Політичні дослідження (Nov 2021)

Two-tier proportional electoral system in Ukraine:cross-regional analysis of the first approbation

  • Oleksandr Fisun,
  • Anton Avksentiev

DOI
https://doi.org/10.53317/2786-4774-2021-2-3
Journal volume & issue
no. 2
pp. 62 – 79

Abstract

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The article examines some effects from the first approbation of a two-tier proportional system with „flexible” lists in the local elections in Ukraine in 2020. In the comparative-regional context, the impact of the new system on the increase in the number of invalid ballots is analyzed and the percentage of voters who exercised the right to preferential voting for a particular candidate from the district list of the elected party is calculated. Hypotheses about regional differences in these quantitative parameters are formulated: in particular, the share of invalid ballots may be influenced by ethnolinguistic and urban factors. It was found that about 80% of voters who took part in the autumn 2020 vote exercised the right to preferential voting by entering the number of a particular candidate on the ballot — this unexpectedly high figure is in the context of other national cases using proportional systems with „flexible” or clean „open” lists.Particular attention is focused on the relationship between the two levels of the electoral system — the single closed and district flexible lists, and, accordingly, the balance of influence of voters and party leaders on the passage of candidates to local councils. This ratio was calculated for all oblast councils, and the material of the Kharkiv and Lviv oblast councils determined the empirical probability of changing the order of candidates in the district party lists under the influence of voters. Although supporters and lobbyists called the introduction of a new electoral system in Ukraine a model with „open” lists, the article identifies two key institutional mechanisms for significantly downplaying the role of preferential voting in the final determination of candidates. It is argued that according to the results of the personal distribution of seats among the candidates in the party lists, this model of „flexible” lists was closer to the pole of „closed” than „open” lists.

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