Parliamentary elections were held in

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

on 31 March 2002.

Dieter Nohlen Dieter Nohlen (born 6 November 1939) is a German academic and political scientist. He currently holds the position of Emeritus Professor of Political Science in the Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences of the University of Heidelberg. An expe ...

& Philip Stöver (2010) ''Elections in Europe: A data handbook'', p1976 The Our Ukraine bloc emerged as the largest faction in the

Verkhovna Rada The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine ( uk, Верхо́вна Ра́да Украї́ни, translit=, Verkhovna Rada Ukrainy, translation=Supreme Council of Ukraine, Ukrainian abbreviation ''ВРУ''), often simply Verkhovna Rada or just Rada, is the ...

, winning 113 of the 450 seats. The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe noted at the time that there were physical assaults and harassment of candidates and campaign workers associated with opposition political parties prior to the March election.Ukraine:Treatment of the Social Democratic Party of Ukraine (SDPU); relationship with the National Salvation Forum (FNB); treatment of FNB members
Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada via

UNHCR The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a United Nations agency mandated to aid and protect refugees, forcibly displaced communities, and stateless people, and to assist in their voluntary repatriation, local integrati ...

(14 August 2003) The

Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc The Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc ( uk, Блок Юлії Тимошенко, БЮТ; Blok Yuliyi Tymoshenko, BYuT) was the name of the bloc of political parties in Ukraine led by Yulia Tymoshenko since 2001. In November 2011, the participation of blocs ...

complained of campaign related violations including "an informal 'media blackout,' ndnegatively slanted coverage".

Electoral system

In this election,

parallel voting Parallel voting is a type of mixed electoral system in which representatives are voted into a single chamber using two or more different systems, most often first-past-the-post voting (FPTP) with party-list proportional representation (PR). It is ...

was used. Half of the deputies to

(parliament of

) were elected on proportional basis, while the other half were elected by popular vote in single-mandate constituencies.Against All Odds: Aiding Political Parties in Georgia and Ukraine (UvA Proefschriften)
by Max Bader, Vossiuspers UvA, 2010, (page 93) In order to gain any (proportional) seats in Verkhovna Rada a party needed to receive at least 4% of the popular vote.

Opinion polls

Conduct

On 29 March 2002 the

Bloc of Yulia Tymoshenko The Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc ( uk, Блок Юлії Тимошенко, БЮТ; Blok Yuliyi Tymoshenko, BYuT) was the name of the bloc of political parties in Ukraine led by Yulia Tymoshenko since 2001. In November 2011, the participation of blocs ...

won a case on

defamation Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defini ...

against the Chairman of the Tax Administration of Ukraine

Mykola Azarov Mykola Yanovych Azarov ( uk, Мико́ла Я́нович Аза́ров, ; née, né Pakhlo; Cyrillic: Пахло; born 17 December 1947) is a Ukraine, Ukrainian politician who was the Prime Minister of Ukraine from 11 March 2010 to 27 January ...

. The Shevchenkivsky District Court of the

Kyiv Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...

city prohibited the Tax Administration of Ukraine to spread lies against the opposition electoral bloc. Late at night on 29 March 2002 vice-governor of the

Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast ( uk, Іва́но-Франкі́вська о́бласть, translit=Ivano-Frankivska oblast), also referred to as Ivano-Frankivshchyna ( uk, Іва́но-Франкі́вщина), is an administrative divisions of Ukrain ...

Mykola Shkriblyak was mortally wounded. Shkriblyak was a member of the

Social Democratic Party of Ukraine (united) The Social Democratic Party of Ukraine (united) ( uk, Соцiал-демократична партія України (об'єднана); СДПУ(о)), is a Ukrainian political party that was originally established as the Social Democratic P ...

and he was a parliamentary candidate in the 90th electoral district. He died later in a local hospital.

Results

The final election results differed greatly from the final

opinion poll An opinion poll, often simply referred to as a survey or a poll (although strictly a poll is an actual election) is a human research survey of public opinion from a particular sample. Opinion polls are usually designed to represent the opinions ...

. The 2002 parliamentary elections were the first that substantially reduced fragmentation of the

and laid the groundwork for consolidation of political views in the parliament. Yushchenko's Our Ukraine gathered most of its support from western and central regions of Ukraine, including the city of

. The Communist Party received most of its votes from eastern and southern regions, as well as from

Crimea Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a pop ...

. For United Ukraine block, which included Victor Yanukovych's Party of Regions, got most of its votes from eastern regions of Ukraine.

Donetsk Oblast The Donetsk Oblast ( ukr, Донецька область, Donetska oblast, ), also referred to as Donechchyna ( ukr, Донеччина, links=no), is an oblast of eastern Ukraine. It is Ukraine's most populous province, with around 4.1 mill ...

was the stronghold of the block, where it received more than twice the number of votes (36.83%) compared to the next highest supporting region:

Sumy Oblast Sumy Oblast ( uk, Сумська́ о́бласть, translit=Sumska oblast; also referred to as Sumshchyna – uk, Су́мщина) is an oblast (province) in the northeastern part of Ukraine. Population: The oblast was created in its most r ...

with 17.05% of the region's voters.

