July 1, 2019

Snap parliamentary elections will take place on 21 July. Their outcome will be mostly defined by new faces and new parties, while old politicians will try to re-define themselves and their political forces to seem new. This article is your go-to place for all election-related news.

Official results from the Central Electoral Commission are coming in . Look at the graph below

Thank you for staying with our LIVE updates!

Here are our key conclusions on the snap parliamentary race:

[22 July, 15:50] – Sviatoslav Vakarchuk, a leader of Holos party, stressed during the press briefing in Kyiv that falsifications might be underway at the electoral district #118 in Lviv region. At this district, two main contenders are Bohdan Dubnevych, a non-aligned candidate who used to be an MP in the previous Rada, and Halyna Vasylchenko who is supported by Holos. According to the exit polls, Vasylchenko was winning by receiving 36,3% of the votes, while Dubnevych was receiving 22,9%. However, the CEC website shows that Dubnevych wins with 33,04% of the votes. Meanwhile, the district electoral commission has announced a break until 11:00 of 23 July which is against the law.

[22 July, 15:18] – It's official: Servant of the People has won in every single first-past-the-post district in Kyiv.

[22 July, 13:42] - This parliamentary election has the lowest turnout in history of Ukraine’s parliamentary election. Look at this graph

[22 July, 13:38] – Dmytro Razumkov, the head of the Servant of the People party, hinted that his political force needs no allies to form a majority in the Verkhovna Rada. At the moment, Servant of the People receives 249 sears, while 226 are needed for the majority.

[22 July, 12:27] - Yesterday’s programme by Hromadske International on Ukraine’s parliamentary election. UkraineWorld’s analyst Maxym Panchenko also joined

[22 July, 12:12] - Talks with the IMF will be resumed in September, said Andriy Gerus, Zelensky's representative to the Cabinet of ministers, reports Interfax-Ukraine.

[22 July, 12:06] - Voter turnout, final data by Central election commission

Zelensky's party can form a majority, according to estimates. Besides high party results, it has also won many single-mandate constituencies.

[22 July, 11:40] - Forecast of the number of seats in Ukraine's new parliament, data by Central election commission (over 50% of votes counted) and Ukrainska pravda. Zelensky's party can have a majority (226 seats needed for a majority; it has 247). Besides high party results, it won bulk of single-mandate constituencies.

[22 July, 10:50] — Explaining the low level of voters turnout at the snap parliamentary elections, Central Electoral Commission Deputy Head Yevhen Radchenko said it is not a problem. As he explained, the summer vacations period, as well as the nature of elections itself (early elections) – these are the factors that have influenced the final voters turnout.

[22 July, 10:12] — Poroshenko-led European Solidarity party wins the race at foreign polling stations following 100% of protocols have been counted by the Central Electoral Commission.

[22 July, 9:40] — Andriy Parubiy, the head of Verkhovna Rada and #2 on Poroshenko-led European Solidarity party’s list, does not rule out the first session of the newly elected Rada may be held in late August or at the beginning of September.

[22 July, 9:16] — Sviatoslav Vakarchuk, the leader of Holos party, said he is ready to form coalition with other parties in the future Verkhovna Rada. However, Vakarchuk says, in order this to happen, the following conditions should be met: Ukraine’s movement to EU and NATO; equality of all under the law; economy without oligarchs; MPs should "come down to earth".

[22 July, 8:39] — After more than 90% of electronic protocols coming from foreign polling stations have been counted, Servant of the People (29,35%) took the lead, followed by European Solidarity (28,72%) and Holos (18,8%) parties.

[22 July, 8:06] — 2019 snap parliamentary elections mark the lowest voters turnout in the history of parliamentary elections in Ukraine, with the final figure not exceeding 50% (49.8%), Radio Svoboda writes. In contrast, the highest turnout (75,6%) was recorded at the elections in 1994.

[22 July, 7:42] — Here are the results after 32,3% protocols have been counted by Central Electoral Commission:

Servant of the People – 42,18%

– 42,18% Opposition Platform–For Life – 12,69%

– 12,69% European Solidarity – 8,70%

– 8,70% Fatherland – 8,19%

– 8,19% Holos – 6,39%

[22 July, 7:15] — The voting on the snap parliamentary elections abroad is over. The last polling station - in San Francisco - ended its work at 6:00 Kyiv time, RBK-Ukraina reports.

