Independent Ukraine Votes: The Parliamentary and Presidential Elections of 1994

Abstract

The year of 1994 was one of renewal and consolidation for Ukraine. Dual elections to parliament in March–April and to the presidency in June–July bolstered the state’s democratic credentials by ushering in peaceful and orderly transfers of power. The burgeoning party system was put to the electoral test, and Leonid Kuchma was elected as the country’s second president. The contrast between these events and the political violence in Moscow and Chechnya shed a new light on Ukraine’s political stability and its democratic potential. Finally, the severe economic troubles that had led many to question the viability of Ukrainian independence reached their nadir in late 1993, and by the following summer there were signs of the beginning of economic stabilization.