Yulia Tymoshenko Yulia Volodymyrivna Tymoshenko ( uk, Юлія Володимирівна Тимошенко, ; Hrihyan ();block's support came predominantly from western regions, while the Socialists were most supported in the central regions. While the Tymoshenko block received more of the national vote compared to the Socialist Party, it did not gain a plurality in any of the regions, while the Socialist Party managed to secure plurality of votes in

Poltava Oblast Poltava Oblast ( uk, Полта́вська о́бласть, translit=Poltavska oblast; also referred to as Poltavshchyna – uk, Полта́вщина, literally 'Poltava Country') is an oblast (province) of central Ukraine. The administrative ...

with 22.05%.

By electoral district

The following table demonstrates all winners of the 225 electoral districts. Several lawmakers elected into the new parliament have family ties with other lawmakers or other family members in the

executive branch The Executive, also referred as the Executive branch or Executive power, is the term commonly used to describe that part of government which enforces the law, and has overall responsibility for the governance of a State (polity), state. In poli ...

Ukrainian politics The politics of Ukraine take place in a framework of a semi-presidential republic and of a multi-party system. A Cabinet of Ministers exercises executive power (jointly with the president until 1996). Legislative power is vested in Ukraine's par ...

Faction changes after the 2002 elections

After the election, several MPs left their parties to join another others. , - , style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=left valign=top, Parties and alliances !style="background-color:#E9E9E9", Number of seats on 15 May 2002 !style="background-color:#E9E9E9", Number of seats on 19 October 2002 !style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=center, Number of seats on 2 January 2003 !style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=center, Number of seats on 16 September 2005 !style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=center, Green Arrow Up

, - , align=left, Viktor Yushchenko Bloc Our Ukraine , valign=top, 119 , valign=top, 110 , valign=top, 102 , valign=top, 45 , valign=top, Red Arrow Down

74 seats , - , align=left,

Communist Party of Ukraine The Communist Party of Ukraine, Abbreviation: KPU, from Ukrainian and Russian "" is a banned political party in Ukraine. It was founded in 1993 as the successor to the Soviet-era Communist Party of Ukraine which was banned in 1991 (accord ...

, valign=top, 64 , valign=top, 61 , valign=top, 60 , valign=top, 56 , valign=top, Red Arrow Down

8 seats , - , align=left, For United Ukraine , valign=top, 175 , valign=top, Disbanded , valign=top, Disbanded , valign=top, Disbanded , valign=top, Red Arrow Down

175 seats , - , align=left, Electoral Bloc Yuliya Tymoshenko , valign=top, 23 , valign=top, 20 , valign=top, 18 , valign=top, 40 , valign=top, Green Arrow Up

17 seats , - , align=left, Socialist Party of Ukraine , valign=top, 22 , valign=top, 21 , valign=top, 20 , valign=top, 26 , valign=top, Green Arrow Up

4 seats , - , align=left,

United Social Democratic Party of Ukraine The Social Democratic Party of Ukraine (united) ( uk, Соцiал-демократична партія України (об'єднана); СДПУ(о)), is a Ukraine, Ukrainian political parties in Ukraine, political party that was originally ...

, valign=top, 31 , valign=top, 38 , valign=top, 40 , valign=top, 20 , valign=top, Red Arrow Down

11 seats , - , colspan=6 align=left, Source: Virtual Politics - Faking Democracy in the Post-Soviet World, Andrew Wilson,

Yale University Press Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day, and became an official department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and operationally autonomous. , Yale Universi ...

, 2005,
Ukraine on Its Meandering Path Between East and West
by Andrej Lushnycky and

Mykola Riabchuk Mykola Riabchuk ( uk, Рябчук Микола Юрійович; born September 27, 1953, in Lutsk) - Ukrainian public intellectual, journalist, political analyst, literary critic, translator and writer. Riabchuk is known for his analytical art ...

, Peter Lang, 2009,
Ukraine at the Crossroads: Velvet Revolution or Belarusification
by Olexiy Haran,

National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy ( NaUKMA) ( uk, Національний університет «Києво-Могилянська академія» (НаУКМА)) is a national, research university located in Kyiv, Ukraine. The ...

, October 2002 By October 2002 the For United Ukraine faction had broken down in 8 new parliamentary factions.Ukraine at the Crossroads: Velvet Revolution or Belarusification
by Olexiy Haran,

, October 2002

References

External links

Central Election Commission of UkraineRelatively in-depth analysis of the election
GlobalSecurity.org {{Ukrainian elections Parliamentary elections in Ukraine

Parliamentary election

Parliamentary A parliamentary system, or parliamentarian democracy, is a system of democracy, democratic government, governance of a sovereign state, state (or subordinate entity) where the Executive (government), executive derives its democratic legitimacy ...

4th Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada