1999 Ukrainian presidential election

Re-election of Leonid Kuchma Ukraine presidential 1994 Ukrainian presidential election 1994 2004 Ukrainian presidential election 2004 31 October 1999 (first round) 14 November 1999 (second round) 70.15% (first round) 0.22pp74.87% (second round) 3.24pp Leonid Kuchma in 1999.jpg Leonid Kuchma Independent politician 15,870,722 57.70% НДУ 3 Симоненко Петро Миколайович.jpg Petro Symonenko Communist Party of Ukraine 10,665,420 38.77% 300px First round results by oblast 300px Second round results by oblast 2 President Leonid Kuchma Independent politician Leonid Kuchma Independent politician Presidential elections were held in Ukraine on 31 October 1999, with a second round on 14 November.Nohlen Stöver 2010 1976 The result was a victory for Leonid Kuchma, who defeated Petro Symonenko in the run-off, winning a second consecutive presidential election. Kuchma, who had been elected on a leftist programme in 1994 before subsequently abandoning it for economic liberalisation, was extremely unpopular prior to the election, with a reputation for patronage and ties to large corporations and organised crime. Two major opponents of Kuchma were unable to compete in the election: Pavlo Lazarenko of the centrist Hromada was arrested in the United States on money laundering and embezzlement charges, while Viacheslav Chornovil, leader of the centre-right Rukh, died in a traffic collision under disputed circumtances. Kuchma's main opponents were Oleksandr Moroz, leader of the centre-left Socialist Party, and far-left candidates Petro Symonenko and Nataliya Vitrenko; Moroz, Kuchma's most significant opponent, was eliminated in the first round, and Kuchma campaigned against the uncharismatic and unpopular Symonenko as a supporter of Russian imperialism and an opponent of Ukrainian independence. The first round was marked by the Kaniv Four uk Канівська четвірка, a quadrumvirate of Moroz and three other candidates who pledged to drop out in support of the highest-polled candidate. The alliance collapsed shortly before the first round of voting, possibly as a result of government interference. A falsified assassination attempt against Vitrenko was also blamed on Moroz. In the second round, Kuchma accused Symonenko of supporting Soviet and Russian atrocities. Symonenko attempted to moderate his position, expressing support for private business and renouncing the possibility of Ukraine joining the Union State, but his appeals were not widely published outside of communist press. Symonenko was largely supported by social conservatives, Pan-Slavists and leftists, while Kuchma benefited from a significant number of voters seeing him as a lesser evil than communism. Kuchma utilised extensive administrative resources, including state media, the Security Service and the presidential administration, to harass his political opponents and benefit his re-election. He additionally pressured banks and oligarchs to provide him with financial backing. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe referred to the conduct of the election as "a disgrace", noting a media blackout against opposition candidates. Local governments pressured state employees to vote for Kuchma and utilised governmental resources to encourage turnout. As of , this is the only re-election of an incumbent president in the history of independent Ukraine. Background Leonid Kuchma had been elected president of Ukraine in the 1994 election, succeeding Leonid Kravchuk. Kuchma, who came from eastern Ukraine, initially ran on a leftist campaign of opposition to Ukrainian nationalism and bilingualism between the Ukrainian and Russian languages. After being elected, however, Kuchma abandoned his previous leftist rhetoric and supported Kravchuk's policies of nation-building, though he abandoned Kravchuk's emphasis on ethnic and linguistic nationalism for civic nationalist policies and placed increased attention on economic concerns, which Kuchma and his advisers viewed as hindering nation-building.D'Anieri Kravchuk Kuzio 1999 62–63 Prior to the election, Kuchma was extremely unpopular; a March 1999 poll from The Day, a Kyivan newspaper, registered 7% of voters as trusting Kuchma, and a November 1998 poll from The Day indicated that 31% of voters said they would never vote for him, the highest number above all candidates.Harasymiw 2002 434 In the 1998 parliamentary election, the two main pro-Kuchma parties (the People's Democratic Party and the Social Democratic Party of Ukraine (united)) together gathered less than 10% of the vote.Matsuzato 2001 416 Corporate rule and instability Since 1991, Ukraine's political system had been dominated by a political system of cooperation between the centre-right national democrats and "centrist" corporate groups in an informal coalition against the left. The national democrats, who emerged from the Ukraine's Soviet dissidents,D'Anieri Kravchuk Kuzio 1999 20 recognised its inability to govern Ukraine on its own and accepted the dominance of corporate groups over the state in return for maintaining policies of Ukrainianisation and the granting of important ministries to the national democrats.Wilson 2022 173 The "centrist" bloc was dominated by three oligarchic "clans", which dated back to the Soviet era and were based along geographic lines: the Kyiv Clan, the Dnipropetrovsk Clan and the Donetsk Clan.Kuzio 2005a 170–172 Kuchma belonged to the Dnipropetrovsk Clan.Harasymiw 2002 198 Historian Andrew Wilson argues that Kuchma's election as president "inaugurated a virtual corporate takeover of the state" from the national-democratic intellectuals and national communists that had guided Kravchuk's presidency. According to Wilson, Kuchma "soon gained notoriety" for his widespread usage of patronage. Additional accusations of ties to organised crime dogged Kuchma, namely that his 1994 campaign had been partially financed by companies Seabeco and Nordex, which were tied to members of the Ukrainian mafia and the Russian Solntsevskaya Bratva and were involved in arms trafficking to Iran and North Korea.Wilson 2022 194 Like Kravchuk before him, Kuchma's presidency had been marked by governmental instability; Vitaliy Masol, an opponent of reform and a Kravchuk appointee, was originally retained as prime minister before being removed after half a year.Karatnycky 2024 41 Yevhen Marchuk, Kuchma's first appointed prime minister, resigned ostensibly due to obtaining a mandate as a People's Deputy of Ukraine (though academic Bohdan Harasymiw says that Kuchma's uneasiness with Marchuk's popularity led to Kuchma forcing his resignation), while his successor, Pavlo Lazarenko, resigned due to "ill health" amidst a large-scale corruption scandal. Lazarenko in turn was replaced by Valeriy Pustovoitenko, a leader of the pro-Kuchma People's Democratic Party who was a member of the Dnipropetrovsk Clan.Harasymiw 2002 137–141 Lazarenko scandal alt=Pavlo Lazarenko.