able to vote and in 45th district only 2%. In spite of this, the elections in these single-member constituencies were recognized as successful, and the winners (Oleh Nedava and Yukhym Zvyahilsky
) got mandates. To the other 15 districts ballots were not transferred at all.

Donetsk Oblast Luhansk Oblast Total
Districts with full-fledged voting 7 1 8
Districts with partial voting 5 4 9
Districts with no voting 9 6 15

Instead of this election, on the captured territories separatists organized so-called

Minsk agreement and were not recognized by the world community.[21]

Campaign

In the 225 electoral districts some 3,321 candidates participated, out of which 2,018 were independent candidates.[22] 52 political parties nominated candidates.[22] 147 candidates withdrew after the 1 October candidate registration deadline.[23]

In the election campaign the parties positions on foreign relations and the

Petro Poroshenko Bloc was the only pro-European party that wanted to end the war in Donbas by a peaceful solution.[24] The second group was Strong Ukraine and Opposition Bloc who were considered pro-Russian and they advocated to end the war in Donbas by a peaceful solution.[24] The Communist Party of Ukraine (according to political scientist Tadeusz A. Olszański) "effectively supports the separatist rebellion".[24]

According to Olszański Radical Party and the Communists were the only

left-wing parties.[24]

Registered parties and candidates

Nationwide party lists

On 26 September 2014 the

Central Election Commission of Ukraine finished registering the nationwide party lists. A total of 29 parties participated in the election.[25] Parties appeared on the ballot in the following order:[26]

  1. Radical Party of Oleh Lyashko
  2. Solidarity of Ukrainian Women
  3. Internet Party of Ukraine
  4. Opposition Bloc
  5. People's Front
  6. 5.10
  7. All-Ukrainian Agrarian Union "ZASTUP"
  8. Revival
  9. New Politics
  10. United Country
  11. People's Power
  12. Svoboda
  13. National Democratic Party of Ukraine
  14. Communist Party of Ukraine
  15. Self Reliance Party
  16. Ukraine is United
  17. Right Sector
  18. Ukraine of the Future
  19. Liberal Party of Ukraine
  20. Party of Greens of Ukraine
  21. Green Planet
  22. Petro Poroshenko Bloc
  23. Strength and Honour
  24. Congress of Ukrainian Nationalists
  25. Strong Ukraine
  26. Fatherland
  27. Civil Position
  28. Bloc of Ukrainian Left Forces
  29. Ukrainian Civil Movement
Forming of political coalitions

On 2 September

Petro Poroshenko Bloc had agreed to "joint participation in parliamentary elections" on 29 March 2014 the two parties were "in discussion" about "the format" for how to do so in these elections. On 15 September it became clear that 30% of the Petro Poroshenko Bloc election list would be filled by members of UDAR and that UDAR leader Vitali Klitschko is at the top of this list, Klitschko vowed not to resign as incumbent Mayor of Kyiv.[27][28]

7 September party congress of Civil Position decided that the party would participate in the election on a partly list with members of Democratic Alliance.[29]

On 10 September, the

Fatherland Party split because party leaders Yatsenyuk and Turchynov became founding members of the new party People's Front.[30]

The biggest party in the previous 2012 parliamentary elections, Party of Regions, chose not to participate in the election because of a perceived lack of legitimacy (of the election), because not every resident of the Donbas could vote.[31] Individual members of the Party of Regions would take part in the election as candidates of the party Opposition Bloc.[32] According to Yuriy Boyko, who is heading the party's election list, Opposition Bloc does not represent parties, but consists only of individual politicians.[32]

Opinion polls

Main article: Opinion polling for the 2014 Ukrainian parliamentary election

Conduct

The elections were monitored by 2,321 accredited foreign observers,[33] 304 of them on behalf of 21 states and 2,017 from 20 international organisations.[33]

The Ukrainian democratic watchdog

Central Election Commission of Ukraine to declare invalid the results of constituencies 45 and 102 because there "significant irregularities were numerous".[34]

The

administrative resources" were not used in the elections.[34] Observers of the International Republican Institute also expressed this opinion and stated that its observers had witnessed only minor non-systemic irregularities that could not have affected the outcome of the election.[34]

Results

The counting of votes was significantly delayed: Central Electoral Commission announced that all ballots were counted on 10 November only.[36] The announcement of the result for 38th electoral district was delayed until mid-November due to the results being challenged in court.[37]

Voter turnout throughout Ukraine.

