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Abstract
The formation of a party system is widely regarded as a key to successful and sustainable patterns of democratisation. In this essay we examine the evolution of the party system in Ukraine, focusing on the extent to which the Euromaidan has addressed previous problems and weaknesses. So far the post-Soviet Ukrainian party system has been exceptionally unstable as electoral legislation, the factional composition of Ukraine’s parliament, and the dominant parties in Ukraine underwent frequent changes. We argue that, despite advances in democratisation as a result of the revolutionary events of 2013–2014, the essential features of Ukraine’s party system have not changed. The legislative, ideological and organisational foundations of the Ukrainian party-political landscape and parliamentary politics have remained fragile.
Notes
The authors would like to thank Kataryna Wolczuk, Derek Averre, Khrystyna Parandii as well as the two anonymous reviewers of Europe-Asia Studies for their kind help in improving this essay. Responsibility for remaining imprecision lies with us.
1 When the USSR collapsed in 1991, Ukraine already had 12 officially registered parties (Karmazina Citation2012a, p. 587).
2 Ukraine’s October 2015 local elections are not included in the scope of this essay.
3 ‘Technical parties’ is a specifically post-Soviet term used to designate pseudo-organisations created ad hoc for manipulative purposes in order, for example, to take away votes from real parties with similar sounding names and public profiles. See Wilson (Citation2005).
4 This conforms to the maximising model of electoral system change as discussed by Benoit (Citation2004, p. 373).
5 ‘Which System of Parliamentary Elections do You Believe is Best for Ukraine? (Dynamics 2001–2007)', Oleksandr Razumkov Ukrainian Center for Economic and Political Research, available at: http://www.razumkov.org.ua/ukr/poll.php?poll_id=99, accessed 1 June 2015.
6 ‘Vyznachalnym dlya vybortsiv e heopolitychnyi vybir partii ta movne pytannya’, The Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation (DIF), available at: http://dif.org.ua/ua/commentaries/sociologist_view/-viznacha.htm, accessed 1 June 2015.
7 ‘Hromads’ka dumka pro politychnykh lideriv i partii: cherven’ 2001’, The Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation (DIF), June 2001, available at: http://dif.org.ua/ua/polls/2001_polls/gromadska-dumka-pro-politichnih-lideriv-i-partii-cherven-2001-r_.htm, accessed 1 June 2015.
8 ‘Do You Trust Political Parties?’, Razumkov Centre, March 2015, available at: http://www.uceps.org/ukr/poll.php?poll_id=1030, accessed 1 June 2015.
9 ‘Do You Trust Political Parties?’, Razumkov Centre, 2001–2011, available at: http://www.razumkov.org.ua/ukr/poll.php?poll_id=82, accessed 1 June 2015.
10 ‘Pro politychni partii’, Law No. 2365-14, adopted in 2001, last edited in February 2016, available at: http://zakon4.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/2365-14, accessed 24 March 2016.
11 ‘Pro vnesennya deyakykh zmin do zakonodavchykh aktiv Ukrainy shchodo zapobihannya i protydii politychnii koruptsii’, Law No. 731-19, adopted on 8 October 2015, available at: http://zakon4.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/731-19/page, accessed 24 March 2016.
12 ‘Pro vnesennya deyakykh zmin do deyakykh zakonodavchykh aktiv Ukrainy u zv’yazku z zaprovadzhenniam derzhavnoho finansuvannya politychnykh partii v Ukraini’, Law No. 1349-15, adopted on 27 November 2006, available at: http://zakon5.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/1349-15, accessed 24 March 2016.
13 Despite their names, both Poroshenko’s Bloc and the Opposition Bloc are not party alliances, but proper parties themselves, since blocs are forbidden under current electoral law.
14 ‘The List of Political Parties’, State Registration Service, available at: http://www.drsu.gov.ua/party, accessed 1 June 2015.
15 ‘Ukraine: Extract from “Programmatic Parties”’, IDEA, 2011, available at: http://www.idea.int/development/upload/ukraine.pdf, accessed 1 June 2015.
16 ‘Mazhorytarna dynamika mizh vyboramy 2012 ta 2014. Infohrafika’, PRportal, 2014, available at: http://prportal.com.ua/Peredovitsa/mazhoritarna-dinamika-mizh-viborami-2012-ta-2014-infografika, accessed 1 June 2015.
17 The first violent escalation during the protests, in front of Ukraine’s Presidential Administration, on 1 December 2013 involved rightwing extremists. Yet the clash happened under dubious circumstances and may not have been a genuine confrontation, but a staged escalation in order to discredit the protests (Likhachev Citation2014).
18 ‘Natsionalnyi ekzyt-poll’2012’, DIF, 2014, available at: http://dif-exitpoll.org.ua/ua/golovna.htm, accessed 10 July 2015.
19 ‘Vyschyi adminsud pidtverdyv zakonnist’ zaborony KPU’, Zaxid.net, 25 January 2016, available at: http://zaxid.net/news/showNews.do?vishhiy_adminsud_pidtverdiv_zakonnist_zaboroni_kpu&objectId=1380324, accessed 5 February 2016.