|thumb|left|Pavlo Lazarenko, a competitor to Kuchma, fled Ukraine and was arrested on money laundering charges before the 1999 election Pavlo Lazarenko, governor of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast and a member of Kuchma's Dnipropetrovsk Clan, was appointed as prime minister in late May 1996. Soon after being appointed, it became evident that Lazarenko was involved in massive money laundering.Karatnycky 2024 42 Utilising government resources, Lazarenko transferred as much as 50% of Ukraine's gross domestic product and US$700 million to Dnipropetrovsk Clan businesses linked to him. It is unclear whether Lazarenko acted independently or was assisted by Kuchma in laundering money.Wilson 2022 197 Local business leaders (namely natural gas trader Yulia Tymoshenko) were also implicated in Lazarenko's network, which was being used to fund a political movement for Lazarenko. Kuchma was pressured by Western diplomats to remove Lazarenko, and he eventually did so in July 1997.Karatnycky 2024 42 Concerns about the scale and publicity of Lazarenko's corruption were not the sole reason for his removal; Kuchma was also concerned about Lazarenko's political popularity.Harasymiw 2002 141 After being removed as prime minister, Lazarenko founded the centrist Hromada party in opposition to Kuchma. The party was successful at the 1998 election, winning 40 seats, and Kuchma and his allies began devoting their attention to destroying the party.Wilson 2022 187 The Prosecutor General of Ukraine launched an investigation into Lazarenko in January 1997. He was subpoenaed by the Prosecutor General's office in March 1998, but failed to appear. An attempt to lift his parliamentary immunity at the time did not succeed. In December 1998, Lazarenko was arrested while entering Switzerland and charged with money laundering. His bail was posted and he returned to Ukraine before again fleeing to the United States ahead of a 17 February 1999 vote that successfully lifted his parliamentary immunity. There, he was arrested on a fraudulent Argentine visa and accused of embezzling US$2 million, obtaining 2 million hryvnias in kickbacks and laundering 4.4 million Swiss francs and US$1.1 million through foreign bank accounts. Hromada, which had nominated him for the presidency shortly before his flight from Ukraine, soon collapsed, with his erstwhile ally Tymoshenko forming the breakaway Batkivshchyna party.Harasymiw 2002 196–198 That Lazarenko was a significant political opponent of Kuchma prior to his flight from Ukraine has led to controversy about the extent to which prosecution was motivated by political, rather than legal, grievances. Olena Nikolayenko says that "it is generally believed" that Lazarenko's presidential ambitions, as well as a struggle with Kuchma over control of the Dnipropetrovsk clan, were the main causes of his flight from Ukraine.Nikolayenko 2004 680 Harasymiw argues that whether the prosecution of Lazarenko politically-motivated is irrelevant as a result of the intertwining of politics, business and organised crime in Ukraine.Harasymiw 2002 198 The alliance between Lazarenko and Socialist Party of Ukraine leader Oleksandr Moroz was utilised by Kuchma to attack Moroz, subjecting him to harassment from state media and tax authorities in order to discredit him during the 1999 campaign.Wilson 2022 201 Economic crisis and reforms While his mandate had been one to pursue anti-nationalist and bilingual policies, Kuchma sought to govern on a programme of economic liberalism. Kravchuk's first term had been dominated by economic liberalisation, debates over the adoption of the constitution of Ukraine and increased corruption.Wilson 2022 193–196 Kuchma's liberalisation efforts, led by Viktor Pynzenyk and Viktor Yushchenko, culminated in a 1996 monetary reform and austerity policies that reduced deficit spending and hyperinflation. These reforms, which were opposed by both large enterprises (on the basis that austerity had led to reduced corporate subsidies)Karatnycky 2024 41–42 and the leftist-dominated Verkhovna Rada (the parliament of Ukraine, which accused Kuchma of abandoning his previous leftist programme in favour of policies supported by the International Monetary Fund),Wilson 2022 196 were eventually abandoned after 1996, though Kuchma continued to insist that he supported such policies.Karatnycky 2024 41–42Wilson 2022 196 By 1999, most major economic problems remained unresolved, and the post-independence economic depression continued: issues of land ownership, large state-owned enterprises, high unemployment (growing to as much as one-third of the workforce by 2002) and low wages (equivalent to US$40 per month) remained important issues for the electorate.Klobucar Miller Erb 2002 315 While GDP contraction had declined from a peak of 12.2% in 1995, with comparatively minor contractions of 3% in 1997, 1.9% in 1998 and 0.2% in 1999, perceptions of the economy as poorly-performing continued to hamper Kuchma's popularity.Karatnycky 2024 43–44 Split in Rukh, Chornovil's death alt=Viacheslav Chornovil.