At stake in this election:      

• The 450 seats in Ukraine’s Supreme Council (Verkhovna Rada)*

*Only 438 seats will be filled as the remaining 12 are reserved for the contested region of Crimea.

Description of government structure:

• Chief of State: President Petro POROSHENKO (since 7 June 2014)
• Head of Government: Prime Minister Arseniy YATSENYUK (since 27 February 2014)
• 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 to serve a 5-year term (eligible for a second term).
• The Prime Minister is appointed by the president with the approval of the parliament.
• The Supreme Council (Verkhovna Rada) uses a parallel system where 225 members are elected through a closed-list proportional representation system to serve 5-year terms, and 225 members are elected by majority vote in single-member constituencies to serve 5-year terms.*

* There is a 5% threshold for the nationwide, proportional representation contest. Before 2011, Ukraine elected all 450 members through closed list proportional representation in a single nationwide constituency. As recently as August 2014, some MP’s introduced bills to revert back to the 2006-2007 election model.[i] However, the bills were never brought to a vote.

Election Note:

• On Sunday 26 October 2014, Ukraine will hold elections for the Supreme Council (Verkhovna Rada).[ii]   As the current parliament was elected in 2012 the next elections were scheduled for 2017. However, in August several parties withdrew from the governing coalition leading President Poroshenko to dissolve parliament and schedule early elections.
• This will be the first parliamentary election since protesters took over the Euro-maidan and ousted (former) President Viktor YANUKOVYCH in early 2014. 
• This contest is particularly significant due to the unpopularity of the current government, noting its failure to address problems of widespread political corruption, economic stagnation, and President YANUKOVYCH’s suppression of the Euro-maidan protests. Many Ukrainians hope that a new parliament may more proactively implement reforms.

Main parties in the electoral race:

• Party: Bloc of Petro Poroshenko/Блок Петра Порошенка*
  • Leader: Yuriy LUTSENKO
  • Seats won in the last election: N/A
• Party: Batkivshchyna “Fatherland”/Всеукраїнське об'єднання "Батьківщина"
  • Leader: Yulia TYMOSHENKO
  • Seats won in the last election: 101
• Party: Radical Party/Радикальна Партія
  • Leader: Oleh LYASHKO
  • Seats won in the last election: 1
• Party: Ukrainian Democratic Alliance for Reform “UDAR”/Український демократичний альянс за реформи
  • Leader: Vitali KLITSCHKO
  • Seats won in the last election: 40
• Party: People’s Front/Народний фронт**
  • Leader: Arseniy YATSENYUK
  • Seats won in the last election: N/A
• Party: Civil Position/Громадянська позиція
  • Leader: Anatoliy HRYTSENKO
  • Seats won in the last election: N/A
• Party: Strong Ukraine/Сильна Україна
  • Leader: Serhiy TYHYPKO
  • Seats won in the last election: N/A
• Party: Party of Regions/Партія регіонів***
  • Leader: Borys KOLESNIKOV (Executive Secretary)
  • Seats won in the last election: 185
• Party: Svoboda/ Свобода
  • Leader: Oleh TYAHNYBOK
  • Seats won in the last election: 35
• Party: Communist Party of Ukraine/Комуністична партія України
  • Leader: Petro SYMONENKO
  • Seats won in the last election: 32

* The party was originally called “Solidarity.”

**Prime Minister Arseniy YATSENYUK formed “People’s Front” after splitting from “Fatherland.”

*** The former ruling party was closely associated with former President Viktor YANUKOVYCH. Many of its members have left and joined other political parties. For the 2014 elections the Party of Regions has been rebranded as “Opposition Bloc.”

Last election:

• The last election to the Supreme Council (Verkhovna Rada) in Ukraine was held on 28 October 2012.[iii] Turnout was 57.40 percent and 20,759,472 of 36,163,839 people casted ballots.[iv] The Party of Regions won 185 seats or 30 percent of the vote, beating the United Opposition/Batkivschyna, who won 101 seats or 25.55 percent of the vote.[v] Results can be found here.

Population and number of registered voters:

• Population: 44,291,413 (July 2014 est)[vi]
• Registered Voters: 35,514,491 (IFES)

Gender Data:

• Female Population: 23,958,080 (July 2014 est)[i]
• Is Ukraine a signatory to CEDAW: Yes (17 July 1980)[ii]
• Has Ukraine ratified CEDAW: Yes (12 March 1981)[iii]
• Gender Quota:  No Law.
• Female Candidates in this election: N/A
• Number of Female Legislators: 43 (9.7%) of 450 seats in the National Assembly[iv]
• Human Development Index (HDI) Position: 83[v]
• Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) Ranking: 27^th out of 86 non-OECD countries (latest rankings are from 2012)[vi]