2019 Ukrainian presidential election

According to Ukrainian law, the election of the President of Ukraine must take place on the last Sunday of March of the fifth year of the term of the incumbent president^[3] which in this cycle fell on 31 March 2019.^[3] The Ukrainian parliament had to approve the date of the presidential election no later than 100 days before the election day^[3] which it did on 26 November 2018.^[4][5]

According to Ukrainian law, a presidential candidate must be a citizen of Ukraine who is at least 35 years old, can speak the (state) Ukrainian language and has lived in Ukraine for the last ten years prior to election day.^[3] Candidates were nominated by a political party, or by self-nomination.^[3] Candidates also had to submit a declaration of income for the year preceding the election year.^[3] This document was then scrutinized by the National Agency for Prevention of Corruption, which subsequently published the results of the audit.^[3] Nominations could be submitted from 31 December 2018 to 4 February 2019.^[3] The end of the registration period was 9 February 2019.^[3] After a potential candidate provided the required documentation to the CEC, this body had five days to register the candidate or to refuse to do so.^[6]

Candidates were required to pay a nomination deposit of ₴2.5 million (approx. US$90,000); only the two candidates that progressed to the second round of voting would get this deposit back (the other deposits would be transferred to the state treasury).^[3]

By the end of the registration period on 9 February 2019,^[3] the CEC had registered 44 candidates for the elections.^[7][8] This meant that the largest number of candidates participated in the elections.^[9] In total, 92 people submitted documents to the CEC to participate in the elections.^[7] Five candidates withdrew.^[10][11][12] The CEC refused to register 47 people, most for their failure to pay the deposit.^[13]

Candidates could withdraw their candidacy, but not later than 23 days before the election.^[3] On 8 March, the CEC approved the final list of candidates.^[14] There were a total of 39 candidates for the first round of the election.^[15][16]

Registered candidates

More information Name, Party ...

