Ukrainian Parliamentary Elections
Ukrainian Parliamentary Elections
This article has been produced by the efforts of the following members:
Cameron Torrens – Primary Article Contributor
Martin Eidenberg – Team Leader following Ukrainian Democracy
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko recently called for the first new parliamentary elections since the ousting of former President Viktor Yanukovych. They took place on October 26, 2014, and, as a result, the election strengthened President Poroshenko’s mandate to end the separatist conflict within Eastern Ukraine. Since the Ukrainian Parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, is the unicameral legislative body of government, similar pro-European, pro-democratic ideologies now mirror the executive branch. Although President Poroshenko’s bloc was unable to acquire a majority within the Verkhovna Rada (only 23% of the national vote), he is expected to form a coalition with Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk’s People’s Front party (21% of the national vote) and most likely the Samopomich Party (13% of the national vote).
As anticipated, loyalists to the former Yanukovych regime saw poor results in the parliamentary elections. Still, the Opposition Bloc, which is composed of Yanukovych loyalists, was able to gain 9% of the national vote and gained the fourth highest representation of seats within the Verkhovna Rada. The Opposition Bloc obtained the majority of its votes from the eastern regions of Ukraine that were able to vote in the elections.
Voting turnout was roughly 52%, however, there were many regions that were restricted from voting representatives into the Verkhovna Rada. Recently annexed Crimea, which has 5 million voters and 27 seats within parliament, will remain unrepresented for the time being. Additionally, the Donets Basin region was unable to vote due to pro-Russian separatist control. As a result, the newly elected parliament cements Ukraine’s course towards European integration and further damages the relationship with Russia. Despite this, the Crimean and Donets Basin regions continue to fall further into Russian control as they are no longer even represented in Ukraine’s parliament. Overall, this divergence continues to pull Ukraine into two very different directions the final results of which remain to be seen.