[22 July, 01:56] — Oleksandr Korniyenko, the head of the Servant of the People electoral campaign and #7 on party list, suggested that the first session of the next Verkhovna Rada should take place on 24 August, Ukraine's Independence Day. "State holidays should be celebrated in a new way," Korniyenko argued.

[22 July, 00:59] — Vadym Rabinovich, one of the leaders of the Opposition Platform–For Life, said he is ready to create a coalition "with Kolomoyskiy and 1+1 TV channel." Ihor Kolomoyskiy is a Ukrainian oligarch who allegedly backs President Zelensky and his party Servant of the People. 1+1 is the most popular TV channel in Ukraine owned by Kolomoyskiy. It is a home channel for all projects of Zelensky's production company Kvartal 95.

[22 July, 00:49] — First official results started coming in. At the moment, only 3,03% of the protocols have been counted. This data is not representative at all, but here are the first results:

Servant of the People – 40,36%

– 40,36% Fatherland – 10,24%

– 10,24% Opposition Platform–For Life – 10,06%

– 10,06% European Solidarity – 8,64%

– 8,64% Radical Party of Oleh Liashko – 6,49%

– 6,49% Holos – 5,82%

– 5,82% Might and Honor – 3,45%

[22 July, 00:32] — Holos party is ready to propose its leader Sviatoslav Vakarchuk for the Prime Minister seat, Yulia Klymenko, the head of party's electoral office, said. At the same time, she stressed that it still not clear which parties will form the government.

[21 July, 23:49] - Petro Poroshenko, the leader of the “European Solidarity”, said that his party is ready to cooperate with all those who support Ukraine’s membership in the EU and NATO.

[21 July, 23:29] - Dmytro Razumkov, head of the political party “The Servant of the People” said that Zelensky’s team is preparing a “draft coalition agreement”. He said “theoretically” Zelensky’s party can go into a coalition with Vakarchuk’s ‘Holos”

[21 July, 23:10] - Victor Medvedchuk, the leader of the Opposition Platform - For Life, and Putin's best friend in Ukraine, said that the role of his party is to be in the opposition to the government, and therefore his faction will be in the opposition in the next parliament.

[21 July, 22:56] - Mikheil Saakshvili’s “Movement of New Forces” gets only 0.4% and will not be in Ukraine’s next parliament.

[21 July, 22:54] - The united forces of Ukraine’s nationalists (Svoboda; National Corps/Azov; Right Sector) get only 2.1% according to National exit poll, and will not be in Ukraine’s next parliament. Another confirmation that the weight of nationalist parties in Ukraine’s politics is exaggerated.

[21 July, 22:29] Zelensky's party wins everywhere, but the most in the Centre and South, according to National Exit Poll. In the East Servant of the People is mostly challenged by the Opposition Platform (37.7% vs 30.5%). In other regions, Zelensky's party enjoys a landslide win against all the others

[21 July, 21:47] - Oleksandr Tkachenko, director of 1+1 TV channel and candidate from “Servant of the People”, says Zelensky’s party wins in all single-mandate constituencies in Kyiv. The party also shows good results in Dnipro, Zaporizzhia and Kharkiv, but has less support in Donetsk oblast and in the Western Ukraine, he says.

[21 July, 21:43] - Important detail: party results reflect only half of the future parliament. The other half is formed by competition of individual candidates (so-called “majorytarka”), and here there can be room for surprize.

[21 July, 21:21] - Voter turnout is less than 50% as of 20.00, according to Central election commission. It was 61.37% during presidential election in spring.

[21 July, 21:05] - “Our priority is to end the war and combat corruption”, said Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky after his party’s landslide win in Ukraine’s snap parliamentary election.

[21 July, 20:40] - More or less similar picture by various exit polls: huge win by Zelensky’s party “Servant of the People” (42-44%); confident results by Medvedchuk’s Opposition platform (the most pro-Russian party among winners) - 11-12%; modest results of Poroshenko’s European Solidarity (8-9%) and Tymoshenko’s Batkivshchyna (7-8%). Vakarchuk’s Holos barely makes it with about 6%.