Name	Party		Nomination		Position(s)	Registration	Notes
Ihor Shevchenko		Independent		Self-nominated	Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources (2014–2015)	4 January 2019[17]	Shevchenko had declared his intention for candidacy on 13 November 2018, but also stated he would not participate in the elections if a new candidate appears who "better meets the requirements."[18] He submitted documents to the CEC for registration as a presidential candidate on 31 December 2018 (which was also the first day of the electoral campaign).[19]
Serhiy Kaplin		Independent		Social Democratic Party [uk]	People's Deputy of Ukraine (2012–2019) Leader of the Social Democratic Party (2015–2018)	8 January 2019[20]	In October 2017, Kaplin had already stated his intention to take part of the election as the leader of the Socialist Party of Ukraine.[21] But the legal chairman of this party was Illia Kyva.[22] He filed documents to the CEC for registration as a presidential candidate on 3 January 2019.[23]
Vitaliy Skotsyk		Independent		Self-nominated	Leader of the Agrarian Party of Ukraine (2014–2018)	8 January 2019[20]	Skotysyk filed documents with the CEC 3 January 2019 for registration as the Agrarian Party of Ukraine's presidential candidate.[24] But the next day the Agrarian Party stated he had been expelled from the party the previous September for "actions that harm the authority and discredit the governing body of the party and the party as a whole".[25]
Valentyn Nalyvaichenko		Spravedlyvist [uk]		Spravedlyvist [uk]	Head of the Security Service of Ukraine (2006–2010, 2014–2015) People's Deputy of Ukraine (2012–2014) Leader of Spravedlyvist (2016–2019)	8 January 2019[20]	Nominated by his party on 3 January 2019.[26]
Vitalii Kuprii [uk]		Independent		Self-nominated	People's Deputy of Ukraine (2014–2019)	15 January 2019[27]
Anatoliy Hrytsenko		Civil Position		Civil Position	Minister of Defence (2005–2007) Leader of Civil Position (2008–2019)	15 January 2019[27]	Civil Position nominated Hrytsenko as a candidate on 11 January.[28] His candidacy is supported by the European Party of Ukraine, Native Land, Alternative [uk] and Wave [uk].[29] Andriy Sadovyi and Dmytro Gnap withdrew their candidacies in a bid to support Hrytsenko. On 5 March, Hrytsenko said he was in talks with five other candidates (Smeshko, Koshulynskyi, Dobrodomov, Bezsmertnyi and Kryvenko) on joining forces in the election.[30]
Hennadiy Balashov		5.10		5.10	People's Deputy of Ukraine (1998–2002)	18 January 2019[31]	On 21 May 2018, Balashov released a video on his official website titled "Will Balashov Run for President?" in which he asks the audience if they're "capable of raising money" for his campaign, yet doesn't say whether he will participate in the election.[32] On 19 September 2018 he clearly announced his intention to run on behalf of his party 5.10.[33]
Olha Bohomolets		Independent		Self-nominated	People's Deputy of Ukraine (2014–2019)	18 January 2019[31]	Candidate in the 2014 Ukrainian presidential election.
Oleksandr Shevchenko		UKROP		UKROP	People's Deputy of Ukraine (2014–2019)	21 January 2019[34]
Roman Nasirov		Independent		Self-nominated	Head of the State Fiscal Service (2015–2017)[35] People's Deputy of Ukraine (2014–2015)	22 January 2019[36]
Yuriy Boyko		Opposition Bloc		Self-nominated[a]	Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine (2012–2014) People's Deputy of Ukraine (2007–2010, 2014–present) Minister of Fuel and Energy (2006–2007, 2012–2014)[37]	22 January 2019[38]	Candidate for the Opposition Platform — For Life alliance.[37] His nomination was announced on 17 November. Because Opposition Platform – For life was not yet registered as a party in January 2019 it could not nominate him as a presidential candidate.[39]
Yulia Tymoshenko		Batkivshchyna		Batkivshchyna	People's Deputy of Ukraine (1997–2000, 2002–2005, 2006–2007, 2014–present) Prime Minister of Ukraine (2005; 2007–2010) Leader of the Batkivshchyna (1999–present)	25 January 2019[40]	In October 2017, Tymoshenko announced that she intended to participate.[41] On 20 June 2018 she officially declared that she would take part in the election.[42] On 16 March fellow candidate Serhiy Taruta pledged his campaign team would support Tymoshenko, however, his name was not taken off the ballot.[43] She was endorsed by the Peasant Party of Ukraine.[44]
Oleh Liashko		Radical Party of Oleh Liashko		Radical Party of Oleh Liashko	People's Deputy of Ukraine (2006–2019)[45][46] Leader of the Radical Party of Oleh Liashko (2011–present)	25 January 2019[47]
Oleksandr Vilkul		Opposition Bloc – Party for Development and Peace		Opposition Bloc – Party for Development and Peace	People's Deputy of Ukraine (2006–2010, 2014–2019) Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine (2012–2014) Governor of the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast (2010–2012)	25 January 2019[48]	Nominated by Opposition Bloc – Party for Development and Peace (the recently renamed Industrial Party of Ukraine) on 20 January 2019.[49] Vilkul had been already nominated by his party Opposition Bloc on 17 December 2018.[50] But a Ukrainian court ruled three days before (in response to a lawsuit filed by People's Deputy of Ukraine for OB Serhiy Larin) that OB's congress at which Vikul was to be nominated could not "reorganize the party by any means".[51] On 18 December 2018, the website of OB stated that therefore all the decisions made at the congress were invalid.[52]
Arkadiy Kornatskiy		Independent		Self-nominated	People's Deputy of Ukraine (2014–2019)	25 January 2019[53]
