1999 Ukrainian presidential election

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1999 Ukrainian presidential election

← 1994 31 October 1999 (first round)
14 November 1999 (second round)
2004 →
Turnout70.1% (first round)
74.9% (second round)
 
Nominee Leonid Kuchma Petro Symonenko
Party Independent KPU
Popular vote 15,870,722 10,665,420
Percentage 57.70% 38.77%


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.[2]

As of 2023, this is the only time in the history of independent Ukraine when an incumbent president was re-elected.

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 moment of elections were not available to vote in Ukraine.

Registration

There were 32 individuals who submitted their documents for registration as pretenders on candidate to the President of Ukraine. Out of them 19 pretenders were registered with the Central Election Commission of Ukraine to run for presidential elections, the rest 13 were denied in registration.

Registered candidates

Notes:

  • Udovenko and Kostenko initially were denied in registration, but on May 21, 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.

Notes:

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

Kaniv four

Since the summer of 1999 there was a sharp competition among the candidates. Four candidates Yevhen Marchuk, Oleksandr Moroz, Volodymyr Oliynyk (mayor of Cherkasy), and Oleksandr Tkachenko (speaker of Verkhovna Rada) met in Kaniv and called on all candidates to just and honest elections. The "Kaniv Four" had intentions to present a single candidate who would have more chances for success. It however failed to do so and no one else joined them neither. Volodymyr Oliynyk being promoted by Kirovohrad city residents, on October 27 surrendered his candidacy in favor of Yevhen Marchuk, while Oleksandr Tkachenko favored Petro Symonenko (leader of Communist Party of Ukraine).

Conduct

According to historian Serhy Yekelchyk President Kuchma's administration "employed electoral fraud freely" during the election.[3]

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.

Candidate Party First round Second round
Votes % Votes %
Leonid Kuchma IndependentKuchma 9,598,672 36.49 15,870,722 57.70
Petro Symonenko Communist Party of Ukraine 5,849,077 22.24 10,665,420 38.77
Oleksandr Moroz Socialist Party of Ukraine 2,969,896 11.29
Nataliya Vitrenko Progressive Socialist Party of Ukraine 2,886,972 10.97
Yevhen Marchuk Social Democratic Union 2,138,356 8.13
Yuriy Kostenko People's Movement of Ukraine (K) 570,623 2.17
Hennadiy Udovenko The Movement-Reforms and Order 319,778 1.22
Vasyl Onopenko Ukrainian Social Democratic Party 124,040 0.47
Oleksandr Rzhavskyy One Family[4] 95,515 0.37
Yuriy Karmazin Motherland Defenders Party 90,793 0.35
Vitaliy Kononov Party of Greens of Ukraine 76,832 0.29
Oleksandr Bazyliuk Slavic Party 36,012 0.14
Mykola Haber Patriotic Party of Ukraine 31,829 0.12
Against all 477,019 1.81 970,181 3.53
Invalid/blank votes 1,038,749 706,161
Total 26,305,198 100 28,212,484 100
Registered voters/turnout 37,498,630 70.1 37,680,581 74.9
Source: Nohlen & Stöver

Notes

^ During the election campaign Kuchma was supported by the Bloc "Our Choice – Leonid Kuchma!"[5][6]

References

  1. ^ Nohlen, D & Stöver, P (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p. 1976. ISBN 9783832956097
  2. ^ Nohlen & Stöver, p1994
  3. ^ The Conflict in Ukraine: What Everyone Needs to Know by Serhy Yekelchyk, Oxford University Press, 2015, ISBN 0190237287 (page 87)
  4. ^ "Official website of the One Family". Archived from the original on 2014-12-19. Retrieved 2014-01-29.
  5. ^ 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
  6. ^ Soskin, O. L. Kuchma at power – Ukraine in decline. Institute of Society Transformation.

Bibliography

  • Fritz, D. V. "State-Building: A Comparative Study of Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus, and Russia". Central European University Press. Budapest 2008. ISBN 9637326995

External links