[21 July, 20:35] - Other exit polls:

TV channel 112:

Servant of the People - 42.7%; Opposition Platform - 12.9%; European Solidarity - 8.8%; Batkivshchyna (Fatherland) - 8.5%; Holos (Voice) - 6.5%

[21 July, 20:23] - Other exit polls:

TV channel 1+1:

Servant of the People - 44.4%; Opposition Platform - 12.5%; European Solidarity - 8.5%; Batkivshchyna (Fatherland) - 7.7%; Holos (Voice) - 6%

Ukraine’s Committee of Voters and SOCIS:

Servant of the People - 44.71%; Opposition Platform - 12.24%; European Solidarity - 8.54%; Batkivshchyna (Fatherland) - 7.56%; Holos (Voice) - 5.94%

[21 July, 20:05] - Snap elections results according to National exit poll

[21 July, 19:21] — Central Electoral Commission says the voting process in Ukraine is taking place calmly in accordance with the legislation.

[21 July, 18:54] — The voting process has ended on 15 foreign polling stations, Central Electoral Commission secretary Natalia Bernatska said, as quoted by UNN. In total, 102 foreign polling stations in 72 countries have been created for the snap parliamentary elections.

[21 July, 18:17] — Ukraine’s interior minister Arsen Avakov said that Russian media did not give up on disseminating propaganda even during pre-elections silence day and voting day in Ukraine, UNIAN reports. However, according to him, there were no serious cyber attacks by Russia during the parliamentary campaign if compared to the presidential one.

[21 July, 17:45] — The voting process has started in the USA. The polling stations will work in Washington, New York, Chicago and San Francisco, UNIAN reports with reference to Facebook page of Ukraine's Embassy in the United States.

[21 July, 17:16] — As of 16:00, the voter turnout is the following.

[21 July, 16:59] — Committee of Voters of Ukraine reports about the massive illegal campaigning during the pre-elections silence day and today, during the voting day.

[21 July, 16:32] — Speaking on air at Hromadske International, Maksym Panchenko, a UkraineWorld analyst, said the following regarding the snap parliamentary elections: "We as society should pin the politicians to their promises - it's something we need to learn to do

[21 July, 15:51] — Yulia Tymoshenko, the leader of Batkivshchyna party, voted during the snap parliamentary elections. “Today, nobody knows who will be the next Prime Minister. It depends only on your vote,” Tymoshenko stressed.

[21 July, 15:22] — No systemic violations that can influence the final outcomes of the snap parliamentary elections were registered, Central Electoral Commission reports, as quoted by UKRINFORM.

[21 July, 14:58] — The leader of Civil Position party Anatoliy Hrytsenko has voted at the parliamentary elections. According to him, Rada’s future priorities should be establishing the peace, fight against corruption and economic growth, Liga.net reports.

[21 July, 14:35] — The voting process has ended at the first foreign polling station, in Australia, UKRINFORM reports with reference to the Facebook of Ukraine’s Embassy in this country. Altogether, 57 persons have voted in Australia, the Embassy specifies.

[21 July, 14:14] — Ukraine’s Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman has voted in Vinnytsia. Commenting on the elections, he expressed hope that all the hopes Ukrainians have with regard to elections would be put into life, UKRINFORM reports. “That is why I have made absolutely credible choice for the future of Ukraine,” he stressed.

[21 July, 13:26] — Volodymyr Zelensky said that in the Prime Minister position he sees "a professional economist who doesn't have political past, who's never headed neither the government nor the parliament, and who's not a leader of any faction," Hromadske reports.

[21 July, 13:07] — Petro Poroshenko, Ukraine's President in 2014-2019 and the leader of the European Solidarity party, said he voted for the "Euro-Atlantic Ukraine."

[21 July, 13:01] — Volodymyr and Olena Zelensky also voted. Ukraine's President has shared his expectations on the future coalition.

[21 July, 12:41] — first data on the voter turnout started coming in This is the data based on 33 districts out of 199.

[21 July, 12:24] — Dmytro Razumkov, the head of the Servant of the People party, during his visit to the polling station had a discussion with a babushka who called him "pro-Russian."

[21 July, 11:57] — some statistics from the Central Electoral Commission:

Head of Ukraine’s Central Election Commission T. Slipachuk reported that for only on 27 out of 30,000 polling stations opened later than 8am. #elect_ua #UkraineElection2019 #UkraineElections #вибори19 #Вибори2019 pic.twitter.com/LeL3rMLwT7 — IFES Ukraine (@ifesukraine) July 21, 2019

[21 July, 11:53] — three armed men have been sitting in a car near the polling station in Korostyshiv, Zhytomyr region. They were detained by the police.

