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All 450 seats in theVerkhovna Rada 226 seats needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Turnout | 57.43% ( 4.60pp) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Party-list results Constituency results | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Parliamentary elections were held inUkraine on 28 October 2012.[2] Because of various reasons, including the "impossibility of announcing election results" variousby-elections have taken place since.[3][4][5][6] Hence, several constituencies have been left unrepresented at various times.[3][7][8][9]
Unlike the two previous elections, this election used aparallel voting system, with half the seats elected by party-list proportional representation using a 5%election threshold and the other half by first-past-the-post voting in single-member constituencies,[10] with alliances no longer allowed.[11] The parallel voting system was used previously in 1998 and 2002.[12]
Theelection campaign was limited to 90 days.[10] Everycitizen of Ukraine 18 years of age or older[13] was able to vote in 33,540 polling stations inUkraine and 116 foreign polling stations in77 countries.[14][15]
TheParty of Regions won the largest number of seats whileFatherland (with several parties together as an "umbrella" party) came second.[16] The election was also noted for the rise of the far-right partySvoboda, which came in fourth.[16] The new (on the national scene) partyUDAR also enjoyed noticeable great success with its third place in the election.[16] The far-leftCommunist Party of Ukraine almost tripled its numbers of voters but because of the mixed election system used in the election it only won five more seats compared with theprevious election.[16] Because of this mixed system three small parties and 43 unaffiliated politicians also made it into parliament.[16]
The new parliament was appointed and started its tasks on 12 December 2012 – six weeks after the elections.[17][18] This was the last national Ukrainian electionCrimea participated in before theannexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation in 2014.
On 8 October 2008Ukrainian PresidentViktor Yushchenko tried to dissolve the Verkhovna Rada (parliament) and called early parliamentary elections inUkraine for the second time in as many years[19] for 7 December 2008.[20][21][22][23] The right of the President to dismiss the parliament was challenged inUkraine's Constitutional Court. The President's decree has since lapsed as it was never put into action[24] (the coalition supporting thesecond Tymoshenko Government was extended) and appeals to Ukraine's Constitutional Court were withdrawn. Nevertheless, a snap election was predicted by Ukrainian politicians during the2010 presidential election and after the dismissal of the second Tymoshenko Government.[25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38] One of the arguments against holding early elections were the costs.[39] Early elections were (in October 2008) estimated to cost approximately ₴417 million[40] (aboutEUR€60 million orUS$80 million).[41]
On 1 February 2011 the Verkhovna Rada set the election date for 28 October 2012.[2][42] Several deputies whose votes were registered that day have stated they could not have taken part in voting because they were not inKyiv (where theVerkhovna Rada building is located) on 1 February 2011.[42][43] Voting byMPs in the place of absent MPs of the Verkhovna Rada is prohibited by law.[42] On 27 July 2012 theCentral Election Commission of Ukraine announced that campaigning for the elections would commence on July 30.[44]
In June 2011 theVenice Commission reviewed a proposed Draft Law on the election of Ukrainian parliamentary members.[45] The proposal sought to re-instate aparallel voting system – used in the1998 and2002 elections[46] – with the establishment of 225 local single-member districts elected (in one round)[47] by afirst-past-the-post electoral system (candidate with the highest vote total wins); and the remaining 225 parliamentary seats being elected nationwide on a proportional party-list system[45] with a 5% support threshold; and excludingpolitical blocs from all elections.[48] The option "Vote against all" was also made defunct in the proposal[48][49] (according to a November 2012 opinion poll byResearch & Branding Group (otherwise) 17% of the voters would have voted "against everybody" during the elections).[50] The opposition and Ukrainian analysts accused theParty of Regions of "rewriting the law so that the president could secure a majority in the next Verkhovna Rada."[49][51] In October 2011 the Venice Commission recommended Ukraine should not return to a mixed election system.[52] Nevertheless, on 17 November 2011 the Ukrainian Parliament approved an election law almost identical to the June 2011 proposed Draft Law.[10][11] This new law satisfied the major opposition partiesBatkivschyna andFront for Change; but was condemned by the core party ofOur Ukraine–People's Self-Defense Bloc,Our Ukraine.[53][54][55] Candidates could be elected on party lists or through self-nomination.[10] On 8 December 2011PresidentViktor Yanukovych signed the new election law.[56] Since then several parties merged with other parties.[57][58][59]
The possibility to be simultaneously be nominated on a nationwide party list and in a single mandate constituency also was declared unconstitutional by theConstitutional Court of Ukraine on 10 April 2012.[60]
Voters could temporarily change their place of voting without changing their permanent voting address.[61]
In contrast with the2007 parliamentary elections, candidates in this election could be elected on party lists or through self-nomination.[10] There were 87 parties registered for the elections to compete inelectoral districts.[62] For the nationwide list the voters could choose between 22 parties.[62] Several parties united together under "umbrella" parties. For example, the election list ofAll-Ukrainian Union "Fatherland" included members ofReforms and Order Party,People's Movement of Ukraine,Front of Changes,For Ukraine,People's Self-Defense,Civil Position andSocial Christian Party.[63][64][65][66] This electoral list was the result of negotiations within the oppositionDictatorship Resistance Committee.[67][68][69]
