2012 Ukrainian parliamentary election

2012 Ukrainian parliamentary election
← 2007 28 October 2012 2014 →
All 450 seats to the Verkhovna Rada
226 seats needed for a majority
Turnout57.43% (Decrease 4.60 pp)
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Mykola Azarov Arseniy Yatsenyuk Vitali Klitschko
Party Party of Regions Batkivshchyna UDAR
Leader since 23 April 2010 23 April 2012[1] 24 April 2010
Leader's seat Party list Party list Party list
Last election 175 seats, 34.94% 156 seats, 31.23% New
Seats won 185 101 40
Seat change Increase 10 Decrease 55 New
Popular vote 6,116,746 5,209,090 2,847,979
Percentage 30.00% (PR) 25.55% (PR) 13.97% (PR)
Swing Decrease 4.94% Decrease 5.68% New
  Fourth party Fifth party
 
Leader Oleh Tyahnybok Petro Symonenko
Party Svoboda KPU
Leader since 14 February 2004 19 June 1993
Leader's seat Party list Party list
Last election 0 seats, 0.78% 27 seats, 5.48%
Seats won 37 32
Seat change Increase 37 Increase 5
Popular vote 2,129,933 2,687,269
Percentage 10.45% (PR) 13.18% (PR)
Swing Increase 9.67% Increase 7.70%
Prime Minister before election

Mykola Azarov
Party of Regions

Elected Prime Minister

Mykola Azarov
Party of Regions

Parliamentary elections were held in Ukraine on 28 October 2012.[2] Because of various reasons, including the "impossibility of announcing election results" various by-elections have taken place since.[3][4][5][6] Hence, several constituencies have been left unrepresented at various times.[3][7][8][9]

Unlike the two previous elections, this election used a parallel voting system, with half the seats elected by party-list proportional representation using a 5% election threshold and the other half by first-past-the-post voting in single-member constituencies,[10] with alliances no longer allowed.[11] The parallel voting system was used previously in 1998 and 2002.[12]

The election campaign was limited to 90 days.[10] Every citizen of Ukraine 18 years of age or older[13] was able to vote in 33,540 polling stations in Ukraine and 116 foreign polling stations in 77 countries.[14][15]

The Party of Regions won the largest number of seats while Fatherland (with several parties together as an "umbrella" party) came second.[16] The election was also noted for the rise of the far-right party Svoboda, which came in fourth.[16] The new (on the national scene) party UDAR also enjoyed noticeable great success with its third place in the election.[16] The far-left Communist Party of Ukraine almost tripled its numbers of voters but because of the mixed election system used in the election it only won five more seats compared with the previous election.[16] Because of this mixed system three small parties and 43 unaffiliated politicians also made it into parliament.[16]

The new parliament was appointed and started its tasks on 12 December 2012 – six weeks after the elections.[17][18] This was the last national Ukrainian election Crimea participated in before the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation in 2014.

  1. ^ https://tsn.ua/politika/timoshenko-i-yacenyuk-ocholyat-spisok-ob-yednanoyi-opoziciyi.html Тимошенко і Яценюк очолять список об'єднаної опозиції
  2. ^ Parliament mulls Feb. 3 vote to amend Constitution, Kyiv Post (31 January 2011)
    Parliament sets parliamentary elections for October 2012, presidential elections for March 2015, Kyiv Post (February 1, 2011)
    Ukraine sets parliamentary vote for October 2012, Kyiv Post (1 February 2011)
    Early parliamentary elections may take place in May - Ukraine's Yanukovych, RIA Novosti (25 January 2010)
  3. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference IUfinalresults12112012 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference 100prUKNWelect was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference repeat7112012 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference now 7 troubled constituencies after 2012 Ukrainian elections was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference Baloha and Dombrovsky mandates 3-7-13 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference BBCCAMP was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference 5 troubled constituencies after 2012 Ukrainian elections was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference newUKRelectionlawof171111IFU was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ Parliament passes law on parliamentary elections, Kyiv Post (17 November 2011)
  12. ^ Ukrainian communists to seek return to proportional electoral system, Interfax-Ukraine (8 November 2012)
  13. ^ (in Ukrainian) Перший крок до зриву виборів, Ukrainska Pravda (9 April 2012)
  14. ^ After counting all ballots at 116 foreign polling stations "Svoboda" wins in parliamentary elections in Ukraine Archived 2012-12-02 at the Wayback Machine, National Radio Company of Ukraine (29 October 2012)
    No violations reported at Ukraine's overseas polling stations, ITAR-TASS (28 October 2012)
  15. ^ Central Election Commission forms 33,540 polling stations in Ukraine and 114 abroad, Kyiv Post (12 April 2012)
  16. ^ a b c d e Cite error: The named reference CESOlszańskiUKel12 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  17. ^ Parliament of sixth convocation ends its work, Kyiv Post (6 December 2012)
  18. ^ You Scratch My Back, and I'll Scratch Yours, The Ukrainian Week (26 September 2012)