Oleksandr Moroz		Socialist Party of Oleksandr Moroz		Socialist Party of Oleksandr Moroz	Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada (1994–1998, 2006–2007) Leader of the Socialist Party of Ukraine (1991–2011) Leader of the Socialist Party of Oleksandr Moroz (2016–present) People's Deputy of Ukraine (1990–2007)	25 January 2019[54]	Declared his candidacy on 11 December 2018.[55]
Illia Kyva		Socialist Party of Ukraine		Socialist Party of Ukraine	Leader of the Socialist Party of Ukraine (2017–2019)	25 January 2019[56]	Kyva was nominated by his party on 3 November 2018.[57][22]
Ruslan Koshulynskyi		Svoboda		Svoboda	Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine (2012–2014) People's Deputy of Ukraine (2012–2014)	28 January 2019[58]	On 14 October 2018, Oleh Tyahnybok, Chairman of the party All-Ukrainian Union Svoboda, announced he would not be running for president and that the party had instead decided to nominate Koshulynskyi as the candidate of nationalist political forces.[59] On 19 November 2018, fellow Ukrainian nationalist political organizations Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, Congress of Ukrainian Nationalists, Right Sector and C14 endorsed Koshulynskyi's candidacy.[60]
Oleksandr V. Danylyuk		Spilna Sprava		Self-nominated	Advisor of the Minister of Defense (2014)[35]	28 January 2019[61]
Serhiy Taruta		Osnova		Osnova	People's Deputy of Ukraine (2014–present) Governor of Donetsk Oblast (2014) Leader of Osnova (2017–2019)	29 January 2019[62]	Taruta was nominated by Osnova on 22 September 2018.[63][64] He withdrew from the running on 16 March to support Yulia Tymoshenko, however, his name will feature on the ballot.[43]
Volodymyr Zelenskyy		Independent		Servant of the People	Showman, screenwriter, actor, and art-director of Kvartal 95	30 January 2019[65]	Announced his candidacy during his comedy show on 31 December 2018.[66]
Ihor Smeshko		Strength and Honor		Self-nominated	Head of the Security Service of Ukraine (2003–2005) Advisor to the President of Ukraine (2014–2019)	30 January 2019[65][67]	Announced his intention to run on 13 January 2019.
Inna Bohoslovska		Independent		Self-nominated	People's Deputy of Ukraine (1998–2002, 2007–2014)[68] Leader of the Viche (2001–2007)	30 January 2019[65][67]
Mykola Haber		Patriotic Party of Ukraine		Self-nominated	People's Deputy of Ukraine (1998–2002)[69] Leader of the Patriotic Party of Ukraine (1998–present)	1 February 2019[70]
Yuriy Derevyanko		Volia		Volia	People's Deputy of Ukraine (2012–2019)[71]	1 February 2019[70]	Nominated by the party Volia on 27 January.[72]
Roman Bezsmertnyi		Independent		Self-nominated	Ambassador of Ukraine to Belarus (2010–2011) Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine (2005–2006) People's Deputy of Ukraine (1998–2005, 2006–2007)	4 February 2019[73]	Declared his candidacy on 31 May 2018.[74]
Viktor Bondar		Revival		Revival	People's Deputy of Ukraine (2014–present) Leader of the Revival (2015–2019)	4 February 2019[75]	Filed documents to the CEC on 31 January.[76]
Viktor Kryvenko		People's Movement of Ukraine		People's Movement of Ukraine	People's Deputy of Ukraine (2014–2019) Leader of the People's Movement of Ukraine (2017–2021)	5 February 2019[77]	Kryvenko was chosen as the People's Movement of Ukraine candidate on 10 January 2019.[78][79]
Ruslan Rihovanov		Independent		Self-nominated	Acting Head of Sevastopol Sea Fishing Port	5 February 2019[77]
Serhiy Nosenko		Independent		Self-nominated	Investment consultant	5 February 2019[77]
Vasyl Zhuravlev		Stability		Stability	Leader of the Stability (2016–present)	6 February 2019[80]
Andriy Novak		Patriot		Patriot	Chairman of the Committee of Economists of Ukraine (2010–present) Leader of the Ukrainian Party (2012–2013)[81]	6 February 2019[80]	Nominated by the Patriot party on 24 January 2019.[82]
Yuriy Tymoshenko		Independent		Self-nominated	People's Deputy of Ukraine (2014–2019)	6 February 2019[80]	Yulia Tymoshenko called for Yuri Tymoshenko's registration to be annulled because they share the same surname and initials, which could confuse voters.[83][84] On 6 March, two individuals were arrested for attempting to bribe Yuri Tymoshenko to withdraw from the elections.[85]
Petro Poroshenko		Independent[b]		Self-nominated	President of Ukraine (2014–2019)[86] Minister of Economic Development and Trade (2012) Minister of Foreign Affairs (2009–2010) Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine (2005) People's Deputy of Ukraine (1998–2014, 2019–present)	7 February 2019[87]	In July 2018, the deputy head of Poroshenko's parliamentary bloc announced that an election campaign team had been formed for Poroshenko, and that it was very likely that he would participate in the elections.[88] Poroshenko announced his participation in the elections on 29 January 2019.[89] Serhiy Krivonos withdrew his candidacy in support of Poroshenko.[90]
Yurii Karmazin		Motherland Defenders Party		Self-nominated	People's Deputy of Ukraine (1994–2006, 2007–2012)	7 February 2019[91]
Yulia Lytvynenko		Independent		Self-nominated	Journalist TV presenter	7 February 2019[91]
Oleksandr Vashchenko		Independent		Self-nominated	Economist	7 February 2019[91]
Volodymyr Petrov		Independent		Self-nominated	Political analyst YouTuber[92][93]	7 February 2019[94]	Candidate in the 2012 Ukrainian parliamentary election. At the time of registration, Petrov was under house arrest and being investigated for alleged harassment of a female student.[95]
Oleksandr Solovyev		Reasonable Force		Reasonable Force	Leader of the Reasonable Force (2016–present)	8 February 2019[96]	The CEC initially refused to register him on 2 February because a point in his election manifesto was interpreted as "encroaching on Ukraine's territorial integrity."[97] After making corrections to his manifesto, he resubmitted documents and was registered.

