1999 Ukrainian presidential election

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1999 Ukrainian presidential election
Flag of Ukraine.svg
  1994 31 October 1999 (first round)
14 November 1999 (second round)
2004  
Turnout70.15% (first round) Decrease2.svg 0.22pp
74.87% (second round) Increase2.svg 3.24pp
  Kuchma 1999.jpg NDU 3 Simonenko Petro Mikolaiovich.jpg
Nominee Leonid Kuchma Petro Symonenko
Party Independent KPU
Popular vote15,870,72210,665,420
Percentage57.70%38.77%

1999 Ukrainian presidential election, first round.svg
1999 Ukrainian presidential election, second round.svg

President before election

Leonid Kuchma
Independent

Elected President

Leonid Kuchma
Independent

Presidential elections were held in Ukraine on 31 October 1999, with a second round on 14 November. [1] The result was a victory for Leonid Kuchma, who defeated Petro Symonenko in the run-off, winning a second consecutive presidential election. [2]

Contents

As of 2025, this is the only re-election of an incumbent president in the history of independent Ukraine.

Electoral system

At the time of election the population in Ukraine was 50,105,600 with 34,017,400 living in cities.[ citation needed ] The Donetsk Oblast, the most populous oblast, contained the most electoral districts, with 23. The least electoral districts among oblasts were in the Chernivtsi Oblast, which only had 4. The city of Kyiv had 12 electoral districts and Sevastopol 2. There also was a special out-of-country district available for voters who at the time of elections were not available to vote in Ukraine.

Registration

A total of 32 individuals applied for registration as candidates for the presidency, of whom 19 were registered by the Central Election Commission of Ukraine; the other 13 had their applications rejected.

Since the summer of 1999 there was heavy competition between candidates. Four candidates Yevhen Marchuk, Oleksandr Moroz, Volodymyr Oliynyk  [ uk ] (mayor of Cherkasy), and Oleksandr Tkachenko (speaker of the Verkhovna Rada) met in Kaniv and called on all candidates to ensure just and honest elections. The "Kaniv Four" had intentions to present a single candidate who would have a better chance of success. However, they failed to do so and no-one else joined them. On 27 October Oliynyk withdrew his candidacy in favor of Yevhen Marchuk, while Oleksandr Tkachenko favored Petro Symonenko (leader of the Communist Party of Ukraine).

Registered candidates

Udovenko and Kostenko initially were denied in registration, but on 21 May 1999 both were registered.

Registration denied

Candidates

All pretenders were required to collect signatures to become candidates. In the process ten pretenders were not able to gather the required signatures, while six were reinstated on decision of the Supreme Court of Ukraine. Later another two registered candidates withdrew.

Campaign

During the campaign Kuchma was supported by the Bloc "Our Choice – Leonid Kuchma!" [3] [4]

On 27 October 1999 Oliynyk and Tkachenko withdrew from the election campaign.

Conduct

According to historian Serhy Yekelchyk President Kuchma's administration "employed electoral fraud freely" during the election. [5]

Results

In the first round the most oblasts and the out-of-country district were won by Leonid Kuchma. In seven oblasts the top candidate was Petro Symonenko mostly in the centre and south. Oleksandr Moroz managed to become the leader in the more agrarian oriented Poltava and Vinnytsia Oblasts. Nataliya Vitrenko took the peak of the candidate list in the Sumy Oblast.

CandidatePartyFirst roundSecond round
Votes%Votes%
Leonid Kuchma Independent9,598,67237.9915,870,72257.70
Petro Symonenko Communist Party of Ukraine 5,849,07723.1510,665,42038.77
Oleksandr Moroz Socialist Party of Ukraine 2,969,89611.75
Nataliya Vitrenko Progressive Socialist Party of Ukraine 2,886,97211.43
Yevhen Marchuk Independent2,138,3568.46
Yuriy Kostenko Independent570,6232.26
Hennadiy Udovenko The MovementReforms and Order 319,7781.27
Vasyl Onopenko Social Democratic Party of Ukraine (united) 124,0400.49
Oleksandr Rzhavskyy One Family [6] 96,5150.38
Yuriy Karmazin Motherland Defenders Party 90,7930.36
Vitaliy Kononov Party of Greens of Ukraine 76,8320.30
Oleksandr Bazyliuk  [ uk ] Slavic Party 36,0120.14
Mykola Haber  [ uk ]Patriotic Party of Ukraine31,8290.13
Against all477,0191.89970,1813.53
Total25,266,414100.0027,506,323100.00
Valid votes25,266,41496.0527,506,32397.50
Invalid/blank votes1,038,7493.95706,1612.50
Total votes26,305,163100.0028,212,484100.00
Registered voters/turnout37,498,63070.1537,680,58174.87
Source: Nohlen & Stöver

References

  1. Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p. 1976. ISBN   9783832956097
  2. Nohlen & Stöver, p1994
  3. Session of the conference of leaders of political parties of the bloc "Our Choice - Leonid Kuchma!" Archived 2014-09-14 at the Wayback Machine . Ukrinform. 19 November 1999
  4. Soskin, O. L. Kuchma at power Ukraine in decline [ usurped ]. Institute of Society Transformation.
  5. The Conflict in Ukraine: What Everyone Needs to Know by Serhy Yekelchyk, Oxford University Press, 2015, ISBN   0190237287 (page 87)
  6. "Official website of the One Family". Archived from the original on 2014-12-19. Retrieved 2014-01-29.

Bibliography