2002 Ukrainian parliamentary election

Parliamentary elections were held in Ukraine on 31 March 2002.[1] The Our Ukraine bloc emerged as the largest faction in the Verkhovna Rada, winning 113 of the 450 seats.

2002 Ukrainian parliamentary election
Ukraine
31 March 2002

All 450 seats in the Verkhovna Rada
226 seats needed for a majority
Turnout69.27% (Decrease 1.51 pp)
PartyLeader % Seats +/–
Our Ukraine Bloc Viktor Yushchenko 24.49 113 +51
KPU Petro Symonenko 20.76 64 -58
For United Ukraine! Volodymyr Lytvyn 12.23 101 +65
Tymoshenko Bloc Yulia Tymoshenko 7.54 22 New
SPU Oleksandr Moroz 7.14 23 +6
SDPU(o) Viktor Medvedchuk 6.52 24 +7
Unity (Ukraine) Oleksandr Omelchenko 1.13 3 New
DPUDS Volodymyr Horbulin 0.91 4 +2
UMP Volodymyr Bezkorovainy 0.12 1 New
PNERU Pavlo Matviyenko 1 New
Independents 94 -17
Results by region
Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada before Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada after
Ivan Plyushch
NDP
Volodymyr Lytvyn
For United Ukraine!
Single constituency winners

The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe noted at the time that there were physical assaults and harassment of candidates and campaign workers associated with opposition political parties prior to the March election.[2] The Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc complained of campaign related violations including "an informal 'media blackout,' [and] negatively slanted coverage".[2]

Electoral system

In this election, parallel voting was used. Half of the deputies to Verkhovna Rada (parliament of Ukraine) were elected on proportional basis, while the other half were elected by popular vote in single-mandate constituencies.[3] In order to gain any (proportional) seats in Verkhovna Rada a party needed to receive at least 4% of the popular vote.[4]

Opinion polls

Pollster Our Ukraine Communists ZaEdU[5] SDPU (o)[6] BYuT[7] Socialists Vitrenko[8] Greens Zh/M[9] KOP[10] Apple
All-Ukrainian Social Service (3/31/2002)[11] 22% 20% 14% 8% 6% 5% 3.5%
Razumkov Centre (3/29/2002)[12] 26-28% 18-19% 7-8% 9-10% 7-8% 3.5-4.5% 4-5% 4.5-5.5% 4-5% 2.5-3.5% 2.5-3%
Politic's Institute (3/29/2002)[12] 29-32% 19-21% 6-8% 7-9% 4-5% 4-5% 5-6% 4-5%
Ukrainian Institute of Social Research and
Center "Social Monitoring" (3/27/2002)[13]
23-25% 17-19% 11-13% 10-12% 5.5-7% 3.5-4.5% 3-4% 4-5.5% 4-5.5% 2.5-4% 2.5-3.5%
Center SOCIS (3/27/2002)[13] 31-33% 17-19% 5-6% 7-8% 3-4% 2-3% 2-3% 5-6% 4-5%

Conduct

On 29 March 2002 the Bloc of Yulia Tymoshenko won a case on defamation against the Chairman of the Tax Administration of Ukraine Mykola Azarov. The Shevchenkivsky District Court of the Kyiv city prohibited the Tax Administration of Ukraine to spread lies against the opposition electoral bloc.[14]

Late at night on 29 March 2002 vice-governor of the Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast Mykola Shkriblyak was mortally wounded. Shkriblyak was a member of the Social Democratic Party of Ukraine (united) and he was a parliamentary candidate in the 90th electoral district. He died later in a local hospital.[15]

Results

The final election results differed greatly from the final opinion poll.[16] The 2002 parliamentary elections were the first that substantially reduced fragmentation of the Verkhovna Rada and laid the groundwork for consolidation of political views in the parliament.

Yushchenko's Our Ukraine gathered most of its support from western and central regions of Ukraine, including the city of Kyiv. The Communist Party received most of its votes from eastern and southern regions, as well as from Crimea. For United Ukraine block, which included Victor Yanukovych's Party of Regions, got most of its votes from eastern regions of Ukraine. Donetsk Oblast was the stronghold of the block, where it received more than twice the number of votes (36.83%) compared to the next highest supporting region: Sumy Oblast with 17.05% of the region's voters. Yulia Tymoshenko's block's support came predominantly from western regions, while the Socialists were most supported in the central regions. While the Tymoshenko block received more of the national vote compared to the Socialist Party, it did not gain a plurality in any of the regions, while the Socialist Party managed to secure plurality of votes in Poltava Oblast with 22.05%.