TheCentral Election Commission of Ukraine had registered 22 parties who would participate on the nationwide list.[70] On 15 October 2012Ukrainian Platform "Assembly" withdrew itself from the national list[71] (it had received ballot number 1) but the other ballot numbers did not change. So the ballot numbers were:[70]
Andriy Klyuyev was the chief campaign manager for the Party of Regions.[74] TheParty of Regions' campaign focused heavily on promoting its record as the ruling party, contrasting the "stability" of the (then current)Azarov Government with "chaos" during theSecond Tymoshenko Government in 2007–10 (which it referred to as: "the chaos and ruins of 5 years oforange leadership",.[75][8] It advocated a "balanced" approach to developingrelations with Russiaand the West, saying neither should be given priority over the other.[8]
Fatherland tried to paint the election as a battle of good against evil and pledged toimpeachPresidentViktor Yanukovych.[8] The party stated it advocated "European values" and promised to reverse the Azarov Government policy ofraising the status of the Russian language.[8]
UDAR avoided sensitive and polarising subjects and focused instead on popular topics, such as more empowerment to ordinary Ukrainians and a ruthless campaign againstcorruption, the indifference of the authorities, the lack oflocal governance, inequality and poverty.[8][76]
Svoboda softened their rhetoric in the campaign but nevertheless promised to shake up the country's political status quo.[76][77]
One of the biggest spenders of the campaign was the partyUkraine – Forward!.[78][79] One of their election billboards claimed that “an average wage ofEUR€1,000 and a pension of €500” was realistic for Ukraine (the monthly average wage was €300 at the time).[80]
Many candidates in single-seat constituencies tended to focus on local issues, often distancing themselves from party agendas.[8]
Overall theelection programs of the major parties bore many similarities; all pledged reforms to spureconomic growth, higher wages, pensions and other benefits, bettereducation andmedical care.[8]
Two weeks before the (28 October) election UDAR withdrew 26 of its candidates running insingle-member constituencies in favour of Fatherland candidates and they withdrew 26 parliamentary candidates in favor of UDAR in an attempt to maximise votes for the opposition.[81]
Political parties spent more thanUS$75 million on the election campaign in multi-member constituencies (according to the parties' official reports).[82] TheParty of Regions spent about US$27 million,Fatherland more than $13 million,UDAR more than $4 million, theCommunist Party of Ukraine $9 million,Our Ukraine $8 million andUkraine – Forward! $7.6 million.[82]Svoboda claimed it had spent US$3 million on the campaign.[83] TheUkraine of the Future did not spend anything on campaigning yet still managed to take the 15th spot amongst the 21 parties who participated in the nationwide list with 0.18% of the votes.[83]
Denys Kovrizhenko of the International Foundation for Electoral Systems – Ukraine stated the sum of money spend could be up to 10 times more than what parties report afterwards.[84] According toOPORA “In general, candidates spend about three times more than they officially report to spend”.[84] Political scientist Artem Bidenko estimated other figures; he believed that the Party of Regions had spent around $850 million, Ukraine – Forward some $150 million, and the election campaigns of the rest of the political parties $350 million, while candidates in majority constituencies had spent some $900 million on the election campaign.[85] About half of the single-constituency candidates submitted reports about their campaign spending.[84]
In October 2008 Ukrainian experts estimated that a small political party who wants to win seats in parliament would spend up to US$30 million on the campaign and large political parties would spend up to $100 million.[86] Political analyst Pavlo Bulhak stated then that a party's election budget will be spent on advertising on television,bribing voters, organizing rallies andparty propaganda.[86]
Note that on 17 November 2011 the Ukrainian Parliament approved an election law under which 225members of Parliament would be elected under party lists and 225 would be winners ofconstituencies.[11] Simultaneously the option to vote "Against all" had been made defunct;[10] furthermore candidates could be elected on party lists or through self-nomination.[10]
| Party: | %2007 election[87] | FOM-Ukraine (May 2009)[88] | KIIS (March 2010)[89] | Rating (December 2010)[90] | Rating (September 2011)[91] | Rating (December 2011)[92] | Rating (February 2012)[93] | Rating (March 2012)[94] | Rating (May 2012)[95] | Rating (August 2012)[96] | GfK (September 2012)[97] | KIIS (September/ October 2012)[98] | Rating (October 2012)[99] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PoR | 34.37 | 24.7 | 36.4 | 30.0 | 21.9 | 19.4 | 18.8 | 21.3 | 22.0 | 24.6 | 25 | 20.1 | 23 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Fatherland | 30.71† | 15.8† | 13.6† | 19.6 | 18.9 | 20.3 | 20.3 | 20.9 | 25.6 | 26.2 | 15 | 12.1 | 16.5 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Our Ukraine | 14.15‡ | <1 | 1.4 | 1.6 | 0.8 | 0.9 | 0.7 | 1.0 | 0.6 | 0.8 | ? | 1.0 | 1.0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| CPU | 5.39 | 4 | 3.1 | 4.8 | 5.7 | 8.1 | 7.2 | 7.4 | 7.6 | 9.4 | 9 | 7.8 | 12.8 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| People's Party | 3.96¶ | 2.7¶ | 1.3¶ | 0.7 | 1.6 | 1.2 | 1.6 | 1.5 | 0.8 | 1.3 | ? | <1 | ? