Ukraine |
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Politics of Ukraine take place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic and of a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the Cabinet. Legislative power is vested in the parliament (Verkhovna Rada). Scholars have described Ukraine's political system as "weak, fractured, highly personal and ideologically vacuous while the judiciary and media fail to hold politicians to account" (Dr. Taras Kuzio in 2009).[1][2][3] Ukrainian politics has been categorised as "over-centralised" which is seen as both a legacy of the Soviet system and caused by a fear of separatism.[2][4]
Shortly after becoming independent in 1991, Ukraine named a parliamentary commission to prepare a new constitution, adopted a multi-party system, and adopted legislative guarantees of civil and political rights for national minorities. A new, democratic constitution was adopted on June 28, 1996, which mandates a pluralistic political system with protection of basic human rights and liberties, and a presidential form of government.
The Constitution was amended in December 2004[5] to ease the resolution of the 2004 presidential election crisis. The consociationalist agreement trasformed the form of government in a semi-presidentialism in which the President of Ukraine had to cohabit with a powerful Prime Minister. The Constitutional Amendments took foce between January and May 2006.
The Constitutional Court of Ukraine in October 2010 overturned the 2004 amendments, considering them unconstitutional.[6] The present valid Constitution of Ukraine is therefore the 1996 text.
Freedom of religion is guaranteed by law, although religious organizations are required to register with local authorities and with the central government. Minority rights are respected in accordance with a 1991 law guaranteeing ethnic minorities the right to schools and cultural facilities and the use of national languages in conducting personal business. According to the Ukrainian constitution, Ukrainian is the only official state language. However, in Crimea and some parts of eastern Ukraine—areas with substantial ethnic Russian minorities—use of Russian is widespread in official business.
Freedom of speech and press are guaranteed by law, but authorities sometimes interfere with the news media through different forms of pressure. In particular, the failure of the government to conduct a thorough, credible, and transparent investigation into the 2000 disappearance and murder of independent journalist Georgiy Gongadze has had a negative effect on Ukraine's international image. Over half of Ukrainians polled by the Razumkov Center in early October 2010 (56.6%) believed political censorship existed in Ukraine.[7]
Official labor unions have been grouped under the Federation of Labor Unions. A number of independent unions, which emerged during 1992, among them the Independent Union of Miners of Ukraine, have formed the Consultative Council of Free Labor Unions. While the right to strike is legally guaranteed, strikes based solely on political demands are prohibited.
Office | Name | Party | Since |
---|---|---|---|
President | Viktor Yanukovych | Party of Regions | 25 February 2010 |
Prime Minister | Mykola Azarov | Party of Regions | 11 March 2010 |
The president is elected by popular vote for a five-year term. The President nominates the Prime Minister, who must be confirmed by parliament. The Prime-minister and cabinet are de jure appointed by the Parliament on submission of the President and Prime Minister respectively. Pursuant to Article 114 of the Constitution of Ukraine.
A large share of the current top officials in the executive branch and majority parliament coalition are from East Ukraine, most notably from Donetsk Oblast.[8]
The Verkhovna Rada (Parliament of Ukraine) has 450 members, elected for a four year term (five year between 2006 and 2012 with the 2004 amendments). Prior to 2006, half of the members were elected by proportional representation and the other half by single-seat constituencies. Starting with the March 2006 parliamentary election, all 450 members of the Verkhovna Rada were elected by party-list proportional representation. The Verkhovna Rada initiates legislation, ratifies international agreements, and approves the budget.
The overall trust in legislative powers in Ukraine is very low.[9]
Ukrainian parties tend not have a clear ideology[10] but tend to be centred around civilizational and geostrategic orientations rather than economic and socio-political agendas (as in Western politics),[11] personalities and business interests.[12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23] Party membership is lower than 1% of the population eligible to vote (compared to a average 4.7% in the European Union[24]).[25][26]
The initial second round of the Presidential Election 2004 (on November 17, 2004) was followed by the Orange Revolution, a series of peaceful protests that resulted in the nullification of the second round. The Supreme Court of Ukraine ordered a repeat of the re-run to be held on December 26, 2004, and asked the law enforcement agencies to investigate cases of election fraud.
