The only presidential elections were contested in the

Autonomous Republic of Crimea The Autonomous Republic of Crimea, commonly known as Crimea, is a de jure autonomous republic of Ukraine encompassing most of Crimea that was annexed by Russia in 2014. The Autonomous Republic of Crimea occupies most of the peninsula,

for the post of

President of Crimea The President of the Republic of Crimea ( uk, Президент Республіки Крим; russian: Президент Республики Крым, crh, Qırım Cumhuriyetiniñ Prezidenti, Къырым Джумхурийетининъ П� ...

, at the time a republic within

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 inva ...

. The office was created by the Verkhovna Rada of Crimea, the republic's

unicameral Unicameralism (from ''uni''- "one" + Latin ''camera'' "chamber") is a type of legislature, which consists of one house or assembly, that legislates and votes as one. Unicameral legislatures exist when there is no widely perceived need for multi ...

parliament October 13, 1993. Elections were subsequently held on January 16, 1994 with the second round on January 30 since a

two-round system The two-round system (TRS), also known as runoff voting, second ballot, or ballotage, is a voting method used to elect a single candidate, where voters cast a single vote for their preferred candidate. It generally ensures a majoritarian resu ...

was used to elect the President. The presidential elections in Crimea were one of the most important precedents of the Crimean crisis that laid the basis for the Ukrainian-Russian international relationship.

Overview

The pro-Russian

Yuriy Meshkov Yuri Aleksandrovich Meshkov ( uk, Юрій Олександрович Мєшков, ''Yuriy Oleksandrovych Meshkov'', russian: Юрий Александрович Мешков; October 25, 1945 – September 29, 2019) was a Ukrainian politician ...

won the second round of voting with 72.9 percent of the vote.Russians in the Former Soviet Republics
by

Pål Kolstø Paul () is a common masculine given name in countries and ethnicities with a Christian heritage (Eastern Orthodoxy, Catholicism, Protestantism) and, beyond Europe, in Christian religious communities throughout the world. Paul – or its variation ...

Indiana University Press Indiana University Press, also known as IU Press, is an academic publisher founded in 1950 at Indiana University that specializes in the humanities and social sciences. Its headquarters are located in Bloomington, Indiana. IU Press publishes 140 ...

, 1995, (page 194) Some of the other candidates that showed interest, but not listed in the table below were Yevhen Isaev (Green Party of Crimea) and Natalia Vasilyeva (Sevastopol City Council deputy). The Crimean parliament refused to register the

People's Movement of Ukraine The People's Movement of Ukraine ( uk, Народний Рух України, Narodnyi Rukh Ukrayiny) is a Ukrainian political party and first opposition party in Soviet Ukraine. Often it is simply referred to as the Movement ( uk, Рух, Ru ...

's representative on November 18, 1993.

Background

Meshkov was able to remain in office until March 17, 1995 when the

Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine 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 ...

abolished the office of president. Two weeks thereafter the

President of Ukraine The president of Ukraine ( uk, Президент України, Prezydent Ukrainy) is the head of state of Ukraine. The president represents the nation in international relations, administers the foreign political activity of the state, condu ...

temporarily re-subordinated the government of Crimea to the

Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine ( uk, Кабінет Міністрів України, translit=Kabinet Ministriv Ukrainy; shortened to CabMin), commonly referred to as the Government of Ukraine ( uk, Уряд України, ''Uriad Ukrai ...

with reservation to appoint the Crimean prime-minister by the President of Ukraine. In light of that the parliament of Crimea appealed to both parliaments of Russia and Ukraine not to hurry in signing the friendship treaty without ignoring the interest of people of the peninsula. At first the Russian government stated that the Crimean problem is the Ukrainian internal issues, implying that there are no intentions of the Russian government to intervene. Even the First Deputy Prime Minister Oleg Soskovets who arrived to Kyiv to sign an international agreement between Russia and Ukraine soon after the disestablishment of the presidential post in Crimea confirmed that it will not influence the ongoing negotiations between the two neighboring countries. State Duma, nevertheless, later issued its note of concern for the negotiations with Kyiv which may jeopardize the stability in the region. Soon thereafter the

President of the Russian Federation The president of the Russian Federation ( rus, Президент Российской Федерации, Prezident Rossiyskoy Federatsii) is the head of state of the Russian Federation. The president leads the executive branch of the federal ...

announced that the friendship treaty could not be signed, while the current Russian foreign minister Andrei Kozyrev in the context of the situation in Crimea chose the following words: Stern, Jessica Eve. ''Moscow Meltdown: Can Russia Survive''. "International Security" 18, No.4 (spring 1994) The ''Crimean question'' first surfaced in January 1992 when on the initiative of Vladimir Lukin the Russian parliamentarians were given a draft of resolution concerning the

1954 transfer of Crimea The transfer of the Crimean Oblast in the Soviet Union in 1954 was an administrative action of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union that transferred the government of the Crimean Peninsula from the Russian SFSR to the Ukraini ...