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| SPU | 2.86* | 0.4 | 0.2 | 0.8 | 0.8 | 0.2 | 0.8 | - | 0.5 | ? | ? | <1 | 0.3 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Svoboda | 0.76 | 2.6 | 1.6 | 6.2 | 4.2 | 4.4 | 4.5 | 4.3 | 4.4 | 4.2 | 3 | 4.7 | 6 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UDAR | dnp** | 1 | 2.7 | 5.4 | 5 | 6.9 | 7.2 | 9.2 | 11.8 | 17 | 11.5 | 17.9 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ukraine – Forward! | Part of BYuT | 0.5 | 1 | 3.8 | 4.2 | 3 | 1.4 | 3.1 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| FfC | dnp | 8.4 | 4.3 | 7.2 | 11 | 11.3 | 11.7 | 9.9 | Part ofFatherland | Part of Fatherland | Part of Fatherland | Part of Fatherland | Part of Fatherland | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| SU | Part of LB | 7.3 | 6.4 | Part of PoR | Part of PoR | Part of PoR | Part of PoR | Part of PoR | Part of PoR | Part of PoR | Part of PoR | Part of PoR | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Other | 2.1 | 15 | ? | 2.3 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Against all | 2.73 | 6.3 | 7.4 | 10.7 | Defunct | Defunct | Defunct | Defunct | Defunct | Defunct | Defunct | Defunct | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Not voting | - | 8.4 | 12.6 | 9.4 | 6.1 | - | 18.6 (not counted) | 15.7 (not counted) | ? | 12.4 | 11.7 (not counted) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Unsure | - | 10.2 | 13.4 | 8.7 | 11.3 | 14 | 18.2 | 17.7 | 19.0 | 18.6 | 13 | 27.2 | 17.2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| * In 2006 political parties or election blocs needed to collect at least 3% of the national vote for all parties in order to gain seats in parliament. In November 2011 thiselection threshold was raised to 5% and simultaneously the participation of blocs of political parties was banned.[11] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| **"dnp" stands for "did not participate". | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| †Participated as theYulia Tymoshenko Bloc (BYuT). | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ‡Participated as theOur Ukraine–People's Self-Defense Bloc (OU-PSD). | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ¶Participated as theLytvyn Bloc (LB). | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
From 2011 to 2013 with liaison toSerhiy Lyovochkin,Alan Friedman, Eckart Sager, who was a one timeCNN producer,Rick Gates,Paul Manafort, and Manafort's senior aideKonstantin Kilimnik devised a strategy to discredit thenUkrainian Prime MinisterYulia Tymoshenko along with thenUnited States Secretary of StateHillary Clinton who had been an outspoken critic of pro-Russia, pro-Kremlin, and pro-Putin supporters in Ukraine.[100] Manafort's Global Endeavour Inc., aSt. Vincent and Grenadines based consulting and lobbying company, his Lucicle Consultants Ltd., aCyprus based consulting company, and three other of his companies were hired to provide support to thenPresident of UkraineViktor Yanukovich and hisParty of Regions.[101][102][103] This strategy included: creating a fake think tank inVienna,Austria, theCenter for the Study of Former Soviet Socialist Republics (CXSSR), to support Yanukovich and his Party of Regions; using a social media blitz withTwitter,YouTube, andFacebook, and altering theGoogle's search stack to disseminate articles and videos that undermine opponents of the Party of Regions and Yanukovich in Europe and the United States; rewriting Wikipedia articles to smear Yanukovich opponents especially Tymoshenko; and usingBreitbart News,RedState, and an article inThe Wall Street Journal to discredit theObamaState Department and Hillary Clinton herself.[100] Alan Friedman, who had not registered as a foreign agent in the United States, toldKostyantyn Gryshchenko that Friedman, who often wrote using thepen nameMatthew Lina, published dozens of positive stories about the Party of Regions and Yanukovich and ensured that these were disseminated to over 2,000 publications and placed at the top of Google search stacks.[100] Known as theTymoshenko Files, Friedman sent Manafort a highly confidential two page letter detailing Friedman's efforts and that Friedman would claim to beInna Bohoslovska to ghost pen articles on her behalf.[100] In October 2012 after Hillary Clinton had supported Tymoshenko, Brietbart News released an article calling Hillary Clinton a “neo-Nazi Frankenstein”.[100][104][105][106]
Before election day candidates and analysts predicted that bribery to secure votes would be rampant.[61][107][108] A March 2012 poll byResearch & Branding Group showed that 66% of the respondents believed that the election would not be fair, 18% disagreed with that.[109] In June 2012 theCommittee of Voters of Ukraine declared that the use of government resources for partisan ends would not be decisive in the (then upcoming) elections.[110]
Following the elections the partiesFatherland,UDAR andSvoboda filled in an appeal at theCentral Election Commission of Ukraine (CVK) with allegations of fraud in 13simple-majorityconstituencies.[111] Irregularities in the elections like cases ofballot stuffing,carousel voting, suspiciously high voter turnout and bribed voters have been reported.[112][113] On 30 October 2012 the Committee of Voters of Ukraine stated that the elections saw a record number of cases of bribery of voters.[114] They also insisted the elections had not brought the country closer to democratic standards.[114] And that although there were no grounds to believe that the violations that were reported on polling day could affect the election results, the election results could seriously be affected by violations during the counting of votes.[114]
According toOpora the most common violations of the electoral law during the election campaign in August wereusing government resources for partisan purposes andvote buying.[115] According to Opora the Party of Regions committed the most violations of the electoral law.[116] On 28 October 2012 Party of Regions itself claimed to have documented 607 violations of the election legislation by its opponents.[117] According toTaras KuzioBerkut riot police was used in attempts to destroy ballots.[118]
On 1 November 2012 the Deputy Chairwoman of theCentral Election Commission of Ukraine (CVK),Zhanna Usenko-Chorna, stated that the elections were heavily falsified.[119] She indicated that several electoral districts clearly demonstrate a depravity of the single-constituency district elections in Ukraine and that as of 1 November CVK still had not received results from 14 electoral districts. According to her that was the main reason why CVK could not announce the complete results of the elections on the scheduled time, 31 October 2012.[120]