|thumb|Viacheslav Chornovil, a competitor to Kuchma from the centre-right, was killed in a March 1999 traffic collision under disputed circumstances The centre-right People's Movement of Ukraine (uk Народний Рух України Narodnyi Rukh Ukrainy no gb, abbreviated Rukh) was a significant political force leading up to the 1999 election. The party's leader, former political prisoner Viacheslav Chornovil, was "the "main threat to power" for Kuchma according to human rights activist Adrian Karatnycky.Karatnycky 2024 45 At the Ninth Congress of the People's Movement of Ukraine Ninth Congress of Rukh uk IX З'їзд Народного Руху України in December 1998, Chornovil published the party's campaign strategy, advocating for greater focus on increasing support among the electorates of eastern and southern Ukraine. At the same congress, Chornovil declared his candidacy for the presidency,The Encyclopedia of Modern Ukraine has claimed that Chornovil refused to participate in the election,Kulchytskyi 2020 but this is rejected by historian Pavlo Hai-NyzhnykHai-Nyzhnyk 2012 and Chornovil's son Taras.Khalupa 2004 alongside Hennadiy Udovenko. The final candidate of Rukh was to be determined at a later date.Hai-Nyzhnyk 2012 Rukh was increasingly split between Chornovil's supporters and those who disapproved of him, with both sides feeling that the other was too close to Kuchma's government.Ovsiienko 2022 146 Chornovil's supporters additionally accused the anti-Chornovil faction of being supported by the oligarchs and blamed Kuchma for organising the split, while his opponents saw Chornovil as disrespectful of party rules and accused him of an authoritarian leadership style.Woronowycz 1999 1, 3 Yuriy Kostenko, a member of Rukh who had served as Minister of Environmental Protection in the Pustovoitenko government, removed Chornovil as leader of the parliamentary group of Rukh in a vote by the party's deputies before launching an effort to replace Chornovil as party leader. This infighting weakened the party ahead of the 1999 election.Karatnycky 2024 45 Hai-Nyzhnyk states that Chornovil withdrew his candidacy for the presidency in January 1999,Hai-Nyzhnyk 2012 while Taras Chornovil states that he was campaigning for president until his death.Khalupa 2004 On 25 March 1999, Chornovil was killed in a traffic collision near Boryspil International Airport while returning from a campaign speech in the city of Kirovohrad (now Kropyvnytskyi) when his car crashed into a lorry blocking the highway. The driver of the lorry was charged with recklessness and sentenced to prison before being amnestied.Karatnycky 2024 45 An investigation to determine whether Chornovil had been assassinated was launched in 2005, after the end of Kuchma's presidency.Karatnycky 2024 45 Investigations into Chornovil have since been repeatedly closed and reopened without consensus on whether or not he was assassinated.Harasymiw Koshelivets Senkus 2015 Candidates According to Ukrainian electoral law, candidates may be nominated by a political party, an alliance of parties or a group of voters. Under the law, 200 delegates of a party or alliance must affirm the nomination of a candidate, while a meeting of 500 voters was necessary to nominate an independent candidate. Unlike previous elections, the 1999 elections required all candidates to obtain one million signatures, with 30,000 of these signatures coming from two-thirds of the twenty-six regions of Ukraine.Harasymiw 2005 205 Fifteen candidates were initially nominated, of whom two (Kuchma and Yevhen Marchuk)Birch 2002 344 were independents.Harasymiw 2005 205 Two of the candidates (Oleksandr Tkachenko and Volodymyr Oliinyk) dropped out, in line with a declaration made by the members of the Kaniv Four uk Канівська четвірка (comprising both of them alongside Marchuk and Oleksandr Moroz of the Socialist Party of Ukraine) to drop out in favour of the leading candidate.Birch 2002 340 Political scientist Sarah Birch lists the final 13 candidates as being placed in the following political alignments:Birch 2002 344 Left-wing Centrist Right-wing Petro Symonenko (KPU) Oleksandr Moroz (SPU) Nataliya Vitrenko (PSPU) Yurii Karmazin (PZV) Oleksandr Bazylyuk (SP) Leonid Kuchma (Ind.) Yevhen Marchuk (Ind.) Vasyl Onopenko (SDPU(o)) Vitaliy Kononov (PZU) Yuriy Kostenko (Rukh, anti-Chornovil) Hennadiy Udovenko (Rukh, pro-Chornovil) In addition, Birch does not note two of the final candidates (Oleksandr Rzhavskyy and Mykola Haber uk Габер Микола Олександрович) as being aligned with the left, right or centre. She further describes Kuchma and Marchuk as "centre-right".Birch 2002 344 Kuchma alt=A photograph of Leonid Kuchma and Viktor Chernomyrdin in a forest. Kuchma is reading a book while Chernomyrdin watches.|thumb|Leonid Kuchma (right) with former Russian prime minister Viktor Chernomyrdin, August 1999 Leonid Kuchma was born into a family of peasantsWilson 2022 146 in the northern Chernihiv Oblast. His early life was marked by World War II, during which his family was displaced by the destruction of his native village, as well as the intermingling of Ukrainian, Russian and Belarusian cultures.Bondarenko 2007 5–6 From 1960 he was involved in the Soviet Union's rocket industry, working at Pivdenmash from 1960 until his 1992 resignation, when he became prime minister.Korzh 2005 4 At the time of his resignation, he was the company's general director and a member of the nomenklatura. Kuchma's premiership had been marked by efforts to resolve the budget deficit and hyperinflation (at the time equivalent to 33% of Ukraine's GDP), as well as by infighting with president Leonid Kravchuk. Kuchma's efforts to resolve the economic slowdown failed, for which he blamed Kravchuk and his inner circle.Karatnycky 2024 23–25 Kuchma had won the 1994 Ukrainian presidential election campaigning on recognition of Russian as a co-official language and improved relations with Russia. After his election, however, he abandoned his campaign promisesKorzh 2005 4 to pursue market reforms, which were also later watered down.Wilson 2022 193 Invigorated by the increased powers granted to the presidency with the adoption of the constitution, Kuchma announced his intention to seek re-election in September 1996.Bondarenko 2007 217 He campaigned on the threat of a "red revanche",Wilson 2022 200 accusing Symonenko of opposing Ukrainian democracyKlobucar Miller Erb 2002 315 and supporting Russian imperialism, the Holodomor, the Great Purge and Russia's military campaign in Chechnya.The Economist 1999 Kuchma, emulating Yeltsin's 1996 campaign in Russia,Wilson 2022 205 benefited from usage of administrative resources to his advantage, including by closing or suing opposition newspapers and through strong-arming banks and oligarchs into providing money for his re-election. In one instance, the Ukraïna bank, which had contributed the least to Kuchma's campaign funds up to that point, was placed under the control of the Security Service of Ukraine (uk Служба безпеки України Sluzhba bezpeky Ukrainy no gb, SBU) in August–September 1998.Wilson 2022 198 Kuchma's campaign staff was bolstered by the involvement of several veteran "political technologists" of Yeltsin's 1996 campaign, including Timofey Sergeytsev ru Сергейцев, Тимофей Николаевич uk Сергейцев Тимофій Миколайович, Dmitry Kulikov (political scientist) Dmitry Kulikov ru Куликов, Дмитрий Евгеньевич, Iskander ValitovWilson 2026 374 and Gleb Pavlovsky.Kuzio 2005b 491 Symonenko alt=Petro Symonenko and Vladimir Putin shaking hands.