20 Sadovyi however, was only 50th in his party’s list, thereby signalling that he preferred to remain L’viv’s mayor, rather than become a national politician, for the time being.
21 ‘Fatherland’ was, moreover, one of only two parties which did not include a single nonpartisan candidate on their electoral list, while only two non-members were included in the Communist Party’s list.
22 ‘Public Opinion Survey: Residents of Ukraine’, Rating Group Ukraine & International Republican Institute, 2015, available at: http://www.iri.org/sites/default/files/wysiwyg/2015_11_national_oversample_en_combined_natl_and_donbas_v3.pdf, accessed 5 February 2016.
23 ‘U novii Verkhovnii Radi naibil’she zhinok za vsyu istoriyu—KVU’, Ukrains’ka Pravda, 12 November 2014, available at: http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2014/11/12/7044034/, accessed 1 June 2015.
24 ‘Porivnyannya prohram politychnykh partii’, Ukrains’ka Pravda, 21 October 2014, available at: http://www.pravda.com.ua/articles/2014/10/21/7041350/, accessed 1 June 2015.
25 ‘Politychni partii prydilyayut pomitno menshu uvahu rozvytku pidpryemnytstva ta maloho i seredn’oho biznesu—analiz program’, CIPE, 2014, available at: http://cipe-eurasia.org/%D0%BF%D0%BE%D0%BB%D1%96%D1%82%D0%B8%D1%87%D0%BD%D1%96-%D0%BF%D0%B0%D1%80%D1%82%D1%96%D1%97-%D0%BF%D1%80%D0%B8%D0%B4%D1%96%D0%BB%D1%8F%D1%8E%D1%82%D1%8C-%D0%BF%D0%BE%D0%BC%D1%96%D1%82%D0%BD%D0%BE/, accessed 1 June 2015.
26 ‘Poroshenko: Bol’shynstvo voyuyushchikh za Ukrainu na Donbasse—russkoyazychnye’, Korrespondent.net, 31 March 2015, available at: http://korrespondent.net/ukraine/3497931-poroshenko-bolshynstvo-vouiuischykh-za-ukraynu-na-donbasse-russkoiazychnye, accessed 1 June 2015.
27 ‘Use bil’she ukraintsiv khochut’ v NATO ta ES—opytuvannya’, Ukrains’ka Pravda, 20 November 2014, available at: http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2014/11/20/7044855/, accessed 1 June 2015.
28 ‘U klyuchovykh ministerstvakh do 75% kerivnykh posad zaimayut’ vykhidtsi z Donbasu’, Dzerkalo Tyzhnya, 21 September 2013, available at: http://dt.ua/POLITICS/u-klyuchovih-ministerstvah-do-75-kerivnih-posad-zaymayut-vihidci-z-donbasu-128837_.html, accessed 1 June 2015.
29 ‘Bil’she nizh polovyna kerivnykiv ukrains’kykh pidpryemstv vvazhayut’, scho sytuatsiya z koruptsiieyu za pivroku ne zminylasya, kozhen chetvertyi vidznachae pohirshennya—opytuvannya’, Interfax-Ukraine, 15 April 2015, available at: http://ua.interfax.com.ua/news/general/260559.html, accessed 1 June 2015.
30 ‘Maizhe 80% ukraintsiv perekonani, shcho z koruptsieyu u kraini nichoho ne zminylosya’, Ukrains’ka Pravda, 27 December 2014, available at: http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2014/12/27/7053476/, accessed 1 June 2015.
31 ‘Eks-nardep: smotryashchi vid Yanukovycha lyshylysya, im navit’ lyustratsiya ne zahrozhue’, Ekonomichna Pravda, 13 October 2014, available at: http://www.epravda.com.ua/news/2014/10/13/497791/, accessed 1 June 2015.
32 ‘Ukraine—Parliamentary Elections, 28 October 2012: Final Report’, OSCE ODIHR, available at: http://www.osce.org/odihr/elections/98578, accessed 9 August 2015.
33 ‘VoxUkraine Report on Voting Patterns in Rada: The Real Coalition and is Samopomich a Dissenter?’, VoxUkraine, 2015, available at: http://voxukraine.org/2015/04/16/voxukraine-report-on-voting-patterns-in-rada-the-real-coalition-and-is-samopomich-a-dissenter/, accessed 1 June 2015.
34 On 1 September 2015, after the draft of this essay was completed, the Radical Party formally left the coalition (see, ‘Lyashko zayavyv, shcho Radykal’na partiya vykhodyt z koalitsii’, Novoe Vremia, 1 September 2015, available at: http://nv.ua/ukr/ukraine/politics/ljashko-zajaviv-shcho-radikalna-partija-vihodit-z-koalitsiji-66616.html, accessed 17 January 2016). Afterwards, its MPs voted according to circumstances, and often with the governmental majority.
35 ‘Rada Formalizes Budget Funding of Political Parties’, UNIAN, 8 October 2015, available at: http://www.unian.info/politics/1147297-rada-formalizes-budget-funding-of-political-parties.html, accessed 17 January 2016.