Voter turnout was much reduced from 2012 (16,052,228 down from 20,797,206).[38] The main reason of this decrease was the impossibility to organize voting in some regions. Because of this, the official turnout was calculated by division by the number of people who live in areas where voting was provided only (according to the CEC, it was 30,921,218).[38] So, the official voter turnout was 51.91%. In any case this percent is smaller than in 2012, when the turnout was 57.43%.

The turnout level had obvious geographical differences. The highest turnout (60-70%) was registered in western regions (except Zakarpattia and Chernivtsi Oblast), the level of turnout in central regions was average (54-58%) and in southern and eastern regions it was quite low (40-48%). The turnout in two oblasts of Donbas (or more exactly in the parts of these oblasts where the voting was provided) was 32% - the lowest in the country.[39]

Previously, the

2014 Ukrainian revolution artificially increased voter turnout there. The 2014 election was the end of this artificial increase. One more reason of low turnout in Donbas as well as in other south-eastern regions was a feeling among a significant part of the local population that no party represented their interests.[40]

Ukrainian Republican Party
24,8450.1600New
Public Power21,7230.1400New
Joint Action19,3430.1300New
Justice14,2840.0900New
People's Party13,1970.0900–2
People's Movement of Ukraine7,4880.05000
Meritocratic Party of Ukraine3,0320.02000
Patriotic Party of Ukraine2,2680.01000
Social Christian Party4500.00000
Independents7,282,81448.039797+54
Vacant2727–
Total15,753,801100.0022515,161,490100.002254500
Valid votes15,753,80198.14
Invalid/blank votes298,4021.86
Total votes16,052,203100.00
Registered voters/turnout30,921,21851.91
Source: CLEA

By single-member constituency

Government formation

Further information: Second Yatsenyuk Government

By-elections

2015

On 26 July 2015 mid-term election were held in constituency 205 located in

black PR and other violations (of the electoral legislation).[47]

The election was won by Berezenko of

Petro Poroshenko Bloc with 35.90% of the vote.[45] Second most votes were won by Korban of UKROP who received 14.76%.[45] The official voter turnout was set at 35.3%.[48]

2016

On 17 July 2016 mid-term election were held in 7 single-member districts (constituency 23, 27, 85, 114, 151, 183 and 206) because their representatives had been elected to executive political positions and the death of Ihor Yeremeyev.[49] Turnout varied from about 50% until less than 20%.[50] The elections were monitored by 57 international official observers.[51]

Vote counting in constituency 114 (situated in

criminal cases for violating the election were opened.[53] Constituency 151 was last in announcing its final results when it did so on 21 July 2016.[54]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ 27 seats were in occupied areas where elections could not take place.
  2. ^ In a Research & Branding Group opinion poll held from 26 July until 5 August 72% of respondents supported the call for early elections.[10]
  3. Petro Poroshenko Bloc faction in parliament.[55]

