At stake in this election:

• 450 seats in the Supreme Council (Verkhovna Rada)

Description of government structure:

• Chief of State: President Viktor A. YUSHCHENKO
• Head of Government: Prime Minister Viktor YANUKOVYCH
• Assembly: Ukraine has a unicameral Supreme Council (Verkhovna Rada) with 450 seats.

Description of electoral system:

• The President is elected by absolute majority vote through a two-round system.
• The Prime Minister is appointed by the president with the approval of the parliament.
• In the Supreme Council (Verkhovna Rada) 450 members are elected through a closed-list proportional representation system to serve 5-year terms.***

*** A party must obtain at least 3% of the national votes to obtain seats in the Verkhovna Rada.

Main parties in the electoral race:

• Party: Party of Regions (PRU)
  • Leader: Viktor YANUKOVYCH
  • Seats won in this election: 175
  • Seats won in last election: 186
• Party: Bloc of Yuliya Tymoshenko (MYT)
  • Leader: Yuliya TYMOSHENKO
  • Seats won in this election: 156
  • Seats won in last election: 129
• Party: Our Ukraine-People's Self Defense***
  • Leader: Yuriy LUTSENKO (People's Self-Defense) Vyacheslav KIRILENKO (Our Ukraine)
  • Seats won in this election: 72
  • Seats won in last election: N/A
• Party: Communist Party of Ukraine (CPU)
  • Leader: Petro SYMONENKO
  • Seats won in this election: 27
  • Seats won in last election: 21
• Party: Lytvyn Bloc
  • Leader: Voldymyr Lytvyn
  • Seats won in this election: 20
  • Seats won in last election: 0

Population and number of registered voters:

• Population: 46,509,350 (2007)
• Registered Voters: 37,558,040 (2007)

Gender Data:

·         Female Population: 24,979,459 (2007)

·         Is Ukraine a signatory to CEDAW: Yes (17 July 1980)

·         Has Ukraine ratified CEDAW: Yes (12 March 1981)

·         Gender Quota: No

·         Female candidates in this election: Yes

·         Number of Female Parliamentarians: 38 (following the 2007 elections)

·         Human Development Index Position: 81 (2014)

·         Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) Categorization: Low (2014)

Disability Data:

·         Is Ukraine a signatory to CRPD: Yes (24 September 2008)

·         Has Ukraine ratified CRPD: Yes (4 February 2010)

·         Population with a disability: 6,976,402 (est.)