Abstract
Demands for new elections had been a recurrent feature of the Ukrainian political scene since the disintegration of the former USSR and establishment of an independent Ukrainian state in December 1991. Attempts by Rukh to collect signatures in 1992 to hold a referendum on dissolving parliament failed to collect the deliberately large number of 3 million signatures fixed to thwart such a referendum. Instead, widespread strikes by coalminers in June 19933 forced parliament to agree to hold referendums on itself and president Leonid Kravchuk in September of the same year. On 24 September 1993, a resolution of the Ukrainian parliament cancelled the referendum on confidence in the parliament and president in favour of early elections on 27 March (parliamentary) and 26 June 1994 (presidential and local).4
‘Of course I’ll vote. I don’t remember for whom. But whomever I’m supposed to vote for, that’s whom I’ll vote for.’ 2
(Kyiv pensioner)
An earlier and shorter version of this chapter appeared in The Journal of Communist Studies and Transition Politics, vol. 11, no. 4 (December 1995), pp. 335–61.
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Notes
See T. Kuzio, ‘The Multi-Party System in Ukraine on the Eve of Elections’, Government and Opposition, vol. 29, no. 1 (Winter 1994), pp. 109–27.
See also A.H. Sliusarenko and M.V. Tomenko, Novi Politychni Partii Ukrainy. Dovidnyk. Seria ‘Chas I Suspilstvo’, no. 12 (Kyiv: Tovarystvo ‘Znannia’, 1990),
O.V. Haran and V.A. Viktorenko, eds., Ukraina. Bahatopartiyna. Prohramni Dokumenty Novykh Partiy (Kyiv: Pamiatky Ukrainy, 1991),
O.V. Haran, Vid Stvorennia Rukhu do Bahatopartiynosti. Seria ‘Chas’, no. 1 (Kyiv: Tovarystvo ‘Znannia’, 1992),
O.V. Haran, Ubyty Drakona. Z Istorii Rukhu ta novykh partiy Ukrainy (Kyiv: Lybid, 1993),
A.O. Bilous, Politychni Ob’iednannia Ukrainy (Kyiv: Ukraina, 1993);
Volodymyr Lytvyn, Politychna Arena Ukrainy. Diyovi Osoby ta Vykonavtsi (Kyiv: Abrys, 1994).
See the article by Artur Bilous, ‘Na Vybory — Ukrainskym Velosypedom?’, Polityka i chas, no. 1 (1994) pp. 40–3, which discusses the three types of electoral system — majoritarian, proportional and mixed — and their applicability to Ukraine.
See the comments by the election observer Magdalena Hoff (Reuters, 27 March 1994) and Olha Zhukovska, ‘Chomu v zali bahato vakantnykh mists?’, Holos Ukrainy, 22 April 1994.
See V.B. Hryn’iov, Nova Ukraina: Iakoiu ia ii Bachu (Kyiv: Abrys, 1995) and the very negative review in Chas-Time, 20 October and ‘Nova Ukraina chy nova koloniya?’, Holos Ukrainy, 12 December 1995.
On the different social backgrounds of the KPU and SPU, see D. Arel and A. Wilson, ‘The Ukrainian Parliamentary Elections’, RFE/RL Research Report, vol. 3, no. 26 (1 July 1994), p. 13.
Artur Bilous, ‘Bereznevi Vybory i Perspektyvy Novoho Parlamentu’, Suchasnist, no. 3 (March 1994), p. 81.
Dr Heorhii Kasianov, ‘Ukraine before the Elections’, The Ukrainian Review, vol. XL, no. 4 (Winter 1993), p. 7. See also Ukrainske Slovo, 20 February 1994.
Marco Bojcun, ‘The Ukrainan Parliamentary Elections in March–April 1994’, Europe-Asia Studies, vol. 47, no. 2 (March–April 1995), p. 245.
For a comparison of Ukraine’s election, see Krenar Loloci, Rumyana Kolarova, Dimitr Dimitrov and Elena Stefoi, ‘Electoral Laws in eastern Europe’, and Christian Lucky, ‘Comparative Chart of Electoral Regimes’, East European Constitutional Review, vol. 3, no. 2 (Spring 1994), pp. 42–58 and 65–79.
The Ukrainian Weekly, 12 November 1995. See also V.H. Kremen’, Ye. H. Bazovkin, A.O. Bilous, M.D. Mishchenko, V.S. Nebozhenko, P.K. Sytnyk and Yu. V. Shylovtsev, Vybory Do Verkhovnoi Rady Ukrainy: Dosvid ta Uroky, Naukovi Dopovidi 25 (Kyiv: National Institute of Strategic Studies, 1994).
Mykola Tomenko, Ukrainska Perspektyva: istoryko-politolohichni pidstavy suchasnoi derzhavnoi strategii. Politychni studii 2 (Kyiv: Ukrainska Perspectiva, 1995), p. 14.
See T. Kuzio and A. Wilson, Ukraine: Perestroika to Independence (London: Macmillan, 1994), chapter 2, ‘Strengths and Weaknesses of the National Movement’, pp. 18–41.
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© 1997 Taras Kuzio
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Kuzio, T. (1997). A New Ukrainian Parliament. In: Ukraine under Kuchma. Studies in Russian and East European History and Society. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-25744-7_2
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