[21 July, 11:29] — Yulia Tymoshenko, the head of Fatherland party, stressed that her team "has a programme and strategy to achieve real progress in Ukraine and is ready to start right away." When asked who will be the next Prime Minister, Tymoshenko said that "noone knows this at the time." She also suggested that the war in Eastern Ukraine might be ended soon and Crimea and Donbas returned to Ukraine if the negotiations within the Budapest memorandum format were launched. Tymoshenko also had another war-related suggestion:

[21 July, 11:01] — as of 10:00, 2 polling stations in Chernihiv region are still closed, Ukraine's interior ministry informs. Police has already registered 218 claims and reports on violation of the electoral process.

[21 July, 10:56] — Yulia Tymoshenko, the head of Fatherland party, has already voted.

Лідерка "Батьківщини" Юлія Тимошенко приїхала на дільницю для голосування на виборах



Фото: Громадське радіо pic.twitter.com/xNtEjJo7yE — Громадське радіо (@HromadskeRadio) July 21, 2019

[21 July, 10:30] — Dmytro Razumkov, the head of the Servant of the People party is very likely to become the next Verkhovna Rada speaker. When asked about this rumor today, he replied that "everything is possible, but it is early to talk about this."

[21 July, 10:23] — Dmytro Razumkov, the head of the Servant of the People party and Yuriy Boyko and Vadym Rabinovich, the heads of Opposition Platform—For Life have already voted as well.

[21 July, 10:18] — Yulia Klymenko, the head of Holos party who is #2 on party list, has already voted.

[21 July, 10:03] — In Kherson region, the members of the electoral commission have forgotten to put a stamp "Dropped Out" against the name of a candidate who officially cancelled his participation in the elections, OPORA civil network reports. The members were putting these stamps during the voting. This is a violation of the voting process.

[21 July, 09:41] — Sweden has also joined the election observation.

Parliamentary elections in #Ukraine today. As usual, a team from @SwedeninUA takes part in the election monitoring, together with 2 long term and 15 short term observers from Sweden with @osce_odihr and 4 members of @Sverigesriksdag. pic.twitter.com/3thEfPFDLd — Martin Hagstrom (@AmbHagstrom) July 21, 2019

[21 July, 09:24] — 8 polling stations were not opened in time, Ukraine's Ukraine's National Police informs.

[21 July, 09:08] — the United States expect peaceful, free and fair elections.

CDA Taylor: “I wish the Ukrainian people all the best as they head to the polls to vote for their Rada representatives. It’s exciting to see Ukrainian democracy in action! The United States stands with the people of Ukraine in expecting peaceful, free and fair elections.” — U.S. Embassy Kyiv (@USEmbassyKyiv) July 21, 2019

[21 July, 08:56] — members of the electoral commission at one of the polling stations in Bakhmut, Donetsk region, were making preparations to falsify the elections during the night, Ukraine's National Police says. Namely, all the protocols have already been signed and ready for submission. The only thing left was to fill in the "correct results." When confronted by the police, members of the electoral commission spoiled the protocols with ink.

[21 July, 08:46] — a fire occurred at the polling station in Dnipro. The State Emergency Service of Ukraine reports that the fire did not affect the operations of the polling station.

[21 July, 08:29] — According to the Central Electoral Commission data, 2746 candidates are running via party lists, 3085 candidates — via first-past-the-post constituencies

[21 July, 08:20] — 225 MPs will be chosen via party lists (22 parties have been registered for the elections). 199 MPs will be chosen in 199 first-past-the-post constituencies (26 constituencies are on the non-government-controlled areas, so no elections will be held there).

[21 July, 08:00] — at 8:00 Kyiv time polling stations in Ukraine were opened. They will stay opened until 20:00.

[20 July, 21:30] — 7 polling stations will not function in Donetsk region. Potential shellings in the region can put civilians in danger. They were advised to vote in neighbour villages.

[20 July, 19:50] — Police reports about violations of the electoral process, in particular campaigning rules.

[20 July, 18:50] — Ukrainians over 9 regions receive text messages with agitation - Committee of Voters of Ukraine.

