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Ukrainian parliamentary election, 2014

← 2012 26 October 2014 2019 →
423 (out of 450) seats of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine 226 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
First party Second party Third party   Leader Yuri Lutsenko Arseniy Yatsenyuk Andriy Sadovyi Party Petro Poroshenko Bloc People's Front Self Reliance Last election New New New Seats won 132 82 33 Seat change New New New Percentage 21.8% 22.1% 11.0% Swing New New New   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Yuriy Boyko Oleh Lyashko Yulia Tymoshenko Party Opposition Bloc Radical Party Fatherland Last election New 1.1%, 1 seat 25.5%, 101 seats Seats won 29 22 19 Seat change New 21 82 Percentage 9.4% 7.4% 5.7% Swing New 6.4 pp 19.9 pp
Winning party in each constituency in party-list (above) and single-member voting (below)
Prime Minister before election Arseniy Yatsenyuk People's Front Prime Minister-designate Arseniy Yatsenyuk People's Front

A snap election of the Verkhovna Rada took place on 26 October 2014.

Petro Poroshenko, the President of Ukraine, had pressed for early parliamentary elections since his victory in the presidential election.^[1] The July breakup of ruling coalition gave him the right to dissolve the parliament, so on 25 August 2014 he announced the early election.^[2]

The voting was not provided in the annexed Autonomous Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol. The voting also did not reach significant parts of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts because of the ongoing War in Donbass.^[3] Because of this, 27 out of the 450 seats in the 8th Verkhovna Rada remained unfilled.

This election can be called a realigning. Ruling in 2010-2014, the Party of Regions did not participate in this election, while its informal successor Opposition Bloc showed modest result with only 9.43%. For the first time since Ukrainian independence, the Communist Party of Ukraine gained no parliamentary representation. Four newly created parties got the highest support in this election: Petro Poroshenko Bloc (formed in July 2014 by Poroshenko's supporters), People's Front (split from 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).

Since the parallel voting system was used, the allocation of seats is not proportional. For example, the winner in party-list voting (22.12%) People's Front got second faction with 82 seats, while Petro Poroshenko Bloc took 123 seats with 21.82% of votes.

The work of the new parliament started on 27 November 2014.^[4] On the same day, five factions formed the "European Ukraine" coalition: Petro Poroshenko Bloc, People's Front, Self Reliance, Radical Party and Fatherland.^[5] On 2 December 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][nb 1]}

The parliamentary coalition that supported the Yatsenyuk Government, formed in the aftermath of 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 Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics as terrorist organisations.^[13] The two republics, situated in the eastern Ukrainian region of the Donbass, originated in the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts of Ukraine respectively, and have been fighting Ukrainian government forces in the War in Donbass.^[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.^[2][15] In his accompanying television address, he portrayed the elections as necessary to "purify the Rada of the mainstay of [former president] Viktor Yanukovych". These deputies, Poroshenko said, "clearly do not represent the people who elected them".^[16] Poroshenko also painted these Rada deputies as responsible for "the [January 2014] Dictatorship laws that took the lives of the 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 Verkhovna Rada has 450 members, elected to a five-year term in parallel voting, with 225 members elected in single-member constituencies using FPTP system and 225 members elected by proportional representation (closed list) in a single nationwide constituency using the largest remainder method with 5% threshold.^[17] Parties are not allowed to form electoral blocs (in contrast to 1998-2007 elections). Attempts to return to proportional representation with open party lists and electoral blocs were failed.^[18]

The division into 225 electoral districts was the same as at the 2012 election. The voting was organized only 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 Autonomous Republic of Crimea and 2 in Sevastopol. The voting in Donbass was provided partially. The democratic watchdog 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]

Light green coloured parts of the Donetsk Oblast took part in the Ukrainian parliamentary election, purple coloured parts in the 2 November Donetsk People's Republic 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]

Donbass

"Donbass" is an unofficial name of 2 the most eastern Ukrainian oblasts: Donetsk and Luhansk. About 5 million of eligible voters live there, that is 14% of the whole number of voters in Ukraine. After an active phase of War in Donbass in the summer 2014 and September ceasefire, roughly a half of the region remained to be controlled by pro-Russian separatists. On the day before the election CEC stated that there was no ability to provide the 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.