In mid-February 2012Bloc Yulia Tymoshenko deputyRoman Zabzalyuk alleged without providing evidence that "if the results on Election Day can't be sufficiently fixed" theParty of Regions had already made plans tobribedeputies to join the Party of Regions after their election into the Parliament; representatives of the Party of Regions denied allegations of bribery or plans to fix the election.[121]
A notably reported scandal took place at the electoral district 215 where initially a win was awarded to the acting chairman of theKyiv city councilHalyna Hereha.[122] After the results were challenged it was decided to recount the votes with about 30 law enforcement personnel to keep public order.[123] Later everything was resolved and cleared that indeed the votes between the two candidates Hereha (independent) andAndriy Illyenko ("Svoboda") were switched around.[124] On 1 November 2012 Halyna Hereha officially complained about the elections, she stated that she did not intend to take it to court.[125]
To another electoral district 211 in Kyiv was sent an ambulance as a deputy chairman of the district electoral commission had a nervous breakdown. The commission of the district for three days had a difficult time to count all the votes.[126][127]
Another big scandal with involvement of the riot law enforcement unit ofBerkut took place at the 95th electoral district (a Kyivan suburban city ofIrpin). The electoral commission at the district was the slowest and the public involvement surely did not help to speed up the process, however a possible miscounting was prevented.[128] Previously, a possible riot from a big "youth group of athletic posture" was suspected by witnesses.[129]
Another scandal took place at the 223rd district where some fist fighting took place, which was eventually extinguished with the help of law enforcement.[130]Oleh Tyahnybok toldUkrainska Pravda that "Svoboda" will bepicketing "EpiCenter" supermarkets and apartments of the 223rd electoral district commission members.[131] Because of the incident,Radio Liberty (Radio Svoboda) conducts a live broadcasting from the headquarters of the district. In protest the district electoral commission refuses to continue its work.[132][133]
At the 132nd district (Pervomaisk, Mykolaiv Oblast) peasants laid a siege around the building of the district electoral commission in the protest of post-electoral results.[134] According toBatkivshchyna it had been defrauded a win in the district in favour of a candidate ofParty of Regions.[134]
On election day (28 October) there were 3,500 accredited foreign observers.[76] The observers from theEuropean Academy for Elections Observation (most of whom whereEuropean Parliament members), stated it was "a good election, not perfect but clearly acceptable",[135] and that it was "in compliance with democratic norms".[135] On 29 October theOrganization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) (who had monitored the election with 600 observers)[76] stated in a preliminary report[136] that "certain aspects of the pre-election period constituted a step backwards compared with recent national elections" and that the election was marred by "the abuse of power and the excessive role of money".[16][135] It complained of "a lack of a level playing field, caused primarily by the abuse ofadministrative resources, lack of transparency of campaign and party financing, and lack of balanced media coverage".[135] This contrasted sharply with the international observers' conclusions on Ukraine'sFebruary 2010 presidential election, judged then to have been transparent, unbiased and an "impressive display" of democracy.[135]
Ten thousand foreign observers where expected to observe the elections.[62] Some 100 long term observers fromOSCE member states arrived in Ukraine starting from the middle of September 2012, followed by 600 short-term observers who will arrive a week before the elections to monitor the election process at voting stations.[62]
Poland is to send observers to Ukraine to monitor the elections,Polish Foreign MinisterRadosław Sikorski stated on 8 February 2012.[137]German Ambassador to UkraineHans-Jürgen Heimsoeth [de] stated "Germany is planning to send a numerous group of official supervisors" on 13 March 2012.[138]
The total number of registered observers on October 9, was 1053 persons.[139] The largest mission of international observers fromCIS-EMO was 197 people.[140]
On 2 October 2012CIS-EMO observers presented the Interim report of the CIS-EMO Election Monitoring Mission.[141] The report, in particular, noted that "The majority of detected violations are connected not with a political struggle of party lists but with the struggle of single-seat candidates". An impression that “antidemocratic power” clash with “democratic opposition” imposed by European and world society has a very relative nature that, as a rule, doesn’t distinct the real situation. In nowadays Ukrainian “peripheral capitalism” model such classes as “power” and “opposition” are conventionality. When the “Power Elite” is unconsolidated and disconnected and there is an open internal war between leading financial-industrial groups and corporations of Ukraine to get leverage of real state authority, all existing political parties only play the role of institutionalized political framework of realization of oligarchs’ economic interests.[142]
On 5 October 2012 theCIS-EMO report was presented at the annual meeting of theOSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights.[143] Shortly before the presentation ofCIS-EMO interim report web-site ofCIS-EMO had been subjected to a massive DDoS-attack.[144] The report was published on the official website of the OSCE in English and Ukrainian[145] and also in Russian.[146]
The ENEMO (European Network of Election Monitoring Organizations) mission for the 2012 parliamentary elections in Ukraine began its work on 23 July 2012 with the arrival of four Core Team members. ENEMO is the first international election observation mission registered for the Parliamentary Elections 2012 by the Central Election Commission (CEC). 35 LTOs (long-term observers) arrived to Kyiv on 5 August 2012 and were deployed throughout Ukraine. Long-term observer teams cover one or two oblasts of Ukraine. On E-day, October 28, ENEMO deployed 43 STO (Short-term observer) teams throughout all oblasts of Ukraine.