|thumb|Petro Symonenko (left) and Russian president Vladimir Putin in 2002 Petro Symonenko was born in 1952 in the city of Donetsk. He graduated from Donetsk Polytechnic Institute with a degree in electromechanical engineering and initially worked as a coal miner before becoming a Komsomol employee in 1975. He continued to work in the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1975 to 1988, including on the Mariupol municipal committee of the CPSU and the Donetsk Regional Committee, where he served as second secretary. From 1991 to 1993 he was general director of coal mining company Ukrvuhlemash uk Укрвуглемаш before being elected first secretary of the reestablished Communist Party of Ukraine (uk Комуністична партія України Komunistychna partiia Ukrainy no gb, KPU) in 1993. While he had led the KPU to support Kuchma in 1994, Symonenko was frustrated with Kuchma's failure to pursue greater ties with Russia and particularly by his economic reforms.Korzh 2005 29 Symonenko advocated for Soviet patriotismWilson 2022 191 and nostalgia,Harasymiw 2002 301 increased welfare spendingKlobucar Miller Erb 2002 324 and Ukrainian membership in the Union State, a supranational union comprising Belarus and Russia.The Economist 1999 Symonenko's campaign faced several uphill struggles, including Symonenko's lack of charismaKuzio 2007 34 and the CPU's low support ceiling. In September 1999, Communist Party of the Russian Federation leader Gennady Zyuganov allegedly communicated to Symonenko a desire for him to withdraw and form a popular front led by Moroz and the SPU, believing that an outright KPU victory was impossible.Wilson 2022 202–204 Karatnycky likewise contends that Symonenko was "unelectable" and that his advance to the second round provided Kuchma the greatest opportunity for victory,Karatnycky 2024 47 and Birch notes that Symonenko "never really stood a chance against" Kuchma, and that the CPU's electoral ceiling was well below 50% of the electorate.Birch 2002 340 Moroz alt=Oleksandr Moroz speaking into a microphone.|thumb|Oleksandr Moroz at a 2003 protest against Kuchma Oleksandr Moroz, born in 1944, was the leader of the Socialist Party of Ukraine from its establishment, and a People's Deputy from 1990. He previously ran for president in 1994, during which time he obtained 13% of the vote. The SPU was critical of the one-party state and Soviet bureaucracy, while supporting a socialist economy and society and criticising the dissolution of the Soviet Union.Harasymiw 2002 303–304 Moroz accepted Ukrainian independence; he was known for his repeated usage of the adage "Anybody who does not regret the collapse of the USSR has no heart; anybody who wants to restore the Union today has no head".Wilson 2022 191–192 Moroz campaigned on anti-corruption and improved social welfare,Klobucar Miller Erb 2002 316 and had a public image as a morally upstanding politician.Kuzio 2007 34Birch 2002 341 He sought to emulate Aleksander Kwaśniewski, the moderate leftist president of Poland. However, such efforts were stymied by a lack of centrist allies (particularly after the end of Lazarenko's political career) and the general unwillingness of most Ukrainian leftists to moderate their views. Such unwillingness had resulted in the party's left splitting and forming the Progressive Socialist Party in 1996.Wilson 2022 192 In spite of these divisions, Moroz remained Kuchma's strongest rival.Wilson 2022 200Kuzio 2007 34Karatnycky 2024 47Birch 2002 341 Kuchma's campaign accused Moroz of financial improprieties and political violence,Birch 2002 341 and, after Lazarenko left Ukraine, exploited the alliance between Moroz and Lazarenko to reduce the former's popularity.Wilson 2022 201 In an effort to combat Kuchma, Moroz formed the Kaniv Four alliance, comprising himself and three other centrist and leftist candidates.Yevhen Marchuk, Oleksandr Tkachenko and Volodymyr Oliinyk. This strategy ultimately failed, as both Marchuk and Moroz refused to step down in the other's favour.Birch 2002 341 Vitrenko alt=Refer to text.|thumb|Nataliya Vitrenko in 1998 Nataliya Vitrenko was leader of the Progressive Socialist Party of Ukraine, a far-left breakaway from the SPU comprising dissidents who opposed Moroz's cooperation with Kuchma on writing the constitution of Ukraine. Vitrenko had led the PSPU in the 1998 Ukrainian parliamentary election with the slogan "We shall build a Soviet and Socialist Ukraine!".Harasymiw 2002 310 She was widely known by the derogatory epithet of "Konotop Witch", owing to Ukraine's 160th electoral district her Verkhovna Rada constituency uk Виборчий округ 160 and the 1837 short story by Hryhorii Kvitka-Osnovianenko.Wilson 2022 200 Vitrenko's campaign largely focused on anti-Western sentiment and economic concerns.Klobucar Miller Erb 2002 316 Among her proposals were the closure of all borders and foreign bank accounts on the first day of her presidency, the removal of all IMF advisers and the deportation of "reformers" and "the bandit class" to Siberia.Wilson 2022 200 Harasymiw notes that "widely suspected" that Vitrenko's campaign had been encouraged by Kuchma's campaign staff in order to split the leftist vote.Harasymiw 2002 323 Wilson likewise describes Vitrenko as privately being backed by the presidential administration,Wilson 2022 199 while Kuzio reports that Kuchma had provided covert backing to Vitrenko since her 1996 split from the SPU and saw her as another preferable alternative to Moroz.Kuzio 2007 36 Vitrenko was the only leftist candidate to receive significant coverage in state media during the election.Kuzio 2007 36Birch 2002 342 Campaign During the campaign Kuchma was supported by the Bloc "Our Choice – Leonid Kuchma!"Session of the conference of leaders of political parties of the bloc "Our Choice - Leonid Kuchma!" https://web.archive.org/web/20140914233849/http://www.ukrinform.ua/ukr/news/zasdannya_naradi_golv_poltichnih_party_bloku_nash_vibr___leond_kuchma_19125 2014-09-14 . Ukrinform. 