PartyProportionalConstituencyTotal
seats
+/–
Votes%SeatsVotes%Seats
Bloc of Viktor Yushchenko "Our Ukraine"6,108,08824.49703,353,05313.7343113+51
Communist Party of Ukraine5,178,07420.76592,302,6759.43564–58
For United Ukraine!3,051,05612.23353,827,57615.6866101+65
Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc1,882,0877.542213,3260.05022New
Socialist Party of Ukraine1,780,6427.1420869,5573.56323+6
Social Democratic Party of Ukraine (united)1,626,7216.5219561,4152.30524+7
Nataliya Vitrenko Bloc (PSPUYeU)836,1983.350302,7861.2400–17
Women for the Future547,9162.20027,9690.1100New
Team of Winter Generation525,0252.1000–1
Communist Party of Ukraine (renewed)362,7121.45018,4410.0800New
Party of Greens of Ukraine338,2521.36051,3050.2100–19
Apple299,7641.200285,2661.1700New
Unity (YeSDSUPS)282,4911.130504,9202.0733New
Democratic Party of UkraineDemocratic Union227,3930.910320,1641.3144+2
New Generation of Ukraine201,1570.81011,6510.0500New
Russian Bloc190,8390.77029,7890.1200–1
For Ukraine, Belarus and Russia112,2590.4500New
Communist Party of Workers and Peasants106,9040.430174,1000.7100New
Peasant Party of Ukraine98,4280.39087,1520.3600–12
Rehabilitation of the People of Ukraine Party91,0980.37047,0480.1900New
All-Ukrainian Party of Workers88,8420.36044,6210.1800–1
All-Ukrainian Association of Christians75,1740.30015,2520.0600New
Social Democratic Party of Ukraine68,6640.28000
Bloc "Popular Movement of Ukraine" (NRUYeTs)41,7300.170152,0380.6200New
Bloc "Against all" (PPMSB)29,6650.1200New
Ukrainian Marine Party29,0250.12038,7430.1611New
People's Party of Depositors and Social Security27,2730.11021,0620.0900New
All-Ukrainian Party "New Force"26,2990.11066,8400.2700New
Christian Movement23,5910.0900New
Party of All-Ukrainian Union of the Left "Justice"21,9570.09073,8670.3000New
Ukrainian National Assembly11,8390.0502,9170.01000
Bloc of Ukrainian Party and New World11,0480.0400New
Liberal Ukraine8,5350.0300New
Party of National Economic Development of Ukraine50,2030.2111+1
Communist Party of Working People7,2520.0300New
Christian Democratic Party of Ukraine6,5730.0300–2
Party of the Pensioners' Defenders of Ukraine4,2490.0200New
New Politics3,8360.0200New
Independents9,218,24737.759494–17
Against all635,1992.551,922,7847.87
Total24,945,945100.0022524,416,677100.002254500
Valid votes24,945,94596.2824,416,67794.37
Invalid/blank votes963,4623.721,457,5945.63
Total votes25,909,407100.0025,874,271100.00
Registered voters/turnout37,403,66169.2737,403,66169.18
Source: Nohlen & Stöver, CLEA

By electoral district

The following table demonstrates all winners of the 225 electoral districts.[17]

Several lawmakers elected into the new parliament have family ties with other lawmakers or other family members in the executive branch of Ukrainian politics.[18]

Faction changes after the 2002 elections

After the election, several MPs left their parties to join another others.[19]

Faction changes after the Ukrainian parliamentary election, 2002 (main parties and alliances)
Parties and alliances Number of seats on 15 May 2002 Number of seats on 19 October 2002 Number of seats on 2 January 2003 Number of seats on 16 September 2005   
Viktor Yushchenko Bloc Our Ukraine 119 110 102 45 74 seats
Communist Party of Ukraine 64 61 60 56 8 seats
For United Ukraine 175 Disbanded Disbanded Disbanded 175 seats
Electoral Bloc Yuliya Tymoshenko 23 20 18 40 17 seats
Socialist Party of Ukraine 22 21 20 26 4 seats
United Social Democratic Party of Ukraine 31 38 40 20 11 seats
Source: Virtual Politics - Faking Democracy in the Post-Soviet World, Andrew Wilson, Yale University Press, 2005, ISBN 0-300-09545-7 & Ukraine on Its Meandering Path Between East and West by Andrej Lushnycky and Mykola Riabchuk, Peter Lang, 2009, ISBN 303911607X & Ukraine at the Crossroads: Velvet Revolution or Belarusification by Olexiy Haran, National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, October 2002

By October 2002 the For United Ukraine faction had broken down in 8 new parliamentary factions.[20]

References

  1. Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p1976 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
  2. Ukraine:Treatment of the Social Democratic Party of Ukraine (SDPU); relationship with the National Salvation Forum (FNB); treatment of FNB members, Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada via UNHCR (14 August 2003)
  3. Against All Odds: Aiding Political Parties in Georgia and Ukraine (UvA Proefschriften) by Max Bader, Vossiuspers UvA, 2010, ISBN 90-5629-631-0 (page 93)
  4. Ukraine at the Crossroads: Economic Reforms in International Perspective by Axel Siedenberg (Editor), Lutz Hoffmann, Physica-Verlag Heidelberg, 1999, ISBN 3790811890/ISBN 978-3790811896 (page 184)
  5. For One Ukraine
  6. Social Democratic Party of Ukraine (united)
  7. Bloc of Yulia Tymoshenko
  8. Bloc of Nataliya Vitrenko
  9. Women for Future
  10. Team of Winter Generation
  11. (in Ukrainian) "За ЄдУ" отримує свої 14%. У відповідному exit-poll (ZaEdU is receiving its 14%. In the respective exit-poll). Ukrainska Pravda. March 31, 2002
  12. (in Ukrainian) Вибори-2002: остаточний прогноз (Elections-2002: the final forecast). Ukrainska Pravda. March 29, 2002
  13. Рейтинги переможців. Без табу (Ratings of victors. No taboo). Ukrainska Pravda. March 27, 2002
  14. Тимошенко виграла суд у Азарова (Tymoshenko won case against Azarov). Ukrainska Pravda. March 29, 2002
  15. Вбито кандидата в депутати від СДПУ(О) (A parliamentary candidate from SDPU (u) was killed). Ukrainska Pravda. March 30, 2002
  16. Ukraine's election frontrunners, BBC News (28 March 2002)
  17. (in Ukrainian) Winners, Ukrainian Weekly. April 14, 2002. page 3.
  18. Family ties that bind parliament, Kyiv Post (15 November 2012)
  19. Virtual Politics - Faking Democracy in the Post-Soviet World, Andrew Wilson, Yale University Press, 2005, ISBN 0-300-09545-7
  20. Ukraine at the Crossroads: Velvet Revolution or Belarusification by Olexiy Haran, National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, October 2002
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