Early

presidential elections A presidential election is the election of any head of state whose official title is President. Elections by country Albania The president of Albania is elected by the Assembly of Albania who are elected by the Albanian public. Chile The pr ...

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 26 June 1994, with a second round on 10 July. Nohlen, D & Stöver, P (2010) ''Elections in Europe: A data handbook'', p1976 They were held ahead of schedule following a compromise between President

Leonid Kravchuk Leonid Makarovych Kravchuk ( uk, Леонід Макарович Кравчук; 10 January 1934 – 10 May 2022) was a Ukrainian politician and the first president of Ukraine, serving from 5 December 1991 until 19 July 1994. In 1992, he signed ...

and 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 ...

. The elections saw Kravchuk defeated by his former

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Leonid Kuchma Leonid Danylovych Kuchma ( uk, Леоні́д Дани́лович Ку́чма; born 9 August 1938) is a Ukrainian politician who was the second president of Ukraine from 19 July 1994 to 23 January 2005. Kuchma's presidency saw numerous corrup ...

. They were the first presidential elections in the

Commonwealth of Independent States The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) is a regional intergovernmental organization in Eurasia. It was formed following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. It covers an area of and has an estimated population of 239,796,010. ...

in which the incumbent was defeated. Kuchma took office on 19 July, marking the first

peaceful transfer of power A peaceful transition or transfer of power is a concept important to democratic governments in which the leadership of a government peacefully hands over control of government to a newly-elected leadership. This may be after elections or during t ...

since the fall of Communism.

Background

On 17 June 1993 the Verkhovna Rada voted to hold a referendum on 26 September that would serve as a

motion of no confidence A motion of no confidence, also variously called a vote of no confidence, no-confidence motion, motion of confidence, or vote of confidence, is a statement or vote about whether a person in a position of responsibility like in government or mana ...

in President Kravchuk. However, the referendum was cancelled two days before it was due to be held. The

instead decided to hold early parliamentary elections on 24 March 1994, and early presidential elections two months later.

Results

In the first round Kravchuk was supported by the People's Movement (which had originally collected signatures for Volodymyr Lanovyi) and the Democratic Association, an alliance of right-wing parties that viewed Kuchma as being pro-Russian. Kuchma was supported by the Interregional Bloc of Reforms, and

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of th ...

candidate

Oleksandr Moroz Oleksandr Oleksandrovych Morozrussian: Алекса́ндр Алекса́ндрович Моро́з, translit=Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Moroz (born 29 February 1944) is a Ukrainian politician. He was the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada twice, ...

was supported by the

Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. A ...

and Peasant Party.Political parties of Ukraine in cooperation with structures of power
Kyiv center of political research and conflictology After he was knocked out, the Communists supported Kuchma in the second round.Dmitry Bazyo
Elections-99: Kuchma and CPU – together again!
Den, 15 May 1999

References

{{1994 presidential election candidates, Ukraine

Presidential election A presidential election is the election of any head of state whose official title is President. Elections by country Albania The president of Albania is elected by the Assembly of Albania who are elected by the Albanian public. Chile The pre ...

Presidential elections in Ukraine June 1994 events in Europe July 1994 events in Europe

Leonid Kuchma Leonid Kravchuk