On 8 November the Central Election Commission of Ukraine completed and released all results of the nationwide party list the constituencies (the elections took place on 28 October).[4] Meanwhile, the Central Election Commission refused to establish the election results for the first-past-post results in 5 constituencies.[147]TheCentral Election Commission of Ukraine finalized the vote count on 12 November 2012 but simultaneously ordered - on recommendation of the Verkhovna Rada - repeat elections (on a yet unknown date) in five troubled single-mandate constituencies where it could not establish results.[3] Because of occurrences in these five constituencies.[4][5][147] Hence, on 12 November 2012 445 deputies had been elected of the 450 seats in parliament.[3][8] On 8 February 2013 theSupreme Administrative Court of Ukrainedeprived 2 more deputies of power.[7] They were banned from parliament on 3 July 2013.[7] On 5 September 2013 the Verkhovna Rada itself set the date of all 7 re-elections to 15 December 2013.[148]
 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Proportional | Constituency | Total seats | +/– | |||||
| Votes | % | Seats | Votes | % | Seats | ||||
| Party of Regions | 6,116,746 | 30.00 | 72 | 5,641,714 | 28.16 | 113 | 185 | +10 | |
| Batkivshchyna | 5,209,090 | 25.55 | 62 | 3,427,956 | 17.11 | 39 | 101 | –55 | |
| Ukrainian Democratic Alliance for Reform | 2,847,979 | 13.97 | 34 | 1,790,151 | 8.93 | 6 | 40 | New | |
| Communist Party of Ukraine | 2,687,269 | 13.18 | 32 | 1,554,476 | 7.76 | 0 | 32 | +5 | |
| Svoboda | 2,129,933 | 10.45 | 25 | 848,854 | 4.24 | 12 | 37 | +37 | |
| Ukraine – Forward! | 322,198 | 1.58 | 0 | 187,006 | 0.93 | 0 | 0 | New | |
| Our Ukraine | 226,492 | 1.11 | 0 | 51,654 | 0.26 | 0 | 0 | –72 | |
| Radical Party of Oleh Liashko | 221,144 | 1.08 | 0 | 105,236 | 0.53 | 1 | 1 | New | |
| Party of Pensioners of Ukraine | 114,206 | 0.56 | 0 | 4,640 | 0.02 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Socialist Party of Ukraine | 93,071 | 0.46 | 0 | 121,752 | 0.61 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Party of Greens of Ukraine | 70,261 | 0.34 | 0 | 33,131 | 0.17 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Ukrainian Party "Green Planet" | 70,106 | 0.34 | 0 | 15,923 | 0.08 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Russian Bloc | 63,532 | 0.31 | 0 | 42,074 | 0.21 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Greens | 51,369 | 0.25 | 0 | 0 | New | ||||
| Ukraine of the Future | 37,909 | 0.19 | 0 | 27,053 | 0.14 | 0 | 0 | New | |
| Native Fatherland | 32,701 | 0.16 | 0 | 3,743 | 0.02 | 0 | 0 | New | |
| People's Labor Union of Ukraine | 22,854 | 0.11 | 0 | 6,955 | 0.03 | 0 | 0 | New | |
| New Politics | 21,030 | 0.10 | 0 | 15,168 | 0.08 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Hromada | 17,667 | 0.09 | 0 | 4,841 | 0.02 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Ukrainian National Assembly | 16,913 | 0.08 | 0 | 3,199 | 0.02 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Liberal Party of Ukraine | 15,549 | 0.08 | 0 | 3,255 | 0.02 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| People's Party | 354,924 | 1.77 | 2 | 2 | –18 | ||||
| United Centre | 155,492 | 0.78 | 3 | 3 | New | ||||
| Congress of Ukrainian Nationalists | 74,712 | 0.37 | 0 | 0 | – | ||||
| Ukrainian Platform "Sobor" | 48,813 | 0.24 | 0 | 0 | – | ||||
| Soyuz | 36,077 | 0.18 | 1 | 1 | +1 | ||||
| Party of Hungarians of Ukraine | 22,922 | 0.11 | 0 | 0 | New | ||||
| United Left and Peasants | 21,542 | 0.11 | 0 | 0 | New | ||||
| Agrarian Party of Ukraine | 16,225 | 0.08 | 0 | 0 | New | ||||
| People's Initiative | 14,968 | 0.07 | 0 | 0 | New | ||||
| Russian Unity | 13,806 | 0.07 | 0 | 0 | New | ||||
| European Party of Ukraine | 13,533 | 0.07 | 0 | 0 | – | ||||
| Greater Ukraine | 9,473 | 0.05 | 0 | 0 | New | ||||
| Patriotic Party of Ukraine | 9,210 | 0.05 | 0 | 0 | New | ||||
| Ukrainian Party | 9,088 | 0.05 | 0 | 0 | New | ||||
| Social-Environmental Party "Union. Chornobyl. Ukraine" | 8,326 | 0.04 | 0 | 0 | New | ||||
| People's Party of Depositors and Social Security | 7,684 | 0.04 | 0 | 0 | New | ||||
| Truth | 6,391 | 0.03 | 0 | 0 | New | ||||
| People's Democratic Party | 6,324 | 0.03 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| Ukrainian National Conservative Party | 6,036 | 0.03 | 0 | 0 | New | ||||
| Viche | 5,942 | 0.03 | 0 | 0 | – | ||||
| One Rus | 5,860 | 0.03 | 0 | 0 | New | ||||
| Ukrainian Marine Party | 5,535 | 0.03 | 0 | 0 | New | ||||
| State | 5,422 | 0.03 | 0 | 0 | New | ||||
| Youth Party of Ukraine | 5,297 | 0.03 | 0 | 0 | New | ||||
| Solidarity of Women of Ukraine | 5,143 | 0.03 | 0 | 0 | New | ||||
| Fair Ukraine | 4,808 | 0.02 | 0 | 0 | New | ||||
| People's Movement of Ukraine | 3,081 | 0.02 | 0 | 0 | –6 | ||||
| Slavic Party | 2,197 | 0.01 | 0 | 0 | New | ||||
| Spiritual Ukraine | 1,903 | 0.01 | 0 | 0 | New | ||||
| Union of Anarchists of Ukraine | 1,696 | 0.01 | 0 | 0 | New | ||||
| Social-Patriotic Assembly of Slavs | 1,620 | 0.01 | 0 | 0 | New | ||||
| Meritocratic Party of Ukraine | 1,599 | 0.01 | 0 | 0 | New | ||||
| Young Ukraine | 1,583 | 0.01 | 0 | 0 | New | ||||
| Civil Solidarity Party | 1,579 | 0.01 | 0 | 0 | New | ||||
| Christian Democratic Party of Ukraine | 1,210 | 0.01 | 0 | 0 | New | ||||
| Sam za sebe | 1,198 | 0.01 | 0 | 0 | New | ||||
| Revival | 1,109 | 0.01 | 0 | 0 | New | ||||
| People's Ecological Party | 904 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | New | ||||
| Christian Movement | 597 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | New | ||||
| Youth to Power | 564 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | New | ||||
| Liberal Democratic Party of Ukraine | 529 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | New | ||||
| Political Party of Small and Medium-sized Businesses of Ukraine | 504 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| Law and Order | 497 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | New | ||||
