Facts and Figures:

Overview:

Ukraine has emphasized publicly at the highest level its determination to conduct elections in accordance with the highest democratic standards. Furthermore, Ukraine has declared its ambition to integrate into European structures, a precondition for which would be fair and transparent elections.

Chronology:

• August 24, 1991 - Ukraine declares independence from the Soviet Union following an attempted coup in Moscow. Immediately following this proclamation Ukraine faces numerous urgent problems of state building. Some of the problems facing the newly independent state include: the formation of suitable governmental bodies and institutions, the transition from an authoritarian society to a democratic and civil society, the conversion to a free market, and integration into the world community.
• December 1, 1991 - The election of the first president of independent Ukraine are held and a nation wide referendum. Ukrainian citizens vote 91% in support of independence and elect Leonid Kravchuk as the first president of sovereign Ukraine.
• July 10, 1994 – Leonid Danylovich Kuchma succeeds Leonid Kravchuk and is elected the second president of Ukraine.
• June 28, 1996 - After a long and strained constitutional process, the Verkhovna Rada finally approves and adopts a new Constitution of Ukraine.
• November 14, 1999 - Leonid Kuchma is re-elected as President for a second term. Among the 13 candidates in the first round no candidate received an absolute majority thus a run off was held between the top two candidates Leonid Kuchma and Communist Party leader Petro Symonenko, in which Kuchma was declared the winner.
• October 31, 2004 - The next presidential elections are expected to take place in Ukraine.