Candidates — nominating parties | Votes first round 31-Oct-04 | % | Votes run-off 21-Nov-04 | % | Votes rerun 26-Dec-04 | % |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Viktor Yushchenko — Self-nomination | 11,188,675 | 39.90 | 14,222,289 | 46.61 | 15,115,712 | 51.99 |
Viktor Yanukovych — Party of Regions | 11,008,731 | 39.26 | 15,093,691 | 49.46 | 12,848,528 | 44.20 |
Oleksandr Moroz — Socialist Party of Ukraine | 1,632,098 | 5.82 | ||||
Petro Symonenko — Communist Party of Ukraine | 1,396,135 | 4.97 | ||||
Nataliya Vitrenko — Progressive Socialist Party of Ukraine | 429,794 | 1.53 | ||||
Others | 988,363 | 3.53 | ||||
Against All | 556,962 | 1.98 | 707,284 | 2.31 | 682,239 | 2.34 |
Informal | 834,426 | 2.97 | 488,025 | 1.59 | 422,492 | 1.45 |
Total | 28,035,184 | 100.00 | 30,511,289 | 100.00 | 29,068,971 | 100.00 |
Participation rate from 37,613,022 | 74.54 | 81.12 | 77.28 | |||
Source: Central Election Commission of Ukraine. On December 3, the Supreme Court of Ukraine declared the results of the November 21, 2004 run-off ballot to be invalid. The re-run ballot was held on December 26, 2004. |
Parties and blocs | Votes | % | Swing % | Seats | (2006) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Party of Regions (Партія регіонів) | 8,013,895 | 34.37 | +2.23 | 175 | -11 (186) |
Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc (Блок Юлії Тимошенко) | 7,162,193 | 30.71 | +8.43 | 156 | +27 (129) |
Our Ukraine–People's Self-Defense Bloc (Блок Наша Україна–Народна Самооборона) | 3,301,282 | 14.15 | +0.21 | 72 | –9 (81) |
Communist Party of Ukraine (Комуністична партія України) | 1,257,291 | 5.39 | +1.73 | 27 | +6 (21) |
Lytvyn Bloc (Блок Литвина) | 924,538 | 3.96 | +1.53 | 20 | +20 (0) |
Socialist Party of Ukraine (Соціалістична партія України) | 668,234 | 2.86 | -2.82 | -33 (33) | |
Progressive Socialist Party of Ukraine (Прогресивна соціалістична партія України) | 309,008 | 1.32 | |||
All-Ukrainian Union "Freedom" (Всеукраїнське об'єднання "Свобода") | 178,660 | 0.76 | +0.41 | ||
Party of Greens of Ukraine (Партія Зелених України) | 94,505 | 0.40 | -0.13 | ||
Electoral Bloc of Liudmyla Suprun – Ukrainian Regional Asset (Виборчий блок Людмили Супрун — Український регіональний актив) | 80,944 | 0.34 | |||
Communist Party of Ukraine (renewed) (Комуністична партія України (оновлена)) | 68,602 | 0.29 | |||
Party of Free Democrats (Партія Вільних Демократів) | 50,852 | 0.21 | |||
Bloc of the Party of Pensioners of Ukraine (Блок партії пенсіонерів України) | 34,845 | 0.14 | |||
Party of National Economic Development of Ukraine (Партія національно-економічного розвитку України) | 33,489 | 0.14 | |||
Ukrainian People's Bloc (Український Народний Блок) | 28,414 | 0.12 | |||
Peasants' Bloc "Agrarian Ukraine" (Селянський Блок "Аграрна Україна") | 25,675 | 0.11 | |||
Christian Bloc (Християнський блок) | 24,597 | 0.10 | |||
Electoral Bloc of Political Parties "KUCHMA" (Виборчий блок політичних партій «КУЧМА») | 23,676 | 0.10 | |||
Bloc "All-Ukrainian Community" (Блок "Всеукраїнська громада") | 12,327 | 0.05 | |||
All-Ukrainian Party of People's Trust (Всеукраїнська партія Народної Довіри) | 5,342 | 0.02 | |||
Against all | 637,185 | 2.73 | |||
Invalid ballot papers | 379,658 | 1.62 | |||
Total (turnout 62.02%) | 23,315,257 | 100 | 450 | ||
Source: Central Election Commission of Ukraine (English) More detailed information: Центральної виборчої комісії України (Ukrainian) |
Candidates — nominating parties | First round[36] | Second round | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Votes | % | Votes | % | |||
Viktor Yanukovych — Party of Regions | 8,686,642 | 35.32 | 12,481,266 | 48.95 | ||
Yulia Tymoshenko — All-Ukrainian Union "Fatherland" | 6,159,810 | 25.05 | 11,593,357 | 45.47 [37] | ||
Serhiy Tihipko — Self-nominated | 3,211,198 | 13.05 | ||||
Arseniy Yatsenyuk — Self-nominated | 1,711,737 | 6.96 | ||||
Viktor Yushchenko — Self-nominated | 1,341,534 | 5.45 | ||||