| European Platform | 455 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | New | ||||
| Internet Party of Ukraine | 416 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | New | ||||
| Bloc Party | 397 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | New | ||||
| All-Ukrainian Union "Center" | 366 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| For Human Rights | 352 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | New | ||||
| Civil Position | 352 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | New | ||||
| Democratic Party of Ukrainian Hunters | 340 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | New | ||||
| Social Democratic Party of Ukraine (united) | 340 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | New | ||||
| Right Will of Ukraine | 243 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | New | ||||
| Cossack Ukrainian Party | 235 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | New | ||||
| All-Ukrainian Political Party "Fraternity" | 188 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | New | ||||
| Party of Free Democrats | 186 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| People's Order Party | 124 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | New | ||||
| Independents | 5,248,373 | 26.19 | 43 | 43 | New | ||||
| Vacant | 5 | 5 | – | ||||||
| Total | 20,388,019 | 100.00 | 225 | 20,037,071 | 100.00 | 225 | 450 | 0 | |
| Valid votes | 20,388,019 | 98.03 | |||||||
| Invalid/blank votes | 409,068 | 1.97 | |||||||
| Total votes | 20,797,087 | 100.00 | |||||||
| Registered voters/turnout | 36,213,010 | 57.43 | |||||||
| Source:CLEA | |||||||||
Next to the 87 political parties[62] 1150independent candidates took part in the 225 electoral districts.[149]
Several lawmakers elected into the new parliament have family ties with other lawmakers or other family members in theexecutive branch ofUkrainian politics.[153]
Despite the turnout in the foreign electoral district being the lowest on record,Svoboda surprisingly received the most votes, with 24% of the popular vote, while the national winners, the Party of Regions, came second with 23% of the vote. UDAR and Batkivshchyna received 22% and 20% of the vote respectively, while Our Ukraine, following the national trend, saw its vote share reduced by 23 percentage points, falling from third to sixth place.
The total voter turnout in the election was 57.99%;[113] about average for parliamentary elections in Ukraine.[16][76] On election day turnout had reached 22.43% by noon local time.[154] The number of reported participating voters varied somewhere between 20.76 million and 20.78 million,[155][156] while the number of invalid ballots accumulated to about 1.2 million (5.74%) for party list voting and voting at districts.[156]
The lowest turnout was inCrimea (with 49.46%), the highest inLviv Oblast (67.13%).[113] Local disparities in turnout did occur: for example, the voting turnout figures in two adjacent districts inDonetsk were 39.8% and 84.5%.[16]
Fatherland,UDAR andSvoboda stated 12 November they did not recognize the results and would challenge them in local and international courts.[157] In a joint statement the three parties vowed to work towards theimpeachment ofPresidentViktor Yanukovych, the resignation of the Azarov Government andchief prosecutorViktor Pshonka, and therelease from jail ofYulia Tymoshenko "and otherpolitical prisoners".[158][159]
Prime MinisterMykola Azarov and President Yanukovych praised the elections.[citation needed]
Party leaderPetro Symonenko of theCommunist Party of Ukraine believed on 8 November that the new parliament could not work better than the present one, as "there will be a confrontation between the financial, political and clan groups who got seats in the new parliament."[160] He also stated then that his party will not form any coalition with other groups in the new parliament.[160]
Civil movement "Chesno" stated on 5 December 2012 that 331 out of the 450 deputies elected on 28 October fell short of its criteria for honesty; according to "Chesno"'s parameters, 114 of them violated the rights and freedoms of citizens, 30 earlier changed their political position while working in parliament or on local councils, 233 had been involved in corrupt practices, 185 had nontransparent incomes and expenses, 156 did not personally take part in voting in previous parliaments, and 101 had shirked work in parliament.[161]
Party of Regions politicianSergei Tigipko stated in December 2012 "the parliamentary elections showed that politics in Ukraine is becoming more ideological".[162]
European Union – On 12 November 2012 theHigh Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security PolicyCatherine Ashton andEuropean Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood PolicyStefan Fule stated "We express our concern about the conduct of the post electoral process, which was marred by irregularities, delays in the vote count and lack of transparency in the electoral commissions".[163] The also expected to see "swift and determined action" to bringUkraine's electoral legislation "into line with European norms and standards on the basis of an Election Code".[163]
United States –United States Secretary of StateHillary Clinton stated in late October 2012 about the election: "We sharethe view of OSCE monitors that Sunday's election constituted a step backward for Ukrainian democracy".[164]Vice President of the United StatesJoe Biden voiced concerns over the elections in a call withPresidentViktor Yanukovych on 13 November 2012 and end urged Ukraine to "endselective prosecutions".[165]European Parliament – A resolution adopted by the parliament on 13 December 2012 stated: "(We) expresses regret at the fact that, according to theOSCE,PACE,NATO Parliamentary Assembly and European Parliament observers, the election campaign, electoral process and post-electoral process failed to meet major international standards and constitute a step backwards compared with thenational elections in 2010.
