1994 Ukrainian presidential election

1994 Ukrainian presidential election

26 June 1994 (first round) 10 July 1994 (second round)
Turnout	70.37% (first round) 71.63% (second round)
Nominee Leonid Kuchma Leonid Kravchuk Party Independent Independent Popular vote 14,016,850 12,111,603 Percentage 52.35% 45.24%
President before election Leonid Kravchuk Independent Elected President Leonid Kuchma Independent

Early presidential elections were held in Ukraine on 26 June 1994, with a second round on 10 July. They were held ahead of schedule following a compromise between President Leonid Kravchuk and the Verkhovna Rada, the Ukrainian parliament. The elections saw Kravchuk defeated by his former Prime Minister Leonid Kuchma. They were the first presidential elections in the Commonwealth of Independent States in which the incumbent was defeated.

Kuchma took office on 19 July, marking the first peaceful transfer of power in Ukraine 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 in President Kravchuk. However, the referendum was cancelled two days before it was due to be held. The Verkhovna Rada 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 pro-Russian. Kuchma was supported by the Interregional Bloc of Reforms, and Socialist Party candidate Oleksandr Moroz was supported by the Communist Party and Peasant Party. After Moroz was knocked out, the Communists supported Kuchma in the second round.

Candidate		Party	First round		Second round
			Votes	%	Votes	%
	Leonid Kravchuk	Independent	9,977,766	38.36	12,111,603	45.24
	Leonid Kuchma	Independent	8,274,806	31.81	14,016,850	52.35
	Oleksandr Moroz	Socialist Party of Ukraine	3,466,541	13.33
	Volodymyr Lanovyi	Independent	2,483,986	9.55
	Valeriy Babych	Independent	644,263	2.48
	Ivan Plyushch	Independent	321,886	1.24
	Petro Talanchuk	Independent	143,361	0.55
Against all			697,564	2.68	645,508	2.41
Total			26,010,173	100.00	26,773,961	100.00
Valid votes			26,010,173	98.22	26,773,961	99.59
Invalid/blank votes			470,498	1.78	109,681	0.41
Total votes			26,480,671	100.00	26,883,642	100.00
Registered voters/turnout			37,630,835	70.37	37,531,666	71.63
Source: Nohlen & Stöver