19 November 1999Soskin, O. L. Kuchma at power – Ukraine in decline. Institute of Society Transformation. First round Kaniv Four alt=An elevated statue of Taras Shevchenko, surrounded by greenery.|thumb|A monument to Taras Shevchenko on Taras Hill in Kaniv. The Kaniv Four gathered at Shevchenko's grave in Kaniv to announce the formation of the quadrumvirate. On 24 August 1999 (Independence Day), Oleksandr Moroz, former head of the SBU and prime minister Yevhen Marchuk, chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Oleksandr Tkachenko and Cherkasy mayor Volodymyr Oliinyk gathered at the grave of Taras Shevchenko uk Могила Тараса Шевченка in the city of Kaniv to announce an electoral alliance, informally known as the Kaniv Four uk Канівська четвірка. The date and location were both chosen to separate the coalition from the KPU and PSPU and cast an image as patriotic leftists.Wilson 2022 203 The group vowed to drop out in favour of the candidate placed the highest in opinion polling at a date shortly prior to the election as part of an informal primary election.Birch 2002 341 While the Kaniv Four acquired significant media attention, they found themselves unable to gather the endorsement of right-wing candidates (who, according to Wilson, were largely being bankrolled by the presidential administration), though Marchuk maintained connections with dissident Rukh leader Yuriy Kostenko. Likewise, attempts to include Symonenko in the group were unsuccessful, as Symonenko generally retained consistently high polling numbers that would have made him the group's natural choice.Wilson 2022 203 Karatnycky, citing an unnamed political consultant close to Kuchma, alleges that Kuchma's campaign staff deliberately engineered frictions within the Kaniv Four by leaking fake polls to Marchuk that showed him, rather than Moroz, as the leading candidate, leading Marchuk to demand his selection as the quadrumvirate's candidate.Karatnycky 2024 47 In 2000, Wilson accused Moroz of reneging on the alliance by refusing the agreement of the other three to support Marchuk, while noting that the presidential administration may have worked with any of the candidates behind the scenes to sow discord among the quadrumvirate.Wilson 2022 203 He later argued that Moroz had been double-crossed by Marchuk, who he alleges received support from the presidential administration.Wilson 2026 374 The alliance dissolved a few weeks before the first round of voting.Karatnycky 2024 47 Oliinyk endorsed Marchuk,Chesno n.d. while Tkachenko abandoned the quadrumvirate to support Symonenko.Karatnycky 2024 47 Attempted assassination of Vitrenko On 3 October,Kuzio 2007 36 during a campaign rally in Dnipropetrovsk,Wilson 2022 201 an assailant threw a RGD-5 grenade at Vitrenko in an apparent assassination attempt.Kuzio 2007 36 State media blamed Serhii Ivanchenko, a local organiser of Moroz's campaign,Wilson 2022 201 leading to a decrease in Moroz's support.Kuzio 2007 36Harasymiw 2002 323 Several sources have described the attempt as a false flag,Karatnycky 2024 47Wilson 2022 201Harasymiw 2002 323Kuzio 2007 36 though it is disputed who organised the attack or what the intention of it was. Political scientist Taras Kuzio, noting that the RGD-5 grenade thrown at Vitrenko was a stun grenade, argues that it increased her popularity.Kuzio 2007 36 In a later-released cassette tape secretly recorded by presidential bodyguard Mykola Melnychenko, an individual believed to be Kuchma admits to organising the attack to discredit Moroz, and Kuzio alleges that the attack was based on advice from Russian advisers.Kuzio 2005b 497 Shortly following the attack, two Russian individuals claimed responsibility, saying that they had been paid by Vitrenko to throw the grenade. Wilson notes this, as well as increased state media focus on Vitrenko's more eccentric positions, as causing a drop in her popularity.Wilson 2022 201 Second round The first round of the election occurred on 31 October 1999. Kuchma placed first with 38% of the vote, followed by Symonenko at 23% and Moroz at 11.8%. As no candidate gained a majority, the election went to a second round.Karatnycky 2024 47 alt=A Russian soldier standing on top of a mass grave in a field.|thumb|In the second round, Kuchma accused Symonenko of supporting Russian imperialism, including the Second Chechen War, and threatening Ukraine's independence Facing Symonenko, Kuchma urged the national democrats and those supporting economic reforms to turn out against the left, tying himself to both independence and liberalisation.Harasymiw 2002 325 Kuchma placed particular importance on the memory of the man-made Holodomor famine,Nikolayenko 2004 666 as well as casting the KPU as agents of both historical and contemporary Russian imperialism.The Economist 1999 This included tying the party to the Great Purge, the 1962 Novocherkassk massacreZolotariova 2021 and the ongoing Second Chechen War.The Economist 1999 Kuchma's campaign extensively deployed black propaganda through leaflets purporting to represent the KPU, leading to a condemnation in the party's uk Komunist newspaper as part of an "arsenal of techniques from bourgeois countries".Nikolayenko 2004 666 Both Kuchma and Symonenko engaged in extensive negative campaigning during the second round.Zolotariova 2021 Marchuk endorsed Kuchma on 10 November and in exchange was named as secretary of the National Security and Defence Council, replacing longtime Kuchma ally Volodymyr Horbulin.Harasymiw 2002 323–325 Wilson compares Marchuk's role in the election to that of Alexander Lebed in the 1996 Russian presidential election, noting that Lebed had similarly been appointed to a government position with the expectation that his voters support the incumbent in the second round.Wilson 2022 203 Kostenko and Hennadiy Udovenko, the two rival leaders of Rukh, also endorsed Kuchma, as did minor candidates Oleksandr Rzhavskyy and Vitaliy Kononov.Harasymiw 2002 325 In early November, Symonenko received the joint endorsement of Moroz, Tkachenko, Oliinyk, Karmazin and Haber. In return, Symonenko issued a pledge to respect Ukrainian independence and private enterprise as president.Birch 2002 341 In the statement, which Wilson describes as "surpris[ing] virtually everybody", Symonenko compared himself to Polish president Aleksander Kwaśniewski and expressed support for a coalition of multiple parties in support