Ukrainian parliamentary election, 2007

Political crisis

Following the 2006 parliamentary elections, there was an ongoing power struggle between the President and the parliamentary majority, which resulted in the dissolution of parliament. The majority in the parliament, known as Coalition of National Unity, was formed by Party of Regions, Communist Party, and Socialist Party). It was opposed by Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc and Our Ukraine.

Early in 2007, several members of the opposition indicated their support to the ruling coalition. If sufficient numbers of members of parliament supported the government, the Coalition of National Unity could have secured a two-thirds majority, empowering the parliament to override the president's right of veto and enabling the parliament to initiate limited constitutional changes.

On 2 April 2007, Yushchenko decreed the dissolution of the Verkhovna Rada.

The authority of the president to dismiss the parliament was challenged in the Constitutional Court, however following the president's intervention in the operation of the Constitutional Court the court has not ruled on the constitutionality of the president's decree.

The election was originally scheduled to be held on 27 May 2007 and later postponed to 24 June 2007. On 27 May 2007 an agreement was signed by President Viktor Yushchenko, Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, and Parliamentary Speaker Oleksandr Moroz, scheduling the elections to be held on 30 September 2007.

The President's previous decrees were revoked and a new decree based on the provisions of Article 82 and Article 90 of Ukraine's Constitution was issued in its place in August 2007 following the resignation of over 150 members of the opposition parties.

Results

The first polling places to open were at the Ukrainian embassies in Australia and Japan. Election districts were open from 7:00AM until 10:00PM local time. According to the Central Election Commission of Ukraine 63.22% of registered voters cast ballots. This easily exceeded the 50% participation required by Ukrainian law to make the election valid.

Five parties received the required election threshold of 3% of the total vote and entered the Verkhovna Rada: Party of Regions (PoR), Bloc Yulia Tymoshenko (BYuT), Our Ukraine-Peoples Self Defence (OU-PSD), the Communist Party of Ukraine (CPU) and the Bloc Lytvyn (BL). The Socialist Party of Ukraine (SPU) secured only 2.86% of the vote and as such did not win any seats in the new parliament. Had the Socialist Party received an additional 0.14% of the vote the overall results would have been more or less the same as the previous Ukrainian parliamentary election in 2006 with the addition of Bloc Lytvyn representatives.

Election results by parties and blocs

There were 20 parties and blocs registered on the voting ballot. One more electoral bloc PORA-Reforms and Order was participating in early election procedures but was subsequently removed by CVK as result of court decision. Number 17 assigned initially to this bloc was removed from the ballot paper.

Format of ruling coalition

Following the announcement of preliminary election results, the parties expressed their position on forming the coalition. The Party of Regions announced itself a winner of the election and stated that it started negotiations on forming a ruling coalition. The party did not express the desire to be in opposition. Tymoshenko's Bloc advocated a coalition with Our Ukraine and possibly Lytvyn's Bloc. Yulia Tymoshenko was strongly against any coalition with the Party of Regions or the Communists. She stated that her Bloc would be in opposition should such a coalition be formed. President Yushchenko has expressed the need for a better relationship between coalition and opposition. This should be achieved by providing the opposition with posts in the parliament and the government. Lytvyn's Bloc received proposals from all top parties on forming a coalition. Leaders of the Bloc stated that their decision will be made at the party's assembly. Oleksandr Moroz, the leader of the Socialist Party of Ukraine, acknowledged his defeat on 4 October 2007 and supported Tymoshenko's bid for premiership.

Yulia Tymoshenko, following the formation of a coalition between the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc and Our Ukraine–People's Self-Defense Bloc was subsequently elected prime-minister on 18 December 2007. Her candidacy was supported by the vote of 226 deputies.

The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine is competent on the condition that no less than two-thirds of its constitutional composition has been elected. This means that if any one of the two largest parties resign en masse, the parliament would lose its authority and fresh elections would be required.

Election results compared with the previous Ukrainian parliamentary election

In 2006, 27% of the registered vote represented support for minor parties that received less than the 3% statutory representation threshold. In 2007 the number of voters that supported minor parties that received less than the 3% statutory threshold (Including the Socialist Party of Ukraine the support of 2.86%) was only 7%.

The 20% difference shows a consolidation of voter's support towards major political parties. This fact needs to be taken into consideration when making any assessment as to the positive swing recorded for Bloc Yulia Tymoshenko, Party of Regions, The Communist Party of Ukraine and Bloc Lytvyn. The Our Ukraine bloc merged with the new party "People's Self-Defence" but only recorded a marginal gain in the overall percentage of the vote representing a reduction of 236964 votes in comparison with the 2006 data.

Further review of the regional vote shows a consolidation of the vote by Yulia Tymoshenko in regions in which her party already maintained strong support. Apart from the Socialist Party of Ukraine and a marginal gain by Our Ukraine all major political parties recorded an increase in the overall percentage the voter support when comparing the 2006 to 2007 results.

The other fact that needs to also be considered is that in 2006 the participation rate was 67% and in 2007 the participation rate dropped down to 62%.

International observers

3354 international observers were officially registered to monitor the conduct of the election.

Representatives of the Council of Europe, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and Fair Election organization registered officials with the Central Elections Committee. The OSCE closely worked with Ukrainian officials in the design, administration, and conduct of the election.

Observers declared that elections generally met international standards for democratic elections. However they noted:

Time Table

Registered parties and blocs

Number in parentheses is the number of candidates included on the party list. Parties or blocs that obtained 3% or more of the vote are in bold.

Parliamentary factions in parliament after elections

After the election various factions where formed in parliament. It was possible for 15 or more deputies to form a parliamentary faction (a lawmaker could join only one faction; the chairman and his two assistants could not head factions of deputies). hence not all parties represented in the Verkhovna Rada had their own faction. Factions are colored raspberry.

Factions created during the convocation

Leaders of factions/groups

Extra-parliamentary parties representation within the Verkhovna Rada

Parliamentary parties that dissolved or merged during the convocation

Faction changes after 2007 election

Numerous MPs were removed from their original faction after the 2007 election; several left their (original) faction to join another faction in October 2010. From 2006 till October 2010 this was not allowed because of the (so-called) "imperative mandate".

In November 2010 the Bloc Yulia Tymoshenko faction was officially renamed “Bloc Yulia Tymoshenko-Batkivschyna”. and the Bloc of Lytvyn faction was renamed People's Party faction. On February 16, 2011 a new parliamentary faction "Reforms for the Future" was created. The parliament elected in the following election on 28 October 2012 was appointed and started its tasks six weeks after the elections on 12 December 2012. The parliament elected in 2007 convened on 6 December 2012 for the last time.