[20 July, 17:30] — Ukrainian air support units will help "ensure law and order" for the first time during the parliamentary elections. The United Aviation Security System of the Ministry of Internal Affairs will include staff of the National Police, the National Guard, rescuers and border guards. The decision was made by the Minister of Internal Affairs, Arsen Avakov, to promptly respond to violations of the electoral process.

[20 July, 16:42] — 717 ballots were spoiled in the single-member constituency No 65 of Zhytomyr region,- Civil Network OPORA reports. Members of the election commission put a stamp "dropped out" next to the name of the wrong candidate, Oleksandr Gongalsky, instead of Oleksandr Navrotsky who had refused to run. The chairman of the commission said it was a “mechanical” mistake, and new ballots are being produced.

[20 July, 16:32] — 136 candidates, 93 self-nominated and 43 nominees from parties were excluded from participation in the snap parliamentary elections in single-mandate districts, - Chesno Civil Movement reports. In 17 districts, 27 of those candidates were "clones". 129 candidates cancelled their registration. The largest number of "clones" appeared in Kyiv and Odesa regions.

[20 July, 14:45] — In the Embassy of Ukraine in India, all ballots for voting in the snap parliamentary elections have been spoiled. Reportedly, this happened due to the wrong stamps that had been used for the presidential elections in Ukraine. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine said the ambassadors are personally responsible for disrupting the preparation for the vote.

[20 July, 14:24] — Kyiv police reported that 642 violations were registered in the electoral sphere. 155 administrative protocols were filed, 38 criminal proceedings opened. According to the police officers, violations relate to illegal campaigning (354 cases), bribing of voters (51 cases), hooliganism (41 cases), conflicts (40 cases), interference with electoral law (16 cases), damage to property (9 cases).

[20 July, 13:42] — The "CHESNO" Civil Movement registered numerous instances of hidden campaigning during the pre-election silence day. These instances most often were billboards that are devoid of politicians' photos or names of their parties, but contain specific mottos, as well as designer hints.

[20 July, 13:05] — The Civil Network "OPORA" predicts that the count of votes cast will protract, sometimes for several days. Also, "OPORA" plans to conduct a parallel count of votes in their proportional part.

[20 July, 12:35] - NGO "Committee of Voters of Ukraine" reports numerous violations of the pre-election silence day in 9 oblasts. Among other things, campaigning billboards remain in the streets of electoral districts. Online campaigning is active, too.

[20 July, 11:50] — As electoral campaign was coming to its end, Ukraine's Ministry of Interior reported on 17 July on the number of violations registered during the campaign.

[20 July, 10:54] — OPORA: the turnout at polling stations is going to be between 40 and 50%.

[20 July, 10:20] — The pending parliamentary elections are relatively free and fair, says the leadership of the Civil Network "OPORA" watchdog in its recent interview with Glavcom.

[20 July, 9:34] — Today is pre-election silence day. All campaigning, including publication of any polls' results or opinions, that would be able to impact a constituent's choice, is prohibited.

[19 July, 18:22] — In the run up to parliamentary elections we’ve studiedwhat Ukrainian users of Facebook, Instagram and VK think about the top parties and leaders:

[19 July, 15:30] — smear campaigns were most frequently used against Holos, Servant of the People, Opposition Platform—For Life and European Solidarity parties, OPORA Civil Network reports.

[18 July, 17:05] — Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky said that it would be better if his party Servant of the People would win a single-handed majority in the next Verkhovna Rada, as it would mean that the party would not have to compromise while creating the new government. Zelensky also noted he did not like the "politics of compromises."

[18 July, 16:33] — "Party Gold" platform developed by Chesno civic movement and IFES allows to track party incomes and expenses during the electoral campaign. Orange bar shows income, while the blue one shows expenses.

[18 July, 13:43] — the Ukrainian youth is very passive in politics. That's why civil society organisations are trying to stimulate youth to participate in the elections. Below is one of the examples.