Instead of this election, on the captured territories separatists organized so-called "Donbass general elections" on 2 November, that were a violation of 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 War in Donbass could be roughly divided into two groups.^[24] The first group consisted of pro-European parties that advocated to end the War in Donbass by use of force and consisted of Fatherland Party, Civic Position, Radical Party and People's Front (this party was ambiguous about use of force).^[24]Svoboda also wanted to end the War in Donbass by use of force.^[24] The party Petro Poroshenko Bloc was the only pro-European party that wanted to end the War in Donbass 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 Donbass 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 Vitaliy Kovalchuk (the parliamentary leader) of UDAR stated that since his party and 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 Kiev.^[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]

Results

The counting of votes was greatly delayed: Central Electoral Commission announced that all ballots were counted on 10 November only.^[33] The announcement of the final result for 38th electoral district was delayed till mid-November because of challenging the results in a court.^[34]

Voter turnout

Voter turnout throughout Ukraine.

In 2014 election the number of participated voters was much less than in 2012 (16,052,228 down from 20,797,206).^[35] The main reason of this decrease was impossibility to organize voting in some regions. That is why official turnout was calculated by division by the number of people who live in areas where voting was provided only (due to CEC it is 30,921,218).^[35] So, official voter turnout was 51.91%. Anyway, this percent is less than in 2012, when 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 Donbass (or more exactly in the parts of these oblasts where the voting was provided) was 32% - the lowest in the country.^[36]

Previously Donbass region displayed high turnout for every election. Party of regions that had plenitude of the power over this region until 2014 Ukrainian revolution artificially increased voter turnout there by use of management reserves and falsifications. The 2014 election was the end of this artificial increase. One more reason of low turnout in Donbass as well as in other south-eastern regions was a feeling of significant part of inhabitants that no party represented their interests.^[37]

Summary results

Seat composition of the Verkhovna Rada after the 2014 election

e • d 
←Summary of the 26 October 2014 Verkhovna Rada election results

Party		Nationwide constituency				Constit. seats	Total seats
		Votes	%	±pp	Seats		Seats	+/-
	People's Front	3,488,114	22.14	New	64	18	82 / 450	New
	Petro Poroshenko Bloc	3,437,521	21.82	New	63	69	132 / 450	New
	Association "Self Reliance"	1,729,271	10.97	New	32	1	33 / 450	New
	Opposition Bloc	1,486,203	9.43	New	27	2	29 / 450	New
	Radical Party of Oleh Lyashko	1,173,131	7.44	6.36	22	0	22 / 450	21
	Fatherland	894,837	5.68	19.86	17	2	19 / 450	82
	Freedom	742,022	4.71	5.73	0	6	6 / 450	31
	Communist Party of Ukraine	611,923	3.88	9.30	0	0	0	32
	Strong Ukraine	491,471	3.11	New	0	1	1 / 450	New
	Civil Position	489,523	3.1	—[a]	0	0	0	—
	Zastup	418,301	2.65	New	0	1	1 / 450	New
	Right Sector	284.943	1.80	1.72[b]	0	1	1 / 450	1
	Solidarity of Women of Ukraine	105,094	0.66	—	0	0	0	—
	5.10	67,124	0.42	New	0	0	0	New
	Internet Party of Ukraine	58,197	0.36	—[c]	0	0	0	—
	Party of Greens of Ukraine	39,636	0.25	0.09	0	0	0	—
	Green Planet	37,726	0.23	0.11	0	0	0	—
	Revival	31,201	0.19	—	0	0	0	—
	United Country	28,145	0.17	—	0	0	0	—
	Ukraine — United Country	19,838	0.12	New	0	0	0	New
	New Politics	19,222	0.12	0.02	0	0	0	—
	Force of People	17,817	0.11	New	0	0	0	New
	Ukraine of the Future	14,168	0.08	0.10	0	0	0	—
	Force and Honour	13,549	0.08	—	0	0	0	—
	Civil Movement of Ukraine	13,000	0.08	—	0	0	0	—
	Bloc of Left Forces of Ukraine	12,499	0.07	—	0	0	0	—
	National Democratic Party of Ukraine	11,826	0.07	—	0	0	0	—
	Congress of Ukrainian Nationalists	8,976	0.05	—[d]	0	0	0	—
	Liberal Party of Ukraine	8,523	0.05	0.02	0	0	0	—
	Volia	—[e]	—	—	—	1	1 / 450	New
	Independents	—	—	—	—	96	96 / 450	53
Total valid votes		15,753,826	100		225	198	423
Invalid ballot papers		298,402	1.86
Vacant (constituencies with no voting)						27	27 / 450
Total		16,052,228			225	225	450
Registered voters/turnout		30,921,218	51.91
Source: CEC (Proportional votes, Single-member constituencies)
Notes: ^ At the previous election the party participated in joint "Fatherland" list ^ As UNA at the previous election ^ Did not participate in party voting at previous election ^ At the previous election the party participated in Our Ukraine list ^ Ran together with Self Reliance in the party-list voting