References

  1. ^ a b Poroshenko hopes for early parliamentary elections in Ukraine this fall - presidential envoy, Interfax-Ukraine (19 June 2014)
  2. ^ a b Ukraine President Poroshenko Calls Snap General Election, Bloomberg News (25 August 2014)
  3. ^ a b Parliamentary elections not to be held at nine constituencies in Donetsk region and six constituencies in Luhansk region - CEC, Interfax-Ukraine (25 October 2014)
  4. UNIAN
    (26 November 2014)
  5. ^ "Five factions form Verkhovna Rada coalition".
  6. ^ "Rada supports coalition-proposed government lineup".
  7. ^ a b "Parliament passes law on parliamentary elections". Kyiv Post. Interfax-Ukraine. 17 November 2011. Retrieved 9 August 2015.
  8. ^ (in Ukrainian) Law of Ukraine "On Elections of People's Deputies of Ukraine " dated 17 November 2011, Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine
  9. ^ Poroshenko hopes early parliamentary elections in Ukraine will take place in October, Interfax-Ukraine (26 June 2014)
  10. ^ (in Ukrainian) Більше 70% українців - за переобрання Ради (Over 70% of Ukrainians for the re-election of the Rada), Ukrainska Pravda (15 August 2014)
  11. ^ a b "Rada speaker announces dissolution of parliamentary coalition", Interfax-Ukraine (24 July 2014)
  12. ^ "Rada registers bill setting early parliamentary elections date for September 28, 2014", Interfax-Ukraine (24 July 2014)
  13. ^ a b "Poroshenko frustrated by Rada refusing to recognize self-proclaimed republics as terrorist organizations", Interfax-Ukraine (14 August 2014)
  14. ^ "Ukraine crisis timeline". BBC News. Archived from the original on 27 May 2014. Retrieved 29 May 2014.
  15. ^ "Ukraine crisis: President calls snap vote amid fighting", BBC News (25 August 2014)
  16. ^
    Presidential Administration of Ukraine
    (25 August 2014)
  17. ^ IFES
  18. ^ Rada fails to put on today's agenda three bills on elections of MPs, Interfax-Ukraine (14 August 2014)
  19. ^ На выборах не смогут проголосовать почти 5 млн украинцев Подробности читайте на УНИАН: http://www.unian.net/politics/1000335-na-vyiborah-ne-smogut-progolosovat-pochti-5-mln-ukraintsev.html, Ukrainian Independent Information Agency (24 October 2014)
  20. 5 Kanal
    (2 September 2014)
  21. ^ "Russia calls for talks with Kiev after separatist elections". The Guardian. 3 November 2014. Retrieved 3 November 2014.
  22. ^
    Central Election Commission of Ukraine
  23. Interfax Ukraine
    (01.10.2014)
  24. ^ a b c d e f g Olszański, Tadeusz A. (17 September 2014), Ukraine's political parties at the start of the election campaign, OSW—Centre for Eastern Studies
  25. ^ ЦИК завершила регистрацию партий на внеочередных выборах в парламент, Ukrainian Independent Information Agency (26 September 2014)
  26. ^ ЦИК определила порядковые номера партий на выборах в Раду, Ukrainian Independent Information Agency (27 September 2014)
  27. ITAR-TASS
    (15 September 2014)
  28. ^ Klitschko has no plans to leave post of Kyiv mayor, Interfax-Ukraine (27 October 2014)
  29. ^ (in Ukrainian) The party decided Gritsenko, who will go to Council, Ukrainska Pravda (7 September 2014)
  30. ^ (in Ukrainian)Yatsenyuk became a leader of the "People's Front" political council, while Turchynov is a head of its headquarters. Ukrainska Pravda. 10 September 2014
    Ukrainian PM, Parliament Speaker to Head Newly Formed Popular Front Party, RIA Novosti (10 September 2014)
  31. ^ Ukraine's Party of Regions Refuses to Participate in Rada Elections, RIA Novosti (23 September 2014)
  32. ^
    Interfax Ukraine (23 September 2014)
    Allies of Yanukovych trying for parliament, Kyiv Post (21 September 2014)
    Party Of Regions Will Not Contest Snap Parliamentary Elections Independently Archived 24 September 2014 at the Wayback Machine, Ukrainian News Agency
    (14 September 2014)
  33. ^ a b Almost 2,500 foreign observers to watch Ukrainian elections – CEC, Interfax-Ukraine (21 October 2014)