of his presidency, as well as renunciation of the powers of the presidency and membership in the Union State.Wilson 2022 203 Though the appeal was widely shared in KPU press, it failed to make an impact due to how late in the election it had been published, that few saw the statement and, as Birch argues, that those who saw it were unlikely to have been convinced.Birch 2002 341–342 Election As in the previous election, the 1999 election was marked by a shift in the electorate of western Ukraine towards the incumbent, in a reversal of the region previously voting against Kuchma. By contrast, Symonenko failed to win an absolute majority in any of Ukraine's regions in the first round,Harasymiw 2002 326 reaching a peak of 47% in the eastern Luhansk Oblast.Zolotariova 2021 Moroz won in two regions (Vinnytsia and Poltava oblasts), while Vitrenko won in her native Sumy Oblast.Zolotariova 2021 Harasymiw argues that the 1999 election proved the non-existence of a west-east schism in Ukrainian presidential elections, arguing instead that western Ukraine was the only one of Ukraine's four regions to give decisive majorities to any singular candidate.Harasymiw 2002 326 Political scientist Kimitaka Matsuzato argues that the previous election's dominance of the left in eastern Ukraine had shifted to a central Ukrainian "Red Belt", while Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk and Odesa oblasts shifted towards the anti-Kuchma "western camp".Matsuzato 2001 417 In the second round, Kuchma's voters primarily comprised younger individuals, those who described themselves as "strong believers" in religion and residents of western Ukraine (86% of whom turned out for Kuchma). By contrast, Symonenko's supporters were generally elderly and from eastern Ukraine. All demographic groups polled by the Central Election Commission (religious adherence, age and region of residence) voted for Kuchma. Among first-round voters, 35% of Moroz's voters turned out for Kuchma, while 49% voted for Symonenko (16% voted against both); Vitrenko's supporters were split more evenly, with 45% voting for Kuchma and 48% voting for Symonenko. An additional two percent of Vitrenko voters claimed to the Central Election Commission to have voted for a third candidate in the second round. 63% of Marchuk voters in the first round voted for Kuchma in the second, compared to 22% for Symonenko. The remaining candidates' supporters almost exclusively transferred their votes to Kuchma in the second round.Klobucar Miller Erb 2002 317–319 Kuchma also benefited from the unpopularity of communism in Ukraine; Wilson notes that over 40% of voters chose Kuchma as the lesser evil compared to Symonenko.Wilson 2022 204 Symonenko's largest support bases, according to Harasymiw, were social conservatives, leftists and supporters of Pan-Slavism, while Kuchma's voters were a heterogenous grouping largely united by support for economic liberalisation.Harasymiw 2002 327 Conduct The campaign was condemned by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe as "a disgrace", with Kuchma's abuse of administrative and state resources (particularly state media) to benefit his reelection and prevent other candidates from organising being noted by both the PACE and the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe.Birch 2002 342 Independent television channel STB was subjected to government harassment, and opposition candidates' appearances on television were followed by comedy shows mocking them.Wilson 2022 198 Birch describes the state media treatment of Kuchma's opponents as a media blackout.Birch 2002 342 The State Tax Service and police also engaged in harassment of independent press.Harasymiw 2002 323 While Kuchma claimed campaign funds of only 1.7 million hryvnias (equivalent to US$372,000), Wilson alleges that he in fact had access to over US$1.5 billion as a result of money controlled by ally Oleksandr Volkov through a body known as the "Social Protection Fund". Contributors to the Social Protection Fund included Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky, mobile operator Kyivstar (headed by Kuchma's daughter Olena) and son-in-law Viktor Pinchuk. Kuchma, through his daughter's former marriage, was also connected to the Franchuk patronage network in Crimea, which itself was tied to the Salem (organised crime group) Salem uk ОЗУ Сейлем ru Сэйлем (организованная преступная группировка) crime group, and both Volkov and Pinchuk were accused by the Verkhovna Rada of involvement in money laundering in September 1999 (the latter through the U.S.-based Bank of Boston and the Bank of New York, the former through Spanish bank accounts).Wilson 2022 202 Kuchma's campaign was additionally accused by opposition deputies of paying people to vote for Kuchma with the usage of state funds, a measure condemned by government newspapers Holos Ukrayiny and Uryadovy Kuryer.Nikolayenko 2004 680 Kuchma also attempted to utilise regional bureaucracies in order to influence turnout in his favour. Three oblast governorsDmytro Dvorkis uk Дворкіс Дмитро Володимирович of Vinnytsia Oblast, Oleksandr Kolesnikov of Poltava Oblast and Valeriy Kalchenko of Kirovohrad Oblast.Matsuzato 2001 426 were fired after the first round, according to Birch as a result of insufficient voter turnout for Kuchma,Birch 2002 342–343 though this did not significantly impact the results of the election.Matsuzato 2001 427 In Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk and Odesa oblasts, the oblast administrations utilised government resources to encourage voters to turn out in Kuchma's favour. The practice was criticised by the OSCE, who noted that state employees (particularly healthcare workers and teachers) were coerced into voting for Kuchma, as well as by supporters of Kuchma, such as George Soros.Matsuzato 2001 416–417 Results Leonid Kuchma Independent 9598672 15870722 Petro Symonenko Communist Party of Ukraine 5849077 10665420 Oleksandr Moroz Socialist Party of Ukraine 2969896 Nataliya Vitrenko Progressive Socialist Party of Ukraine 2886972 Yevhen Marchuk Independent 2138356 Yuriy Kostenko Independent 570623 Hennadiy Udovenko Rukh–Reforms and Order 319778 Vasyl Onopenko Social Democratic Party of Ukraine (united) 124040 Oleksandr Rzhavskyy One Familyhttp://www.edina-rodina.org/ Official website of the One Family 2014-01-29 https://web.archive.org/web/20141219204100/http://www.edina-rodina.org/ 