[18 July, 12:11] — Texty.org.ua have developed a model to predict the results in first-past-the-post constituencies. Here are their predictions:

Servant of the People — 60-85 MPs

— 60-85 MPs European Solidarity — 7-12 MPs

— 7-12 MPs Opposition Platform-For Life — 4-10 MPs

— 4-10 MPs Holos — 2-6 MPs

— 2-6 MPs Fatherland — 3-4 MPs

There is also a huge group of candidates which used to belong to parties but now run independently:

ex-Petro Poroshenko Bloc — 30-42 MPs

— 30-42 MPs ex-People's Front — 13-21 MPs

— 13-21 MPs ex-Revival — 10-15 MPs

— 10-15 MPs ex-Will of the People — 7-12 MPs

— 7-12 MPs ex-Opposition Bloc — 4-9 MPs

— 4-9 MPs ex-Radical Party — 1-4 MPs

[17 July, 17:22] — Sviatoslav Vakarchuk, the leader of Holos party, said in an interview with Hromadske that Ukrainian politics would benefit from more ideologic parties. We totally agree.

[17 July, 15:42] — Human rights centre ZMINA and IFES Ukraine have gathered some data on the representation of women in the current Verkhovna Rada and prognosed how many women could be in the next Rada:

[17 July, 11:46] — Brian Mefford, a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council and director of Wooden Horse Strategies LLC, lists eight things to expect from the snap elections:

Zelensky’s popularity is strong and his Servant of the People party will take a near majority. The pro-Russian Opposition Platform-For Life party will finish in second with close to 15 percent. Petro Poroshenko’s European Solidarity party has stopped hemorrhaging voters and will receive 8-10 percent. Yulia Tymoshenko’s Fatherland party will return to parliament and win 7-9 percent. Svyatoslav Vakarchuk’s Holos party will enter parliament and may benefit from a late breaking surge. Opposition Bloc is polling at 2.5 percent, which is only half of the support needed to enter parliament. At the start of the campaign,Civic Position (Anatoliy Hrytsenko), Radical Party (Oleh Liashko), and Might and Honor (Ihor Smeshko) all seemed to be within striking distance of winning seats in parliament. At this point, all three are out of steam, and their support has either flatlined or petered out. The late surge in this campaign is from Prime Minister Volodymyr Groisman’s Ukrainian Strategy party, which is pushing four percent and has doubled in support over the last few weeks.

[16 July, 17:07] — sociologic services did a very good job predicting the results of the first and second round of presidential elections. However, with parliamentary elections this is not the case. Let's take three recent polls which were conducted within a similar timeframe:

Rating Group (6-10 July) estimates Servant of the People rating at 47% ;

rating at ; KIIS (3-13 July) gives Servant of the People 52,3% ;

; Razumkov Centre (5-11 July) says Servant of the People has 41,5% support.

At least one of these sociologic services is gravely wrong. But which one?

[16 July, 16:23] — Andreas Umland, a well-known German political scientist, explained how electronic instruments are helping Ukrainians to distinguish parties according to their political, socio-economic and cultural agendas.

[15 July, 14:13] — according to the poll by Razumkov Centre, 5 parties pass the 5% barrier:

[15 July, 13:38] — Ukraine's national police have uncovered a scheme to buy votes in one of the first-past-the-post constituencies in Zakarpattia region. People were paid 1500 UAH (around 58 USD) to support one of the candidates.

[12 July, 17:29] — Facebook has published a report on political ads purchased by Ukrainian parties and organisations ahead of parliamentary elections. Here are the leaders:

European Solidarity — 40 ads worth $66,672 on party's FB page+18 ads worth $12,671 on party's FB page without political disclaimer+124 ads worth $30,868 on the page of Petro Poroshenko=$110,211. Holos — 238 ads worth $88,742 on party's FB page +16 ads worth $10,801 on the page of Sviatoslav Vakarchuk=$99,543. Fatherland — 58 ads worth $30,405 on the FB-page of Yulia Tymoshenko+11 ads worth $10,851 on the FB-page I support Tymoshenko — Fan Club=$41,256. Opposition Platform — For Life — 1,971 ads worth $29,535 on the FB-page BOYKO for Prime Minister=$29,535. Servant of the People — 239 ads worth $27,625 on party's FB page=$27,625.

[12 July, 14:57] — Ukraine's Central Electoral Commission has already registered 755 official foreign observers for the snap parliamentary elections. 56 of them are representatives of 9 countries, while 699 represent various international organisations.

[11 July, 18:10] — Opposition Platform—For Life has an ace up its sleeve—Russia's president Vladimir Putin. The party works with pro-Russian Ukrainians mostly living in southern and eastern regions of Ukraine, so close ties with Putin work indeed. When Yuriy Boyko and Viktor Medvedchuk, the leaders of the party, went to Moscow to meet with Russian PM Dmitriy Medvedev on 22 March, a week prior to the first round of the presidential elections, Boyko's rating went up by 2%.