  34. ^ a b c d e f g Ukrainian Rada elections generally without incident – OPORA, Interfax-Ukraine (27 October 2014)
    CVU to ask CEC to declare invalid elections at constituencies Nos. 45 and 102, Interfax-Ukraine (27 October 2014)
    OSCE claims elections in Ukraine held up to democratic standards, Interfax-Ukraine (27 October 2014)
    Voting, tabulation in Rada elections organized properly - OSCE observers, Interfax-Ukraine (27 October 2014)
    OSCE: Ukraine elections a step forward, Interfax-Ukraine (27 October 2014)
    Barroso, Van Rompuy call Ukraine elections a victory of democracy, Interfax-Ukraine (27 October 2014)
    PABSEC speaks positively of Verkhovna Rada elections, Interfax-Ukraine (27 October 2014)
    International Republican Institute congratulates Ukraine on elections that meet international standards, Interfax-Ukraine (28 October 2014)
    John Kerry: Ukraine's parliamentary elections, Kyiv Post (28 October 2014)
  35. ^ a b c d e f Moscow acknowledges Ukrainian election as valid, Interfax-Ukraine (27 October 2014)
    Ukraine elections: Pro-Western parties set for victory, BBC News (27 October 2014)
    Russia to Recognize Ukraine Election Results, Says Lavrov, The Moscow Times (27 October 2014)
    Russia's Lavrov hopes for 'constructive' Ukrainian government: Tass, Reuters (27 October 2014)
    Russian senators prepared to cooperate with new Verkhovna Rada, Kyiv Post (28 October 2014)
  36. ^ People's Front 0.33% ahead of Poroshenko Bloc with all ballots counted in Ukraine elections – CEC, Interfax-Ukraine (10 November 2014)
  37. ^ (in Ukrainian) In the 38th district of Dnipropetrovsk stop recount, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (17 November 2014)
  38. ^ a b "CEC report" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 December 2014. Retrieved 20 March 2017.
  39. ^ CEC data about turnout in Donetsk region
    CEC data about turnout in Luhansk region
  40. ^ Olszański, Tadeusz A. (29 October 2014), A strong vote for reform: Ukraine after the parliamentary elections, OSW—Centre for Eastern Studies
  41. ^ "Central electoral commission". Archived from the original on 19 October 2017. Retrieved 20 March 2017.
  42. ^ a b 2012 Parliamentary Elections Boundary Delimitation Summary and Analysis Archived 4 September 2014 at the Wayback Machine, International Foundation for Electoral Systems (May 2012)
  43. ^
    RBK Ukraine
  44. ^
    Central Election Commission of Ukraine
  45. ^ a b c d e With 100% of ballots counted in Rada by-election, Berezenko gets 35.90% of votes, Korban 14.76% – CEC, Interfax-Ukraine (28 July 2015)
  46. ^
    UNIAN
    (26 July 2015)
  47. Global Post
    (28 July 2015)
  48. UNIAN
    (27 July 2015)
  49. ^ (in Ukrainian) CEC appointed elections in four constituencies, Ukrainska Pravda (10 May 2016)
    (in Ukrainian) Довибори до ВР: У Дніпрі 51 кандидат, є представник КПУ (By-election to the Verkhovna Rada: in Dnipro 51, a candidate is a representative of the Communist Party), Ukrainska Pravda (19 June 2016)
    (in Russian)/(website has automatic Google Translate option) Short bio of Ihor Yeremeyev, LIGA
  50. ^ (in Ukrainian) CEC: Voter turnout for midterm elections nearly 33%. No data Luhansk, Ukrainska Pravda (17 July 2016)
  51. ^ (in Ukrainian) CEC registered 43 observers to the Rada by-election, Ukrainska Pravda (12 July 2016)
  52. ^ (in Ukrainian) Problem county in the Luhansk region resumed counting votes, Ukrainska Pravda (18 July 2016)
  53. ^ (in Ukrainian) In Luhansk opened 14 cases for violating the election, Ukrainska Pravda (18 July 2016)
  54. ^ (in Ukrainian) Became known the results of the vote in the last of the 7 districts, Ukrainska Pravda (21 July 2016)
  55. ^ (in Ukrainian) Tetyana Rychkova profile on the Verkhovna Rada website

External links

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