Three years ago, on October 26, 2014, Ukraine held parliamentary elections that marked a turning point in the country’s history. It was the first time in independent Ukraine that the Communist Party did not receive enough votes to be represented in the Ukrainian Parliament. Also for the first time, pro-Western parties collectively gained more votes in southeastern oblasts, with the exception of Kharkiv and the Russian-occupied areas of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, and in Russia-annexed Crimea. It was also the first time that a pro-Western party, the Poroshenko Bloc, was the most popular party in the Odesa, Kherson and Mykolayiv oblasts.
However, the election also saw the lowest voter turnout ever for a parliamentary election with 52.4 percent. In the occupied areas of the Donbas, 56 percent of the districts in Donetsk and 70 percent of the districts in Luhansk were prevented from holding elections.
The parliamentary elections results had: the Poroshenko Bloc with 132 deputies or 31.2 percent; the People’s Front (Arseniy Yatsenyuk), 82 deputies (19.4 percent); Self-Reliance (33 seats, 7.8 percent); Opposition Bloc (former Party of Regions) with 29 seats and 6.9 percent; Radical Party (22 deputies, 5.2 percent); Batkivshchyna (19 deputies, 4.5 percent); independents (96 deputies, 22.7 percent); and other parties (10 deputies, 2.4 percent).
The success of the People’s Front was seen as an endorsement of Mr. Yatsenyuk as prime minister and a counterbalance to the Poroshenko Bloc. Prior to the elections, Mr. Poroshenko made it clear that he wanted a constitutional majority of 300 votes to pursue constitutional changes.
“Poroshenko voters switched to Yatsenyuk out of fear of excessive concentration of power,” said Taras Chornovil, a former member of Parliament with both pro-Western and pro-Russian parties. “During the last week of elections, they employed a clear technology of stirring the electorate. The People’s Front knew how to stir feelings to boost its support, sending experts to forums and telling journalists that Poroshenko is turning into a dictator… We have a European majority and absolutely Ukraine-centric Rada in which the Opposition Bloc won’t be able to play pro-Russian politics.”
During the May 2014 presidential elections, Mr. Poroshenko’s campaign had used similar scare tactics to ensure that there would be no second round of elections.
The Opposition Bloc, led by Yurii Boiko – the energy minister under former President and Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovcyh – won most of its votes in the Kharkiv, Dnipro and Zaporizhia oblasts, as well as parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Observers said the bloc was biding its time for a split in the anticipated Poroshenko-Yatsenyuk-led coalition. Some members of the Opposition Bloc were elected as candidates on the independent platform, with hopes of later being integrated into the bloc.
International election observers from the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America and the Organization for Cooperation and Security in Europe, as well as the White House Office of the Press Secretary, among others, congratulated Ukraine on holding free and fair elections in the face of Russia’s ongoing hybrid warfare against Ukraine.
The Yatsenyuk Cabinet began to disintegrate in February 2016 when Aivaras Abromavicius, a Lithuanian who was minister of economy and trade, resigned based on claims that the government did not demonstrate a real commitment to fighting corruption. Later that month, the Batkivshchyna and Self Reliance factions left the coalition. In April 2016, Volodymyr Groysman was confirmed by the Verkhovna Rada as prime minister, following the resignation of Mr. Yatsenyuk earlier that month. Minister of Finance Natalie Jaresko, who was instrumental in the implementation of reforms in the Yatsenyuk Cabinet, was not retained under Prime Minister Groysman.
The next parliamentary elections are scheduled for November 2019.
Source: “Parliamentary elections mark turning point in Ukraine’s history,” by Zenon Zawada, The Ukrainian Weekly, November 2, 2014.