Early parliamentary elections were held in Ukraine on 30 September 2007. The election date was determined following agreement between the President Viktor Yushchenko, the Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych and the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian Parliament) Oleksandr Moroz on 27 May 2007, in an attempt to resolve the political crisis in Ukraine triggered by the 2 April 2007 presidential decree on dissolution of Ukraine's parliament.
The 450 seats were divided among all parties that achieved a minimum 3% nationwide vote tally. The number of seats that are allocated to each party, above the 3% participation rate quota, is calculated using the Hamilton method of apportionment.
An alliance of two electoral blocs associated with the Orange Revolution, Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc (BYuT) and Our Ukraine-Peoples Self Defence (OU-PSD) obtained a narrow majority of seats, leaving their main rival, the Party of Regions (PoR) in opposition.
Background.
Following the 2006 parliamentary elections, there was an ongoing power struggle between the president and the parliamentary majority, which resulted in the dissolution of parliament. The majority in the parliament, known as Coalition of National Unity, was formed by Party of Regions, Communist Party, and Socialist Party. It was opposed by Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc and Our Ukraine.
Early in 2007, several members of the opposition indicated their support to the ruling coalition. If sufficient numbers of members of parliament supported the government, the Coalition of National Unity could have secured a two-thirds majority, empowering the parliament to override the president's right of veto and enabling the parliament to initiate limited constitutional changes.
On 2 April 2007, Yushchenko decreed the dissolution of the Verkhovna Rada.
The authority of the president to dismiss the parliament was challenged in the Constitutional Court, however following the president's intervention in the operation of the Constitutional Court the court has not ruled on the constitutionality of the president's decree.
The election was originally scheduled to be held on 27 May 2007 and later postponed to 24 June 2007. On 27 May 2007 an agreement was signed by President Viktor Yushchenko, Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, and Parliamentary Speaker Oleksandr Moroz, scheduling the elections to be held on 30 September 2007.
The President's previous decrees were revoked and a new decree based on the provisions of and of Ukraine's Constitution was issued in its place in August 2007 following the resignation of over 150 members of the opposition parties.
Registered parties and blocs.
"Number in parentheses is the number of candidates included on the party list. Parties or blocs that obtained 3% or more of the vote are in bold."
Conduct.
3354 international observers were officially registered to monitor the conduct of the election.
Representatives of the Council of Europe, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and Fair Election organization registered officials with the Central Elections Committee. The OSCE closely worked with Ukrainian officials in the design, administration, and conduct of the election.
Observers declared that elections generally met international standards for democratic elections. However they noted:
Results.
The first polling places to open were at the Ukrainian embassies in Australia and Japan. Election districts were open from 7:00AM until 10:00PM local time. According to the Central Election Commission of Ukraine 63.22% of registered voters cast ballots. This easily exceeded the 50% participation required by Ukrainian law to make the election valid.
Five parties received the required election threshold of 3% of the total vote and entered the Verkhovna Rada: Party of Regions (PoR),
Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc (BYuT), Our Ukraine-Peoples Self Defence (OU-PSD), the Communist Party of Ukraine (CPU) and the Bloc Lytvyn (BL). The Socialist Party of Ukraine (SPU) secured only 2.86% of the vote and as such did not win any seats in the new parliament. Had the Socialist Party received an additional 0.14% of the vote the overall results would have been more or less the same as the previous Ukrainian parliamentary election in 2006 with the addition of Bloc Lytvyn representatives.
Comparison with previous elections.
In 2006, minor parties that received less than the 3% statutory representation threshold, accounted for 17% of all registered votes. In 2007, this number had fallen to 5.5%. This 11.5% difference shows a voter consolidation towards major political parties. 
The most prominent winners of the 2007 election were the Tymoshenko- and the Lytvyn Bloc, who gained 27 and 20 parliamentary seats respectively, while the Socialist Party lost all of its 33 seats. The Our Ukraine bloc merged with the newly formed People's Self-Defence. Despite a marginal 0.15% gain of votes, they lost 9 of their 81 previously held seats.
Voter turnout fell 5.5%, from 67.5% in 2006 to 62% in 2007.
Government formation.
Following the announcement of preliminary election results, the parties expressed their position on forming the coalition. The Party of Regions announced itself a winner of the election and stated that it started negotiations on forming a ruling coalition. The party did not express the desire to be in opposition. Tymoshenko's Bloc advocated a coalition with Our Ukraine and possibly Lytvyn's Bloc. Yulia Tymoshenko was strongly against any coalition with the Party of Regions or the Communists. She stated that her Bloc would be in opposition should such a coalition be formed. President Yushchenko has expressed the need for a better relationship between coalition and opposition. This should be achieved by providing the opposition with posts in the parliament and the government. Lytvyn's Bloc received proposals from all top parties on forming a coalition. Leaders of the Bloc stated that their decision will be made at the party's assembly. Oleksandr Moroz, the leader of the Socialist Party of Ukraine, acknowledged his defeat on 4 October 2007 and supported Tymoshenko's bid for premiership.
Yulia Tymoshenko, following the formation of a coalition between the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc and Our Ukraine–People's Self-Defense Bloc was subsequently elected prime-minister on 18 December 2007. Her candidacy was supported by the vote of 226 deputies.
The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine is competent on the condition that no less than two-thirds of its has been elected. This means that if any one of the two largest parties resign en masse, the parliament would lose its authority and fresh elections would be required.
Parliamentary factions after the elections.
After the election various factions were formed in parliament. It was possible for 15 or more deputies to form a parliamentary faction (a lawmaker could join only one faction; the chairman and his two assistants could not head factions of deputies). hence not all parties represented in the Verkhovna Rada had their own faction. Factions are colored raspberry.
Faction changes after the 2007 elections.
Numerous MPs were removed from their original faction after the 2007 election; several left their (original) faction to join another faction in October 2010. From 2006 till October 2010 this was not allowed because of the (so-called) "imperative mandate".
In November 2010 the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc faction was officially renamed “Bloc Yulia Tymoshenko-Batkivschyna”. and the Bloc of Lytvyn faction was renamed People's Party faction. On February 16, 2011 a new parliamentary faction "Reforms for the Future" was created. The parliament elected in the following election on 28 October 2012 was appointed and started its tasks six weeks after the elections on 12 December 2012. The parliament elected in 2007 convened on 6 December 2012 for the last time.
References.
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