Election results in Lviv oblast: current MPs loosing new MPs winning

Voting results in single-mandate election districts of Lviv oblast are quite surprising. It was difficult to forecast such unexpected result. Yaroslav Dubnevych, nominated in ED #120, is one of 12 current MPs who managed to be elected to the new convocation of the Parliament. All the others took not even second, but third and fourth places in their districts.

Comparison of results received by current MPs (in 2012) and winners of 2014 elections.

The victory of Yaroslav Dubnevych (60.01%) is rather an exception from voting results in Lviv oblast. Such result can be explained only by the fact that the candidate has been actively conducting charitable activities in the district since 2010. This charity is based on material support and constant assistance to citizens in the district, what can be often characterized as the voter bribery. It's interesting that Yaroslav Dubnevych is elected in exceptional circumstances for the second time after he was elected as a self-nominated candidate in 2012 despite he wasn't nominated as a single candidate from the United Opposition. He joined the UDAR faction in the Verkhovna Rada of VII convocation, and was nominated by this very party in 2014 Parliamentary elections.

There are some reasons why the voters didn't support current MPs. Firstly, in contrast to 2012 Parliamentary elections, there was no need to vote for so-called single candidates from the United Opposition to stand against the regime of Yanukovych, and the competition was closer to democratic standards. Secondly, it was a kind of public demand for new faces in the politics, implemented in practice. Thirdly, current MPs were not very active in their districts and didn't meet expectations of the voters. Taking into consideration the fact that most of majoritarian candidates affirmed that they would act openly and transparently, what is an obligation of any MP according to the Law, we can say that there are certain difficulties with opportunities of citizen watchdog over activities of their elected representatives.

As a result, winners of the parliamentary race are the following: 5 nominees of the Petro Poroshenko Block (Oksana Yurynets, Yaroslav and Bohdan Dubnevychi, Taras Batenko, and Andrii Kit); one candidate from the People's Front (Mykhailo Bondar); one from the Samopomich (Iryna Podoliak); and 5 self-nominated candidates (Dmytro Dobrodomov, Bohdan Matkivskyi, Volodymyr Parasiuk, Oleh Musii, Andrii Lopushanskyi). A half of them took part in 2012 parliamentary elections (Dmytro Dobrodomov, Oksana Yurynets, Bohdan Dubnevych, Taras Batenko, Andrii Lopushanskyi, Andrii Kit), and were on the second place after current MPs. Another half (Iryna Podoliak, Mykhailo Bondar, Bohdan Matkivskyi, Volodymyr Parasiuk, Oleh Musii) were nominated as MP candidates for the first time. As a result, they had won with a big margin in their districts.

Besides that, voting results in single-mandate districts of Lviv oblast showed that the AUU Svoboda and the AUU Batkivshchyna have faced a complete defeat. They didn't manage to get any victory in single-member district of Lviv oblast and, in addition, lost seven seats which they received by quotes of the United Opposition in 2012 Parliamentary elections. Thus, 4 current MPs of the Svoboda won't have seats in the newly-elected Parliament (Iryna Farion, Iryna Sekh, Andrii Tiahnybok and Yurii Mykhalchyshyn). The AUU Batkivshchyna "lost" five MPs. Roman Ilyk and Stepan Kurpil have lost these elections. Oleh Kanivets, who was nominated by the Batkivshchyna in 2012 had left the party and was nominated by the Civic Position. Ms. Koteliak was supported in this election by the People's Front, but has also lost. Mykhailo Khmil was elected through party list of the People's Front.

The voting in nationwide election district was also surprising. The People's Front has won a convicting victory in Lviv oblast (33.03%). Four more parties overcame 5% threshold – the Petro Poroshenko Block (20.42%), the Samopomich Union (18.78%), the AUU Svoboda (6.19%), and the Radical Party of Oleh Liashko (5.35%). According to preliminary election results, a nbit more than 7% of Lviv representatives will have seats in the Verkhovna Rada of VIII convocation. It's around 32 MPs, 12 of which won in single-mandate election districts, and 20 will get into the Parliament through party lists.

The number of MPs from Lviv oblast, delegated by political parties:

The Samopomich Union delegates the biggest number of MPs from Lviv oblast – 10 persons, including 9 by party lists (Hanna Hopko, Oleksii Skrypnyk, Oksana Syroid, Oleh Lavryk, Ostap Yednak, Ruslan Sydorovych, Lev Pidlisetskyi, Oleh Bereziuk, Pavlo Kostenko), and one MP elected in single-member district (Iryna Podoliak). The People's Front delegates 8 MPs – 7 persons by party lists (Andrii Parubii, Ihor Vasiunyk, Andrii Levus, Mykola Velychkovych, Mykhailo Khmil, Mykola Kadykalo, Natalia Katser-Buchkovska), and one MP elected in single-member district (Mykhailo Bondar). The Petro Poroshenko Block has 7 MPs elected – 2 by party lists (Viktor Pynzenyk and Stepan Kubiv), and 5 in single-member districts (Oksana Yurynets, Bohdan Dubnevych, Yaroslav Dubnevych, Taras Batenko, and Andrii Kit). Probably, all these 25 MPs will be included in the constitutional majority, which is likely to be formed of the People's Front, the Petro Poroshenko Block, and the Samopomich Union.

In Lviv oblast, the Radical Party of Oleh Liashko will be represented in the Parliament by Yurii Shukhevych, and the Opposition Block will be represented by Taras Kozak, who are probably going to be in the opposition. Besides that, 5 self-nominated candidates will represent Lviv oblast in the Verkhovna Rada (Dmytro Dobrodomov, Bohdan Matkivskyi, Volodymyr Parasiuk, Oleh Musii, Andrii Lopushanskyi). We may suggest that most of them will join the coalition or the majority, but we'll see.

However, we still have a question: will MPs representing Lviv oblast be able to create an inter-faction union to lobby for interests of their region despite the party affiliation?