2014-12-19 dead 96515 Yuriy Karmazin Motherland Defenders Party 90793 Vitaliy Kononov Party of Greens of Ukraine 76832 Oleksandr Bazyliuk uk Базилюк Олександр Філімонович Slavic Party 36012 Mykola Haber uk Габер Микола Олександрович Patriotic Party of Ukraine 31829 Against all 477019 970181 1038749 706161 37498630 37680581 Nohlen & Stöver First round results Kuchma Independent politician 37.99 Symonenko Communist Party of Ukraine 23.15 Moroz Socialist Party of Ukraine 11.75 Vitrenko Progressive Socialist Party of Ukraine 11.43 Others Independent politician 9.84 Against all/invalid Independent politician 5.84 Second round results Kuchma Independent politician 57.70 Symonenko Communist Party of Ukraine 38.77 Against all/invalid Independent politician 6.03 Results by region Regions won by Leonid KuchmaRegions won by Petro SymonenkoRegions won by Oleksandr MorozRegions won by Nataliya Vitrenko+ Election results by region, percentages (first round)Riabets Stavniichuk Mandrusova Alsufiev 2000 294 Leonid Kuchma Petro Symonenko Oleksandr Moroz Nataliya Vitrenko Yevhen Marchuk Region # % # % # % # % # % Crimea 308,501 34.35 338,053 37.64 21,218 2.36 81,665 9.09 56,893 6.34 Vinnytsia 181,635 17.11 204,393 19.25 359,306 33.84 98,718 9.30 99,867 9.41 Volyn 313,193 51.49 31,683 5.21 25,519 4.20 69,340 11.40 86,516 14.22 Dnipropetrovsk 756,152 39.12 558,848 28.91 193,875 10.03 189,849 9.82 41,016 2.12 Donetsk 778,104 31.96 959,183 39.40 153,406 6.30 280,172 11.51 48,881 2.01 Zhytomyr 254,751 30.91 179,985 21.85 158,442 19.24 87,192 10.59 35,288 4.28 Zakarpattia 299,696 54.73 18,327 3.35 45,599 8.31 25,121 4.59 91,279 16.67 Zaporizhzhia 317,305 30.74 317,783 30.79 96,317 9.33 156,035 15.12 47,167 4.57 Ivano-Frankivsk 570,541 70.38 12,056 1.49 22,182 2.74 28,304 3.49 86,343 10.65 Kyiv 378,767 36.49 94,712 9.13 221,115 21.30 146,258 14.09 79,066 7.76 Kirovohrad 149,667 22.97 637,490 47.15 134,390 20.62 77,750 11.93 50,558 7.76 Luhansk 386,557 28.59 637,490 47.15 78,422 5.80 113,167 8.37 25,994 1.92 Lviv 1,012,067 64.06 37,869 2.40 42,511 2.69 40,876 2.59 291,719 18.46 Mykolaiv 217,774 33.65 202,616 31.31 51,055 7.89 82,469 12.74 33,576 5.19 Odesa 395,973 36.93 265,834 24.79 898,75 8.38 121,518 11.33 67,515 6.30 Poltava 197,487 19.57 219,703 21.77 264,063 26.17 142,578 14.13 54,058 5.36 Rivne 299,201 45.77 32,013 4.90 49,968 7.64 53,733 8.22 80,107 12.26 Sumy 219,468 26.68 157,459 19.14 89,888 10.93 243,498 29.60 37,721 4.58 Ternopil 496,384 69.38 9,880 1.38 14,867 2.08 20,435 2.86 104,201 14.56 Kharkiv 438,123 28.07 512,994 32.87 124,580 7.98 161,503 10.35 172,051 11.02 Kherson 187,356 30.15 218,125 35.11 71,496 11.51 62,540 10.07 14,167 2.28 Khmelnytskyi 266,963 30.25 127,439 14.44 133,093 15.08 128,971 14.61 124,463 14.10 Cherkasy 174,615 20.64 161,135 19.04 172,128 20.34 123,813 14.63 121,482 14.36 Chernivtsi 238,628 51.00 38,471 8.22 31,574 6.75 54,659 11.68 51,764 11.06 Chernihiv 202,640 25.57 179,224 22.61 127,551 16.09 128,217 16.18 72,257 9.12 Kyiv city 486,887 38.86 93,278 7.45 191,411 15.28 144,912 11.57 152,078 12.14 Sevastopol 57,037 34.51 56,691 34.40 4,748 2.87 21,409 12.95 8,955 5.42 Foreign electoral district 13,200 53.64 1,169 4.75 1,397 5.68 2,270 9.22 3,374 13.71 TOTALS: 9,598,672 37.99 5,849,077 23.15 2,969,896 11.75 2,886,972 11.43 2,138,356 8.46 + Election results by region, percentages (second round)Riabets Stavniichuk Mandrusova Alsufiev 2000 298Invalid and against all votes not included. Leonid Kuchma Petro Symonenko Region # % # % Crimea 434,738 43.98 506,302 51.22 Vinnytsia 359,833 33.90 628,399 59.20 Volyn 479,344 75.44 121,922 19.19 Dnipropetrovsk 1,181,358 56.35 798,380 38.08 Donetsk 1,557,340 52.90 1,213,694 41.23 Zhytomyr 394,896 48.06 377,119 45.89 Zakarpattia 657,314 84.53 75,148 9.66 Zaporizhzhia 473,731 44.83 525,042 49.69 Ivano-Frankivsk 859,839 92.30 41,769 4.48 Kyiv 617,704 58.51 362,530 34.34 Kirovohrad 278,644 40.92 358,010 52.58 Luhansk 598,522 40.74 791,408 53.87 Lviv 1,623,941 91.59 91,307 5.15 Mykolaiv 300,881 45.90 322,225 49.16 Odesa 620,075 52.83 476,847 40.63 Poltava 355,382 35.20 582,249 57.66 Rivne 541,209 76.52 121,894 17.23 Sumy 409,352 48.53 365,737 43.36 Ternopil 727,359 92.17 38,167 4.84 Kharkiv 772,210 46.64 769,221 46.46 Kherson 267,271 41.89 337,438 52.28 Khmelnytskyi 446,681 50.95 367,950 41.97 Cherkasy 334,245 39.95 437,389 52.28 Chernivtsi 375,996 73.21 110,069 21.43 Chernihiv 293,358 37.47 440,505 56.27 Kyiv city 790,392 64.84 317,567 26.05 Sevastopol 94,710 50.17 82,479 43.69 Foreign electoral district 24,397 79.73 4,653 15.21 TOTALS: 15,870,722 57.70 10,665,420 38.77 Aftermath alt=A photograph of Viktor Yushchenko.|thumb|Viktor Yushchenko was appointed prime minister of Ukraine after Kuchma's re-election, and pursued a programme of economic liberalisation Harasymiw notes the 1999 election as bringing "Mexicanisation" to Ukrainian politics, with an increase in corruption, corporate dominance, clienteleism and strongman rule.Harasymiw 2002 330 In order to lift the Verkhovna Rada's block on reforms, Kuchma sought to increase presidential powers in a 2000 constitutional referendum.Wilson 2022 204 After his re-election, Kuchma described his second presidential term as "Kuchma-2" and claimed that he would place increased attention on economic reform. After initially considering the re-appointment of Valeriy Pustovoitenko as prime minister, he appointed former National Bank of Ukraine head Viktor Yushchenko to the premiership in December 1999. Yushchenko, along with deputy prime minister for energy Yulia Tymoshenko, pursued economic liberalisation, payment of pensions and wages which had previously been unpaid, and increased transparency in privatisations.Wilson 2022 204–205 Yushchenko's premiership was opposed by Russian president Vladimir Putin and pro-Russian Ukrainian politicians (who saw his marriage to an American woman and his support for a Ukrainian national identity as problematic), as well as the oligarchs (who were targeted by Yushchenko and Tymoshenko's efforts to attack economic elites). Conversely, Ukraine's Western partners (particularly the United States, where vice president Al Gore had advised Kuchma to appoint Yushchenko as prime minister) supported Yushchenko's economic reforms, and his ties to international financial institutions and Atlanticist, pro-European positions were assets that led to