Poland – According toPresidentBronislaw Komorowski the results of the elections showed "the success ofpro-European spirit in the country".[166] Because all political parties that made it into parliament, but theCommunist Party of Ukraine, declared European integration of the country as one of their goals.[166]
On 9 DecemberPresidentViktor Yanukovych nominatedMykola Azarov for a new term asPrime Minister.[167] This nomination was approved by parliament on 13 December 2012.[168] 252 deputies of the 450 deputies supported the nomination; the whole factions ofParty of Regions (210 deputies) andCommunist Party (32 deputies) and ten independent deputies.[169]
Thesecond Azarov Government was appointed by Yanukovych on 24 December 2012.[170]
According to the amendment to parliamentary regulations adopted in November 2012, the smallest faction of parliament can be formed out a party with the smallest number of deputies elected by a party list and a single constituency vote.[171][172] That amendment to regulations can also be interpreted as "either or" meaning that the smallest faction can be formed either based on party list or a single constituency election. In that case the smaller parties' deputies that were elected to the parliament will be able to form factions of their own, making it more challenging to form a coalition in the Ukrainian parliament.[173]
On 27 November 2012 Party of Regions parliamentary leaderOleksandr Yefremov claimed that 223 members of the Verkhovna Rada had already expressed their desire to work in his party's fraction; according to earlier press reports 38 of the 43 unaffiliated politicians elected into parliament would join the Party of Regions faction.[174]
| Party (Shading indicates majority caucus) | Total | Vacant | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party of Regions | Batkivshchyna | UDAR | Svoboda | Communists | Economic Development | Sovereign European Ukraine | For Peace and Stability | Non-affiliated[a] | |||
| End ofprevious convocation[175][178] | 195 | 97 | DNP | DNP | 25 | DNP | DNP | DNP | 31 | 348 | 102 |
| Begin[179] | 185 | 101 | 40 | 37 | 32 | - | - | - | 43 | 438 | 12 |
| 12 December 2012[175] | 208 | 99 | 42 | 36 | 27 | 444 | 6 | ||||
| 11 June 2013[175] | 207 | 93 | 34 | ||||||||
| 31 December 2013[175] | 204 | 90 | 38 | 442 | 8 | ||||||
| 21 February 2014[180] | 177 | 55 | |||||||||
| 22 February 2014[175][181] | 134 | 88 | 115 | 447 | 3 | ||||||
| 23 February 2014[175] | 131 | 118 | |||||||||
| 24 February 2014[175] | 128 | 123 | 449 | 1 | |||||||
| 25 February 2014[175] | 127 | 33 | 91 | ||||||||
| 27 February 2014[175] | 122 | 32 | 37 | 60 | |||||||
| 28 February 2014[175] | 36 | 36 | 57 | ||||||||
| 4 March 2014[175] | 119 | 87 | 33 | 60 | 445 | 5 | |||||
| 15 March 2014[175] | 120 | 88 | 35 | 37 | 58 | 448 | 2 | ||||
| 18 March 2014[175] | 82 | 41 | 33 | 439 | 11 | ||||||
| 25 March 2014[175] | 88 | 35 | 447 | 3 | |||||||
| 8 April 2014[175] | 109 | 34 | 33 | 38 | 68 | 446 | 4 | ||||
| 10 April 2014[175] | 108 | 35 | 70 | 449 | 1 | ||||||
| 11 April 2014[175] | 106 | 42 | 37 | 71 | 448 | 2 | |||||
| 20 April 2014[175] | 104 | 41 | 72 | 446 | 4 | ||||||
| 16 May 2014[175] | 103 | 39 | 35 | 73 | 447 | 3 | |||||
| 29 May 2014[175] | 87 | 31 | 40 | 74 | 446 | 4 | |||||
| 6 June 2014[175] | 80 | 85 | 40 | 32 | 95 | 442 | 8 | ||||
| 1 July 2014[175] | 86 | 41 | 24 | 104 | 445 | 5 | |||||
| 2 July 2014[175] | 32 | 73 | |||||||||
| 4 July 2014[175] | 78 | 23 | 34 | ||||||||
| 24 July 2014[175] | -[b] | 41 | 95 | ||||||||
| 25 July 2014[175] | 35 | 36 | 93 | ||||||||
| Latest voting share | 17.5% | 19.3% | 9.2% | 7.9% | 0.0% | 9.2% | 7.9% | 8.1% | 20.9% | ||
Since 8 February 2013 four parliamentarians have been deprived of their mandate by theHigher Administrative Court of Ukraine.[183]
TheCentral Election Commission of Ukraine adopted a resolution on November 5 recognizing the impossibility of announcing election results in five single-seat constituencies (electoral districts 94, 132, 194, 197 and 223); it also recognized the need to hold repeat elections in these constituencies and asked parliament to take a decision on holding repeat elections in these constituencies.[5] On November 6 theVerkhovna Rada adopted a resolution that proposed repeat elections.[5] On 8 November the Central Election Commission stated that the Verkhovna Rada should thus make a respective law for this and theCabinet of Ministers of Ukraine should determine the amount of funding for these elections.[147]