. The resolution was composed by the Committee of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Economic Relations which he headed at that time and proposed to annul the decision of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. The proposal was not addressed at that time to avoid any additional open confrontations ( Civil war in Tajikistan,

First Nagorno-Karabakh War The First Nagorno-Karabakh War, referred to in Armenia as the Artsakh Liberation War ( hy, Արցախյան ազատամարտ, Artsakhyan azatamart) was an ethnic conflict, ethnic and territorial conflict that took place from February 1988 t ...

, Georgian Civil War, and others). When the issue of Crimea was raised again in 1994 together with the

Black Sea Fleet Chernomorskiy flot , image = Great emblem of the Black Sea fleet.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Great emblem of the Black Sea fleet , dates = May 13, ...

, Lukin stated that his main intentions were to put the government of Ukraine in front of the dilemma either to surrender the Ukrainian ports and the Fleet or deal with questioning status of the Crimea, the invalidation of which he had intentions to pass in the Russian Parliament with the before mentioned resolution.

Results

, - style="background-color:#E9E9E9" ! style="text-align:left;vertical-align:top;" , Candidates — nominating parties ! style="text-align:right;" , Votes first round ! style="text-align:right;" , % ! style="text-align:right;" , Votes second round ! style="text-align:right;" , % , - , style="text-align:left;vertical-align:top;" ,

— Bloc "Russia" , style="vertical-align:top;" , 557,226 , style="vertical-align:top;" , 38.50 , style="vertical-align:top;" , 1,040,888 , style="vertical-align:top;" , 72.92 , - , style="text-align:left;vertical-align:top;" ,

Mykola Bahrov Mykola Vasylyovych Bahrov ( uk, Микола Васильович Багров; 26 October 1937 – 21 April 2015) was a Soviet and Ukrainian politician. He was a chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Crimea in 1990–1994 and Governor of Crimea O ...

— (supported by

Mejlis ( ar, المجلس, pl. ') is an Arabic term meaning "sitting room", used to describe various types of special gatherings among common interest groups of administrative, social or religious nature in countries with linguistic or cultural conne ...

) , style="vertical-align:top;" , 254,042 , style="vertical-align:top;" , 17.55 , style="vertical-align:top;" , 333,243 , style="vertical-align:top;" , 23.35 , - , style="text-align:left;vertical-align:top;" ,

Serhiy Shuvainykov Sergius is a male given name of Ancient Roman origin after the name of the Latin ''gens'' Sergia or Sergii of regal and republican ages. It is a common Christian name, in honor of Saint Sergius, or in Russia, of Saint Sergius of Radonezh, and ...

— Russian Party of Crimea , style="vertical-align:top;" , 196,324 , style="vertical-align:top;" , 13.56 , colspan=2 rowspan=4, , - , style="text-align:left;vertical-align:top;" ,

Leonid Hrach Leonid Ivanovych Hrach ( uk, Леоні́д Іва́нович Гра́ч), also as Leonid Ivanovich Grach (russian: Леони́д Ива́нович Гра́ч), is a Soviet, Ukrainian, and Russian politician. Biography Hrach was born in a town ...

—

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 ...

, style="vertical-align:top;" , 176,330 , style="vertical-align:top;" , 12.80 , - , style="text-align:left;vertical-align:top;" ,

Ivan Yermakov Ivan () is a Slavic male given name, connected with the variant of the Greek name (English: John) from Hebrew meaning 'God is gracious'. It is associated worldwide with Slavic countries. The earliest person known to bear the name was Bulgari ...

— Ukrainian president representative in Sevastopol , style="vertical-align:top;" , 90,347 , style="vertical-align:top;" , 6.22 , - , style="text-align:left;vertical-align:top;" ,

Volodymyr Verkoshansky Volodymyr ( uk, Володи́мир, Volodýmyr, , orv, Володимѣръ) is a Ukrainian given name of Old East Slavic origin. The related Ancient Slavic, such as Czech, Russian, Serbian, Croatian, etc. form of the name is Володимѣръ ...

— self-nomination , style="vertical-align:top;" , 14,205 , style="vertical-align:top;" , 0.98 , - , style="text-align:left;vertical-align:top;" , Total , style="vertical-align:top;" , 1,288,474 , style="vertical-align:top;" , 100.00 , style="vertical-align:top;" , 1,374,131 , style="vertical-align:top;" , 100.00 , - , colspan=5, Source:

References

{{Crimean elections Elections in Crimea 1994 elections in Ukraine