President of Ukraine - Ukrainian Presidential Election, 2010

Ukrainian Presidential Election, 2010

The Ukrainian presidential election of 2010 is Ukraine's fifth presidential election since declaring independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. The first round of Ukraine's presidential election was held on January 17, 2010. The President of Ukraine is elected by the citizens of Ukraine for a five-year term, on the basis of universal, equal and direct suffrage, by secret ballot.

A candidate seeking election must be a citizen of Ukraine who has attained the age of thirty-five, has the right to vote, has resided in Ukraine for the past ten years prior to the day of elections, and has command of the state language as required by Article 103 of Ukraine's Constitution.

Nominations by parties and candidates to run in the election closed on November 6, 2009. Eighteen candidates in all have been nominated. The Central Election Committee had until November 11, 2009, to process documentation and finalize the election list.

On January 17, 2010, polling stations were open from 8:00 am to 8:00 pm. Voter turnout was approximately 67 percent, according to official results 24,588,268 votes were recorded in the first round ballot. This compared to 75 percent at the 2004 presidential election. 542,824 votes (2.2%) were recorded as being "against all" with a further 1.6% of the vote declared invalid. Incumbent president Viktor Yushchenko was defeated having received only 5.45% of the vote.

Viktor Yanukovych and Yulia Tymoshenko finished first and second in the first round and faced each other in the second round ballot held on February 7. Voter turnout was approximately 69%. With all second round votes counted Yanukovych won the election with 48.95% of the results, compared to Tymoshenko's 45.47%.

The election has been widely recognized and endorsed as being fair and an accurate reflection of voters' intentions by all international agencies observing the election including the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe and Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. A few days after the election, Yanukovych received congratulations from world leaders. Still, Tymoshenko refused to concede defeat, and Tymoshenko's party promised to challenge the result.

On February 14, Viktor Yanukovych, with 48.95% of the popular vote, was declared President-elect and winner of the 2010 Ukrainian Presidential election. According to Article 104 of Ukraine's Constitution the President must be sworn into office within 30 days from the official declaration of the poll before the Ukrainian parliament. The Ukrainian Parliament scheduled Yanukovych's inauguration for February 25.

On February 17, 2010, the Supreme Administrative Court of Ukraine, suspended the results of the election on appeal from Tymoshenko. The court suspended the Central Election Commission of Ukraine ruling that announced that Viktor Yanukovych won the election, but did not postpone or cancel Yanukovych’s inauguration. Tymoshenko withdrew her appeal on February 20.