improved relations with the West.Karatnycky 2024 48–49 Following the 1999 election, the KPU's popularity declined steeply, with Soviet nostalgia fading as a political force and political elites feeling increasingly connected to a Ukrainian national identity.Karatnycky 2024 82 The left came under increasing attack, with Tkachenko being stripped of his security detail and access to transport and telephones provided to People's Deputies, with a resumption of the investigation into the 1994 disappearance of US$70 million that had been dropped following Tkachenko's appointment as chairman of the Verkhovna Rada in 1998. Also stripped of his official privileges was Adam Martyniuk, the first deputy chairman of the Verkhovna Rada and a member of the KPU. Both were removed from their parliamentary leadership positions, with Tkachenko being replaced by Ivan Plyushch of the pro-Kuchma People's Democratic Party.Kuzio 2007 38 In the autumn of 2000, a series of cassette tapes were released by presidential bodyguard Mykola Melnychenko.Birch 2002 345 The tapes, alleged to be of Kuchma, include discussion of voter intimidation in order to ensure Kuchma's victoryBirch 2002 345 and implicated him in the September 2000 murder of investigative journalist Georgiy Gongadze. The tapes were played by Moroz before the Verkhovna Rada on 28 November 2000, sparking a political scandal and crisis and popular protests.Karatnycky 2024 51–52 Notes References Bibliography Nohlen Dieter Dieter Nohlen https://www.scienceopen.com/book?vid=da5d96c6-2042-4964-bfdc-a618d6f800e5 Elections in Europe: A Data Handbook Stöver Philip Nomos Publishing 2010 978-3-8329-5609-7 2070 10.5771/9783845223414 D'Anieri Paul Paul D'Anieri Politics And Society In Ukraine Kravchuk Robert Robert Kravchuk Kuzio Taras Taras Kuzio Westview Press, Taylor and Francis 1999 978-0-8133-3538-4 New York and Abingdon, Oxon 99-30503 Harasymiw Bohdan Post-Communist Ukraine Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies Press 2002 1-895571-44-8 Edmonton and Toronto 469 2003501428 Matsuzato Kimitaka 2001 All Kuchma's Men: The Reshuffling of Ukrainian Governors and the Presidential Election of 1999 Post-Soviet Geography and Economics 42 1 416–439 10.1080/10889388.2001.10641179 1938-2863 1538-7216 Wilson Andrew Andrew Wilson (historian) The Ukrainians: The Story of How a People Became a Nation Yale University Press 2022 2000 978-0-300-27249-9 New New Haven and London 434 2022943778 Kuzio Taras June 2005 Regime type and politics in Ukraine under Kuchma Communist and Post-Communist Studies 38 2 167–190 10.1016/j.postcomstud.2005.03.007 0967-067X 1873-6920 48609535 Kuzio 2005a Karatnycky Adrian Battleground Ukraine: From Independence to the War with Russia Yale University Press 2024 10.12987/9780300277425 978-0-300-26946-8 jj.14962455 New Haven and London 346 2023949848 Klobucar Thomas F. 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Настоящая биография второго Президента Украины Leonid Kuchma: An Accurate Biography of the Second President of Ukraine 18 November 1999 Leonid Kuchma, Ukraine's dismal choice https://www.economist.com/europe/1999/11/18/leonid-kuchma-ukraines-dismal-choice limited live https://web.archive.org/web/20250815190125/https://www.economist.com/europe/1999/11/18/leonid-kuchma-ukraines-dismal-choice 15 August 2025 6 July 2026 The Economist The Economist 1999 Kuzio Taras March 2007 Oligarchs, Tapes and Oranges: 'Kuchmagate' to the Orange Revolution Journal of Communist Studies and Transition Politics 23 1 30–56 10.1080/13523270701194839 1352-3279 1743-9116 free Wilson Andrew 2026 Political technology in Ukraine East European Politics 42 2 367–388 10.1080/21599165.2026.2632338 2159-9165 2159-9173 free Kuzio Taras October 2005 Russian Policy toward Ukraine during Elections Demokratizatsiya 13 4 491–517 10.3200/DEMO.13.4.491-518 1074-6846 1940-4603 free Kuzio 2005b uk:Олійник Володимир Миколайович Oliinyk, Volodymyr Mykolaiovych https://www.chesno.org/politician/287/ live https://web.archive.org/web/20260130092029/https://www.chesno.org/politician/287/ 30 January 2026 5 July 2026 Chesno uk Chesno n.d. Zolotariova Yana 20 April 2021 uk:Історія виборів: треті вибори Президента України 1999 року History of elections: the third Ukrainian presidential elections, 1999 https://oporaua.org/vybory/istoriia-viboriv-treti-vibori-prezidenta-ukrayini-1999-roku-23023 live https://web.archive.org/web/20250915032108/https://www.oporaua.org/vybory/istoriia-viboriv-treti-vibori-prezidenta-ukrayini-1999-roku-23023 15 September 2025 7 July 2026 OPORA uk https://cvk.gov.ua/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/vibory1999.pdf Central Election Commission of Ukraine 2000 966-95532-4-5 Riabets M. M. Kyiv uk uk:ВИБОРИ ПРЕЗИДЕНТА УКРАЇНИ 1999. Інформаційно-аналітичне видання ELECTIONS OF THE PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE, 1999: Informational and Analytic Publication Stavniichuk M. I. Mandrusova H. P. Alsufiev V. V. Hashytskyi O. V. Davydov R. K. Davydovych Ya. V. Danylevskyi Yu. M. Danyliuk V. A. 1 External links uk:Вибори Президента 99 Presidential elections '99 https://www.cvk.gov.ua/pls/vp1999/webproc0.html live https://web.archive.org/web/20260505111743/https://www.cvk.gov.ua/pls/vp1999/webproc0.html 5 May 2026 Central Election Commission of Ukraine uk (official website) 20 December 1999 Ukraine's presidential elections, October 31 and November 14, 1999 https://www.csce.gov/publications/report-ukraines-presidential-elections-october-and-november-1999/ live https://web.archive.org/web/20251115175821/https://www.csce.gov/publications/report-ukraines-presidential-elections-october-and-november-1999/ 15 November 2025 Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe 7 March 2000 Ukraine, Presidential Election, 31 October and 14 November 1999: Final Report https://odihr.osce.org/odihr/elections/ukraine/15000 live https://web.archive.org/web/20260509203451/https://odihr.osce.org/odihr/elections/ukraine/15000 9 May 2026 Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe 17 December 1999 uk:Вибори-99 Elections-99 https://dif.org.ua/article/vibori-99 live https://web.archive.org/web/20260212223312/https://dif.org.ua/article/vibori-99 12 February 2026 Democratic Initiatives Foundation Political Portrait of Ukraine 114 uk Ukraine Presidential Category:Presidential elections in Ukraine Ukraine Ukraine Category:Leonid Kuchma