Medvedchuk and Boyko are doing the same prior to parliamentary elections. On 10 July they went to Moscow and met with Medvedev in order to facilitate cooperation between Opposition Platform—For Life and Yedinaya Rossiya, a party of Putin and Medvedev, and to "launch a dialogue between Ukraine and Russia". Medvedchuk also commented on the war between Ukraine and Russia.

[11 July, 16:27] — Ukraine’s snap parliamentary elections will take place in 10 days time. We have prepared a “survival guide” for you: here are 10 key things to know ahead of the vote.

[11 July, 12:29] — Verkhovna Rada has adopted the new Electoral Code in the second reading! It foresees abolishment of the first-past-the-post constituencies and introduces the open party lists. However, it will only be applied to the next parliamentary elections.

Verkhovna Rada has adopted the new Electoral Code in the second reading.

[10 July, 15:21] — For the last year Ukrainian streets have been filled with political ads on billboards and citylights. Sometimes it is really excessive:

[10 July, 13:57] — Previously we've reported that Moscow’s propagandistic state-controlled Russia 24 television channel announced that it would partner with Ukraine’s pro-Russian NewsOne channel to air a television conference between the people of the two countries. The planned broadcast sparked outrage across the country and protests in Kyiv — and was cancelled. Now it turns out that this broadcast was planned by Serhiy Liovochkin, former head of Yanukovych presidential administration and #5 on Opposition Platform—For Life party list, in order to mobilize the electorate of his party, Ukrayinska Pravda writes with reference to its source in Opposition Platform—For Life.

[10 July, 13:28] — a rare alternative poll was published by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology. It shows results which are rather different to the ones provided by Rating Group (see on our interactive graph above).

[9 July, 18:02] — 25% of all candidates on party lists are actually not the members of these parties, Civil Network OPORA reports.

[9 July, 15:41] — A group of some 25 young and idealistic former civil society members widely respected in the West, where many received a higher education, the Euro-optimists were leaders of the uprising that broke out when Yanukovych, already seen by critics as corrupt, scrapped plans to sign the Association Agreement with the European Union and called for closer trade ties with Russia. All of them entered the Verkhovna Rada in 2014 via party lists of three political forces — Petro Poroshenko Bloc, Samopomich and Fatherland. Now Euro-optimists face a re-election where they are mostly running in the majority constituencies. Do they have chances to succeed? Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty explains this:

[8 July, 18:39] — Let's face the reality: very few Ukrainians read programs of political parties. People mostly choose parties based on charisma and promises of their leaders. However, “political tests” are also rather popular. You answer some questions and in the end you see which political parties’ programmes are most similar to your views. Here’s one of such tests (available in Ukrainian language only): PROVybir.

[8 July, 16:51] — European Pravda published an extensive overview of the strategy of all parties which can make it to the parliament regarding EU and NATO integration based on the questionnaire which was prepared with the assistance of several analytical centres. It should be noted that Opposition Platform—For Life did not take part in the survey, while Servant of the People, European Strategy, Fatherland,Holos, Might and Honor parties did. Here are some key conclusions:

All parties fully support EU and NATO integration; All parties except for Opposition Platform—For Life support NATO Membership Action Plan and modernization of the Ukrainian army according to NATO standards; Fatherland is the only party which underlined the importance of international audit of Ukraine’s defence industry; Might and Honor party has shown the most expertise in NATO-related bloc of questions; When asked about language conflict between Ukraine and Hungary, all parties except for Fatherland said the current strategy of Ukraine’s foreign ministry is worth continuing. Fatherland party said that they would open new negotiations with Budapest involving the European Commission; All parties are ready to ratify The Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (Istanbul Convention); All parties except for Fatherland support establishment of the land market; All parties except for European Strategy would allow Ukrainians to have several citizenships (but not for public officials). European Solidarity has the most robust programme regarding the EU; Servant of the Peopledeclares the right things but may be hampered by lack of experience; Holos does not want to change the status quo in any significant way, which, according to the article, is not so good, for it will keep in place the obstacles that are currently existent in the implementation of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement; When it comes to the Fatherland party, it stands for the establishment of the legislative procedure according to which Euro-integrational bills will be considered a priority and all other proposed bills will be verified against the Association Agreement.

