Ukrainian Parliamentary Election Results
October 8, 2007
The September 30, 2007 Parliamentary election is over. Here are the results:
The following parties passed the 3% barrier and received seats in Parliament:
|
|
34.37% |
Party of Regions |
|
30.71% |
Yulia Tymoshenko Block |
|
14.15% |
Our Ukraine |
|
5.39% |
Communist Party |
|
3.96% |
Lytvyn Block |
The following parties did not make it into Parliament:
|
2.86% |
Socialist Party |
|
2.73% |
Against everyone |
|
1.32% |
Progressive Socialist Party of Ukraine |
(The remaining parties received less than 1% of the votes)
Despite the political crisis that preceeded it, this election was actually remarkably calm and civil.
Election fraud, though present on a small scale, was neither systematic
nor in favor of one particular party. Political parties now seem to be used to the idea of elections and switching places in government. This is a good sign that political stability is increasing and politicians have adjusted internally to democratic practices.
Coalition and future government
Even though the Party of Regions was the overall leader, by far the most likely coalition (which must take at least 50% of the seats in the Verkhovna Rada, or Parliament) is between the Yulia Tymoshenko Block and Our Ukraine. Lytvyn's block may or may not join them. Other possibilities — such as a coalition between Party of Regions and Our Ukraine — are looking increasingly unlikely and would be difficult for voters to stomach.
Most likely, the new Prime Minister will be Yulia Tymoshenko. She will probably be careful to avoid some of the mistakes she made as Prime Minister two years ago (e.g. threatening widespread reprivatization of large industrial sites). President Yuschenko is interested in giving the opposition some positions in the new government as a reconciliatory move. One of the main goals of political parties in Ukraine is to obtain key positions in government that allow them to redirect business proceeds to investment groups close to them.
VIEW ARCHIVED NEWS FROM 2007 |