Petro Symonenko — Communist Party of Ukraine | 872,877 | 3.54 | ||||
Volodymyr Lytvyn — People's Party | 578,883 | 2.35 | ||||
Oleh Tyahnybok — All-Ukrainian Union "Freedom" | 352,282 | 1.43 | ||||
Anatoliy Hrytsenko — Self-nominated | 296,412 | 1.20 | ||||
Inna Bohoslovska — Self-nominated | 102,435 | 0.41 | ||||
Oleksandr Moroz — Socialist Party of Ukraine | 95,169 | 0.38 | ||||
Yuriy Kostenko — Ukrainian People's Party | 54,376 | 0.22 | ||||
Liudmyla Suprun — People's Democratic Party | 47,349 | 0.19 | ||||
Vasily Protyvsih — Self-nominated | 40,352 | 0.16 | ||||
Oleksandr Pabat — Self-nominated | 35,474 | 0.14 | ||||
Serhiy Ratushniak — Self-nominated | 29,795 | 0.12 | ||||
Mykhaylo Brodskyy — Self-nominated | 14,991 | 0.06 | ||||
Oleh Riabokon — Self-nominated | 8,334 | 0.03 | ||||
Against all | 542,819 | 2.20 | 1,113,055 | 4.36 | ||
Invalid | 405,789 | 1.65 | 305,837 | 1.19 | ||
Total | 24,588,268 | 100.00 | 25,493,529 | 100.00 | ||
Source: Central Election Commission of Ukraine |
The first round of voting took place on January 17, 2010. Eighteen candidates nominated for election in which incumbent president Viktor Yushchenko was voted out of office having received only 5.45% of the vote. The two highest polling candidates, Viktor Yanukovych (34.32%) and Yulia Tymoshenko (25.05%), will face each other in a final run-off ballot scheduled to take place on February 7, 2010
constitutional jurisdiction:
general jurisdiction:
Laws, acts of the parliament and the Cabinet, presidential edicts, and acts of the Crimean parliament (Autonomous Republic of Crimea) may be nullified by the Constitutional Court of Ukraine, when they are found to violate the Constitution of Ukraine. Other normative acts are subject to judicial review. The Supreme Court of Ukraine is the main body in the system of courts of general jurisdiction.
The Constitution of Ukraine provides for trials by jury. This has not yet been implemented in practice. Moreover, some courts provided for by legislation as still in project, as is the case for, e.g., the Court of Appeals of Ukraine. The reform of the judicial branch is presently under way. Important is also the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine, granted with the broad rights of control and supervision.
Local government is officially guaranteed. Local councils and city mayors are popularly elected and exercise control over local budgets.
Practically, the scope of local self-government is limited . A large-scale reformation of the local government (that would require new constitutional changes) is periodically urged since 2000, most actively by the Socialist Party of Ukraine and Oleksandr Moroz.
During 1992 a number of pro-Russian political organizations in Crimea advocated secession of Crimea and annexation to Russia. During USSR times Crimea was ceded from Russia to Ukraine in 1954 by First Secretary Nikita Khrushchev to mark the 300th anniversary of the Treaty of Pereyaslav. In July 1992, the Crimean and Ukrainian parliaments determined that Crimea would remain under Ukrainian jurisdiction while retaining significant cultural and economic autonomy, thus creating the Autonomous Republic of Crimea.
BSEC, CE, CEI, CIS (participating), EAPC, EBRD, ECE, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICRM, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, Inmarsat, Intelsat (nonsignatory user), Interpol, IOC, IOM (observer), ISO, ITU, NAM (observer), NSG, OAS (observer), OPCW, OSCE, PCA, PFP, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNMIBH, UNMIK, UNMOP, UNMOT, UPU, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO, Zangger Committee
Center for Adaptation of Civil Service to the Standards of EU - public institution established by the Decree of Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine to facilitate administrative reform in Ukraine and to enhance the adaptation of the civil service to the standards of the European Union.
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