[8 July, 10:43] — Central Electoral Commission decided not to conduct another draw for party numbers in the voting ballots. Commission's argument is that in case of the second draw the ballotswould not be printed in time by 21 July.

[5 July, 13:59] — a Ukrainian court obliged the Central Electoral Commission to conduct another draw for party numbers in the voting ballots. Agrarian Party of Ukraine went to court when another party — The Movement of New Forces of Mikheil Saakashvili — was added with number 22 after the first draw. The problem is that more that 5 million ballots have already been printed and paid for from the state budget, while the parties already use their ballot numbers in campaigning.

[5 July, 13:37] — President Zelensky did nothing to return captured Ukrainian sailors home, Opposition Platform — For Life party claims. The party underlines that the public conflict between Zelensky and Pavlo Klimkin, Ukraine's foreign minister, does not help as well.

[5 July, 13:27] — Last night Yulia Tymoshenko, the leader of the Fatherland party, made an appearance at NewsOne TV channel last night. Basically, she countinues her presidential campaign promising decrease of utility tariffs and increase of wages and pensions.

[4 July, 16:22] — Ihor Smeshko, the leader of Power and Honor party, said in an interview with Dmytro Gordon that he would be ready to create a coalition with the Servant of the People if his party made it into the Verkhovna Rada.

[4 July, 15:08] — The latest poll by Rating Group shows that Opposition Platform — For Life continues to grow, while the support of Servant of the People continues to decrease. Meanwhile, Fatherland, Holos and European Strategy are tied closely. See the trends on our interactive graph above.

[4 July, 13:12] — Last week we published an analysis of Ukraine's newcomer parties. It is still worth attention:

[4 July, 11:51] — Ukraine's foreing ministry replied to the yesterday's statement of Liliane Maury Pasquier, President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, on PACE monitors for Ukraine's elections. According to the ministry, PACE itself stressed that its resolutions were not obligatory when it allowed Russian delegation to return to the body even though Russia did not act on seven PACE resolutions regarding Russian aggression in Ukraine.

[4 July, 11:05] — In the end, Central Electoral Commission cancelled the registration of Kliuyev and Shariy for the parliamentary elections. Ukraine Security Service (SBU) provided proof that both did not live in Ukraine for the last five years.

[3 July, 17:30] — Liliane Maury Pasquier, President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), has expressed regret at the Ukrainian Parliament’s decision to withdraw its invitation to the Assembly to observe the snap parliamentary elections. This decision followed PACE allowing Russian delegation to return to the body. Pasquier underlined that Ukraine is obliged to invite Assembly observers.

Here's why PACE did no good allowing Russia to return:

[3 July, 13:26] — Holos party claimed it returned donations worth 2 million UAH which "were received from people with tax debt or outstanding conviction." Previously Yulia Klymenko, the head of the party, said in an interview for Ukrayinska Pravda that Holos lacks 10-15 million UAH for the desired electoral campaign and is constantly raising funds.

[3 July, 11:40] — Central Electoral Commission could still cancel the registration of Kliuyev and Shariy if it proved that they had not lived in Ukraine for the last five years, MP Mustafa Nayyem writes. Meanwhile, Ukraine's interior minister Arsen Avakov submitted a letter to the Commission saying that Kliuyev has not visited Ukraine since 2014.

[2 July, 17:19] — Ukraine's Central Electoral Commission had to register for parliamentary elections Andriy Kliuyev, the former head of Viktor Yanukovych Presidential administration, and Anatoliy Shariy, a popular blogger who often spreads pro-Russian messages. Both have not lived in Ukraine for the last five years — which is a requirement to run for Rada. However, Ukraine's High Court ruled otherwise, as it did previously with former Odesa region governor Mikheil Saakashvili.

[2 July, 12:08] — Volodymyr Groysman, Ukraine's acting prime minister who also runs for the parliament with his political party Ukrainian Strategy, said he would make a claim for the prime minister seat again if his party made it into the Verkhovna Rada. So far, Ukrainian Strategy polls under 2% and has no chances to pass the 5% barrier.

[1 July, 16:30] — In the video below we have listed key parties which will fight for the places in the parliament. The race will be intense.