Ukrainian presidential election, 1994

Ukrainian presidential election, 1994

26 June 1994 10 July 1994

Nominee Leonid Kuchma Leonid Kravchuk Party Independent Independent Popular vote 14,016,850 12,111,603 Percentage 52.3% 45.2%

President before election Leonid Kravchuk Nonpartisan Elected President Leonid Kuchma Nonpartisan

Early presidential elections were held in Ukraine on 26 June 1994, with a second round on 10 July.^[1] They were held ahead of schedule following a compromise between the President and Verkhovna Rada. Incumbent President Leonid Kravchuk lost the presidency to his former Prime Minister Leonid Kuchma.

Background

Strikes and revival of communists

On June 7, 1993 started a time-unrestricted strike of coal miners of Donets basin as part of a chronic economical crisis. Coincidentally all the events appeared at the time of resurrection of the Communist Party of Ukraine. On this wave of strikes a Constituent Congress of the Communist Party of Ukraine took place on June 19, 1993 in Donetsk (same region) and later it was registered in October of the same year. Its banning was temporary due to suspicion in support of the August coup-d'etat. However the Constitutional Court of Ukraine recognized that the Communist Party of Ukraine that was registered on July 22, 1991 had nothing to do with the August events in the Soviet Union and was never a successor of the Communist Party of Soviet Union and the Communist Party of Ukraine in the Communist Party of Soviet Union. However the statute of the Communist Party of Ukraine clearly indicates otherwise.^[2] Moreover on December 27, 2001 the Constitutional Court of Ukraine recognized the ban of Communist Party not constitutional.^[2]

Decision on early elections

On June 17, 1993 the parliament decided to conduct on September 26, 1993 a consultative referendum on no confidence in president and parliament. However on September 24 the referendum was canceled. The Verkhovna Rada decided to conduct an early elections to parliament on March 27, 1994 and president on June 26, 1994.

The presidential elections became the first to demonstrate the division of the country on the "East" and "West".

Other

They were also the first presidential election in the Commonwealth of Independent States where the incumbent head of state, with roots based in the Soviet-time government elite, lost a democratic election and stepped aside.

Results

Candidate	Party	First round		Second round
		Votes	%	Votes	%
Leonid Kravchuk	Non-partisan (Democratic Association "Ukraine" and NRU)[3]	9,977,766	38.4	12,111,603	45.2
Leonid Kuchma	Non-partisan (Inter-regional Bloc of Reforms)[3]	8,274,806	31.8	14,016,850	52.3
Oleksandr Moroz	Socialist Party of Ukraine (SPU, CPU, SelPU)[3]	3,466,541	13.3
Volodymyr Lanovyi	Independent	2,483,986	9.6
Valeryi Babych	Independent	644,263	2.5
Ivan Plyushch	Independent	321,886	1.2
Petro Talanchuk	Independent	143,361	0.6
Against all		697,564	2.7	645,508	2.1
Invalid/blank votes		470,498	–	109,681	–
Total		26,480,671	100	26,883,642	100
Registered voters/turnout		37,630,835	70.4	37,531,666	71.6
Source: Nohlen & Stöver

Second round

• Kravchuk
• Kuchma (supported by CPU)^[4]

References

1. Nohlen, D & Stöver, P (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p1976 ISBN 9783832956097
2. (Ukrainian) The Statute of the Communist Party of Ukraine. CPU website
3. as Coalition of Left Parties, Political parties of Ukraine in cooperation with structures of power. Kiev center of political research and conflictology.
4. Baziv, D. Elections-99: Kuchma and CPU – together again! Den. 15 May 1999

External links

• Connor, W.M, Krupp, J.W. THE UKRAINIAN AND BELARUSSIAN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS: ASSESSMENT AND IMPLICATIONS. Foreign Military Studies Office. August 1994
• Erlanger, S. UKRAINIANS ELECT A NEW PRESIDENT. New York Times. July 12, 1994