Close

Analysis of candidates by the Ukrainian NGO "Chesno" found that Poroshenko had the largest campaign fund (₴415 million, about $15.4 million), followed by Yulia Tymoshenko with ₴320 million, Zelenskyy with ₴102.8 million, and Serhiy Taruta with ₴98.4 million.^[121] By comparison, in the 2010 Ukrainian presidential election, then winner Viktor Yanukovych spent over $40 million and runner-up Tymoshenko spent $36 million.^[121]

During the 2019 Ukrainian presidential election, various Ukrainian television channels supported a candidate for President of Ukraine.^[122]

Five groups supported Poroshenko:

• Petro Poroshenko's Channel 5 and Pryamiy supported Poroshenko and were very critical of Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Yulia Tymoshenko.
• Dmytro Firtash's very powerful Inter supported Yuriy Boyko and Poroshenko.
• Rinat Akhmetov's TRK Ukraina, which is owned by Akhmetov's System Capital Management Holdings, supported Poroshenko, Oleh Liashko, and Oleksandr Vilkul. Akhmetov's Opposition Bloc nominated Vilkul.
• Pro-Russia Viktor Medvedchuk's Channel 112 and NewsOne supported Poroshenko, Liashko, and Boyko. Medvedchuk's Opposition Platform — For Life nominated Boyko. The godfather of Medvedchuk's daughter is Vladimir Putin.
• Petro Dyminskyi's ZIK supported Poroshenko's allies allowing them to explain their story while they were under investigation.

Three TV groups were very critical of Poroshenko:

• Ihor Kolomoisky's 1+1 media group supported Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Zelenskyy worked for Kolomoisky's channel. According to an analysis by Ukrainian NGO Detektor Media [uk] by September 2020 1+1 was not supporting (if not hostile to) Zelenskyy and his Servant of the People party.^[123] Detektor Media claimed it was instead promoting For the Future.^[123]
• Andriy Sadovyi's Channel 24, supported Anatoliy Hrytsenko and opposed Poroshenko.
• Pro-Russia Yevheniy Murayev's Nash TV supported pro-Russia Vilkul and was against Poroshenko but neutral to Tymoshenko and Liashko.

Under the state-owned National Public Broadcasting Company, UA:Pershyi was critical of Poroshenko.

Victor Pinchuk's ICTV, Novyi Kanal and STB were neutral.

Although 34,544,993 people were eligible to vote in the elections,^[167] the March 2014 annexation of Crimea by Russia and the occupation of parts of Donetsk Oblast and Luhansk Oblast by separatists since April 2014 meant roughly 12% of eligible voters were unable to participate in the elections.^[168][3] The CEC also closed all five foreign polling stations in Ukrainian embassies and consulates within Russia ahead of the vote.^[169]

A total of 2,344 international observers from 17 countries and 19 organizations were officially registered to monitor the elections.^[170][171] A record number of 139 non-governmental Ukrainian organizations were registered as observers.^[172]

About 18.9 million people voted in the first round of elections on 31 March, a turnout of 63%.^[173] Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Servant of the People (who received 31% of the vote) and incumbent president Petro Poroshenko (16%) advanced to the second round on 21 April.^[174][175]

Exit polls following the second round predicted that Zelenskyy would win with more than 70% of the vote.^[176] With only 3% of the votes counted, the CEC confirmed similar preliminary results.^[177] Poroshenko conceded the election in a speech soon after polls closed and exit poll data was released.^[177][178] He wrote on Twitter that "We succeeded to ensure free, fair, democratic and competitive elections... I will accept the will of Ukrainian people."^[179]

The below table shows each candidate's share of the valid vote, calculated excluding invalid votes using the results provided by the Central Election Commission:

Poroshenko tweeted that "a new inexperienced Ukrainian president... could be quickly returned to Russia's orbit of influence."^[180] Some of Zelenskyy's critics^[181] expressed concerns over his close ties with billionaire oligarch Ihor Kolomoyskyi, doubting whether Zelenskyy would be able to stand up against the country's influential oligarchs and the Russian President Vladimir Putin.^[180]

Several European Union nations offered their congratulations and hopes of continued partnerships in the future. British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said that Zelenskyy "will now truly be the Servant of the People." Similar sentiments were expressed by Andrzej Duda, President of Poland, Donald Tusk, the President of the European Council, and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. Russia's deputy foreign minister, Grigory Karasin, stated that "The new leadership now must understand and realise the hopes of its electors" in both domestic and foreign policy.^[180] Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau congratulated Zelenskyy and thanked the Canadians among the observers overseeing the elections.^[182] The President of the United States, Donald Trump, called the president-elect to congratulate him and "the Ukrainian people for a peaceful [and] democratic election."^[183]

A joint letter of congratulations was issued by both Tusk and Jean Claude Juncker, the President of the European Commission. The European Union (EU) leaders stated that they hoped Zelenskyy's victory would speed up the implementation of the remaining parts of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement, including the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area.^[184]

• 2019 Ukrainian parliamentary election
• Inauguration of Volodymyr Zelenskyy