From Single-Member Districts to Proportional and Back to Mixed: Verkhovna Rada Elections, 1990–2019

Ukraine’s parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, has 450 seats. The way those 450 people are chosen changed three times across the nine elections held between 1990 and 2019: from a system in which every seat was chosen in a single-member district, to a mixed system in which half were chosen from party lists, to a proportional system in which every seat came from a list, and then back to a mixed system. A new Electoral Code was also created at the end of 2019, but as of September 2026 no Verkhovna Rada election has yet been held under it.

This article traces the mechanics of each election in chronological order using the text of the electoral laws and the records of the Central Election Commission (CEC). The powers of the Verkhovna Rada, the president, and the Cabinet, and why elections are not held under martial law, are covered in the article on what Ukraine’s president, parliament, and Cabinet each decide. This article does not evaluate parties or politicians.

Timeline of Nine Elections

“Early” denotes elections the Central Election Commission classifies as “позачергові” (held mid-term rather than on the regular schedule). A 2004 constitutional amendment extended the parliament’s term from four years to five, and a 2011 amendment set the regular election as the last Sunday of October in the fifth year. This history is covered in the article on 30 years of Ukraine’s constitution.

1990 and 1994: Getting to a Majority

The 1990 election was held before independence, to choose the parliament of the Soviet Ukrainian republic. The law of October 27, 1989, “On the Election of People’s Deputies of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic” (No. 8304-XI), established 450 districts, declared elected the candidate who won a majority of those voting, and provided that an election in which fewer than half of eligible voters voted would not be valid. If three or more candidates ran and none won a majority, the top two would go to a runoff. The Verkhovna Rada’s decision the following day, October 28 (No. 8309-XI), set the voting date as Sunday, March 4, 1990.

The post-independence law of November 18, 1993 (No. 3623-XII) likewise retained an “absolute majority” method with 450 single-member districts. To be elected, a candidate needed a majority of those voting and at least 25% of the eligible voters on the electoral rolls. An election in which turnout fell below 50% would not be valid (Article 43 as promulgated).

According to the IEU entry “Supreme Council of Ukraine,” under these conditions only 49 people were declared elected in the first round of voting on March 27, 1994, with a further 289 chosen in April. When parliament convened on May 11, it had 338 members; elections for the remaining vacant districts continued for the next two years, and the same entry states that as of May 1996, 24 districts still had no representative.

1998 and 2002: Half by List

The law of September 24, 1997 (No. 541/97-ВР) changed the method to “mixed (district and proportional).” Of the 450 seats, 225 were chosen by plurality in single-member districts (the candidate with the most votes wins), and 225 by a nationwide list of parties and electoral blocs (alliances of parties). A party or bloc whose list vote fell short of 4% of those voting could not take part in the allocation of seats. Central Election Commission records show that 30 lists were filed in the 1998 election, of which 8 won seats.

The law of October 18, 2001 (No. 2766-III) also kept 225 by list, 225 by district, and the 4% threshold. In the 2002 election, 6 of 33 lists won seats.

2006 and 2007: Everyone by List

The law of March 25, 2004 (No. 1665-IV) switched to a proportional method choosing all 450 seats from a single nationwide list, and lowered the threshold to 3%. Single-member districts disappeared, and voters cast only a single vote for a party or bloc list. In the 2006 election, 5 of 45 lists won seats; in the 2007 early election, 5 of 20 lists won seats.

2012 to 2019: Back to Mixed

The law of November 17, 2011 (No. 4061-VI) returned to a mixed method of 225 by list, 225 by district, and raised the threshold to 5%. Only parties, not the electoral blocs allowed under earlier laws, could now file lists. In 2012, 5 of 21 lists cleared the 5% line; in 2014, 6 of 29; and in 2019, 5 of 22.

2014 and 2019: Districts Where No Voting Took Place

According to Central Election Commission records, voting took place in only 198 of the 225 single-member districts in the October 26, 2014 election. No voting took place in the 10 districts of the Russian-occupied Autonomous Republic of Crimea or the 2 districts of the city of Sevastopol, and voting took place in only 12 of 21 districts in Donetsk oblast and 5 of 11 in Luhansk oblast. In the July 21, 2019 election, voting took place in 199 districts; besides the 12 districts of Crimea and Sevastopol, 9 districts in Donetsk oblast and 5 in Luhansk oblast saw no voting.

The Number of Winners Differs by Source

Adding the 225 list seats to the number of single-member districts where voting was held gives a maximum of 423 for 2014 and 424 for 2019. The IEU entry, however, states that the 2014 election chose “only 417 of the 450.” The difference could reflect what point in time is counted, or whether subsequent withdrawals or repeat elections are included, but this article has not confirmed the final number of winners against Central Election Commission materials.

Which Turnout Figure to Use

The figure reported as “turnout” is not always the same one. On election night, the Central Election Commission publishes a preliminary figure gathered by phone from polling stations, labeled “provisional.” The 2019 preliminary figure, excluding overseas polling stations, was 49.84%. Calculated instead from the number of voters recorded in the election-result protocol, 2019 comes to 49.24% (15,759,548 who took part ÷ 29,973,739 on the electoral rolls). For 2014 as well, against a preliminary figure of 52.42%, the protocol-based calculation is 51.91%. This article’s timeline uses the protocol figures.

• 2014: Per the protocol, 30,921,218 eligible voters on the rolls, 16,052,228 who took part
• 2012: Likewise, 36,213,010 and 20,797,206
• 2006: Likewise, 37,528,884 and 25,352,380

The 2019 Electoral Code, and Elections Under Martial Law

On December 19, 2019, the Verkhovna Rada adopted an Electoral Code (No. 396-IX). Article 133 of the code, which took legal effect on January 1, 2020, provides that Verkhovna Rada elections are to be held by a “proportional method,” using regional lists drawn from a unified nationwide list, and requires that a regional list’s combined nationwide vote reach at least 5% to take part in the allocation of seats. Single-member districts disappeared once again.

However, no Verkhovna Rada election has yet been held under this method. This is because, under the martial law declared on February 24, 2022, the day of Russia’s full-scale invasion, Article 19 of the Law on Martial Law prohibits Verkhovna Rada elections (see the final section of the article on the Verkhovna Rada’s powers). The same code also governs local elections, and local elections were held on October 25, 2020 (the article on oblasts, raions, and hromadas). The state of elections in the 1990s is covered in the final section of the article on half a century of postwar Ukraine.