1994 Ukrainian presidential election

Early presidential elections were held in Ukraine on 26 June 1994, with a second round on 10 July.[1][2] They were held ahead of schedule following a compromise between President Leonid Kravchuk and the Verkhovna Rada, the Ukrainian parliament. The elections saw Kravchuk defeated by his former Prime Minister Leonid Kuchma. They were the first presidential elections in the Commonwealth of Independent States in which the incumbent was defeated.

1994 Ukrainian presidential election

← 1991 26 June 1994 (first round)
10 July 1994 (second round)
1999 →
Turnout70.37% (first round)
71.63% (second round)
 
Nominee Leonid Kuchma Leonid Kravchuk
Party Independent Independent
Popular vote 14,016,850 12,111,603
Percentage 52.35% 45.24%


President before election

Leonid Kravchuk
Independent

Elected President

Leonid Kuchma
Independent

Kuchma took office on 19 July, marking the first peaceful transfer of power in Ukraine since the fall of Communism.

Background

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On 17 June 1993, the Verkhovna Rada voted to hold a referendum on 26 September that would serve as a motion of no confidence in President Kravchuk. However, the referendum was cancelled two days before it was due to be held. The Verkhovna Rada instead decided to hold early parliamentary elections on 24 March 1994, and early presidential elections two months later.

Results

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In the first round, Kravchuk was supported by the People's Movement (which had originally collected signatures for Volodymyr Lanovyi) and the Democratic Association, an alliance of right-wing parties that viewed Kuchma as pro-Russian. Kuchma was supported by the Interregional Bloc of Reforms, and Socialist Party candidate Oleksandr Moroz was supported by the Communist Party and Peasant Party.[3] After Moroz was knocked out, the Communists supported Kuchma in the second round.[4]

CandidatePartyFirst roundSecond round
Votes%Votes%
Leonid KravchukIndependent[a]9,977,76638.3612,111,60345.24
Leonid KuchmaIndependent[b]8,274,80631.8114,016,85052.35
Oleksandr MorozSocialist Party of Ukraine[c]3,466,54113.33
Volodymyr LanovyiIndependent[d]2,483,9869.55
Valeriy BabychIndependent644,2632.48
Ivan PlyushchIndependent[e]321,8861.24
Petro TalanchukIndependent[f]143,3610.55
Against all697,5642.68645,5082.41
Total26,010,173100.0026,773,961100.00
Valid votes26,010,17398.2226,773,96199.59
Invalid/blank votes470,4981.78109,6810.41
Total votes26,480,671100.0026,883,642100.00
Registered voters/turnout37,630,83570.3737,531,66671.63
Source: Nohlen & Stöver[5]

Notes

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  1. ^ Supported by the People's Movement of Ukraine, the Democratic Association, and the parliamentary blocs "Statehood", "Agrarians of Ukraine" and "Centre"
  2. ^ Supported by the parliamentary Inter-regional Bloc of Reforms. Also supported by the Communist Party of Ukraine in the second round.
  3. ^ Supported by the Communist Party of Ukraine
  4. ^ Supported by the faction of People's Movement of Ukraine and the parliamentary bloc "Reforms"
  5. ^ Supported by the Ukrainian Republican Party
  6. ^ Supported by the Congress of Ukrainian Nationalists

References

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  1. ^ Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p1976 ISBN 9783832956097
  2. ^ Birch, Sarah (1995). "The Ukrainian parliamentary and presidential elections of 1994". Electoral Studies. 14 (1): 93–99. doi:10.1016/0261-3794(95)95775-6. ISSN 0261-3794.
  3. ^ Political parties of Ukraine in cooperation with structures of power Kyiv center of political research and conflictology
  4. ^ Polishchuk, Tatiana (1999-05-15). Вибори-99: Кучма і КПУ — знову разом! [Elections-99: Kuchma and CPU – together again!]. day.kyiv.ua (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 2023-07-10.
  5. ^ Nohlen & Stöver, p1993