On 29 December 2012, theConstitutional Court of Ukraine received a query from 54 Verkhovna Rada members concerning procedures for the five repeat elections.[184] As of 21 March 2013 the Constitutional Court has not opened a case on this issue.[184] The current Verkhovna Rada parliamentary majority refused to consider the scheduling of repeated elections in the five constituencies before the court issues its ruling on this issue.[184]
On 5 September 2013 the Verkhovna Rada set the date of (all, see below) 7 re-elections to 15 December 2013.[148]
In early February 2013 theHigher Administrative Court of Ukraine ordered the Central Election Commission of Ukraine to hold new elections in 2 more districts after the court removed the deputy mandates ofUnited Centre memberPavlo Baloha (at the time a member of theParty of Regions parliamentary faction) andindependentOleksandr Dombrovsky.[185] The Administrative Court established that the results in single-member districts number 11 (Vinnytsia Oblast; Dombrovsky) and number 71 (Zakarpattia Oblast; Baloha) after the 2012 elections had been "unreliable".[185] On 3 July 2013 Baloha's and Dombrovsky's mandates were officially cancelled.[7]
On 5 September 2013 the Verkhovna Rada set the date of (all, see above) 7 re-elections to 15 December 2013.[148]
On 24 December 2012 PresidentViktor Yanukovych appointedPavlo Lebedyev asDefense Minister.[186] Lebedyev had been elected as a lawmaker in the single-seat constituency No. 224 (inSevastopol) in the 2012 election (28 October 2012).[186] On 22 March 2013 the Verkhovna Rada cancelled his parliamentary mandate.[186][187] Theby-election for the single-seat constituency No. 224 was held on 7 July 2013 and won byindependentVadim Novinsky with 53.41% with a turnout of 23.91%.[186][152] Before the election Novinsky had stated he would join theParty of Regions if he won.[188]
On 12 September 2013 the Higher Administrative Court of Ukraine (under a lawsuit lodged byYuriy Karmazin) ruled it impossible to reliably establish the results of 28 October 2012 elections in single-mandate constituency No. 133 (inOdesa),[189] at the timeIhor Markov had been declared winner of that constituency.[190] The court overturned the Central Election Commission (CEC) decision of 23 November 2012 regarding Markov's registration as aPeople's Deputy of Ukraine and ordered the CEC to take measures to organize, prepare for and hold repeat elections in constituency No. 133.[190]
Police officers had documented the use of pens with disappearing ink in at least 40 polling stations in constituency No. 133 on 28 October 2012.[190]
TheCentral Election Commission of Ukraine finalized the vote count on 12 November 2012 but simultaneously ordered – on recommendation of theVerkhovna Rada (Ukraine's parliament) – repeat elections in five troubled single-mandate constituencies where it could not establish results.[3] Because of occurrences in these five constituencies.[4][5][147] In February 2013 theHigher Administrative Court of Ukraine ordered to hold (additional) new elections in 2 more districts afterthe court removed the mandates of two seats.[185][6] On 5 September 2013 the Verkhovna Rada itself set the date of these 7 re-elections to 15 December 2013.[148] Hence, before 15 December 2013 of the 450 seats in parliament 443 deputies have been elected.[3][8][9][7] But eventually only repeat elections were held in 5 constituencies on 15 December 2013.[191]
| Results of 15 December 2013 repeat elections[192] | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| № | Region | Mandates | Position | District | Name | Votes % | Party list | Party member |
| 10 | Kyiv Oblast | 9 | CentralObukhiv | 094 | Ruslan Badaev | 58.25% | ||
| 14 | Mykolaiv | 6 | South-EastPervomaisk | 132 | Mykola Kruglov | 47.85% | ||
| 23 | Cherkasy | 7 | CentralCherkasy-Prydniprovsky | 194 | Mykhailo Poplavsky | 53.54% | ||
| 23 | Cherkasy | 7 | CentralKaniv | 197 | Leonid Datsenko | 63.51% | Batkivshchyna | Batkivshchyna[193] |
| 26 | Kyiv City | 13 | CentralKyiv-Shevchenkivsky | 223 | Viktor Pylypyshyn | 44.89% | ||
In February 2014Oleksandr Sych became Vice Prime Minister in theYatsenyuk Government.[194] Sych had been elected as a lawmaker in the single-seat constituency No. 83 (WestIvano-Frankivsk) in the 2012 election of 28 October 2012.[151]
Theby-election for the single-seat constituency No. 83 was held on 25 May 2014 and won byindependentOlexandr Shevchenko with 37.6% with a turnout of 37.66%.[195] The candidate of the party of Sych,Svoboda,[196] came third with 14.9%.[195]
Fund of Public Opinion (FOM-Ukraine)
Society for Consumer Research (GfK)
