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What the July 2019 Rada vote delivered
Summary
A look back at the early parliamentary election that gave President Zelensky's party a majority in the Verkhovna Rada.
What did Ukraine's early parliamentary election actually settle? Two days after the vote of 21 July 2019, the picture on 23 July 2019 was already clear: President Volodymyr Zelensky's Servant of the People party had won most of the seats in the Verkhovna Rada, with a comfortable majority.
Why the vote came early
The election followed the dissolution of the Rada by Zelensky in May. Background accounts of the period add that the vote had originally been scheduled for the end of October, and that Zelensky dissolved parliament on 21 May 2019, during his inauguration, which brought the election forward.
Who got in
As reported at the time, five parties cleared the threshold to enter parliament: Servant of the People, Opposition Platform – For Life, European Solidarity, the Batkivshchyna party and Holos. In addition, 199 deputies were elected under the majoritarian system in single-member constituencies.
What it meant
The result put the president's party in a commanding position in the chamber. Later tallies, which were not available on 23 July 2019, showed that Servant of the People secured an outright majority of 254 seats. In practical terms, that meant the party did not need to rely on others to hold a majority in the Rada.
The outcome also left the opposition fragmented across four other parties, alongside the single-member constituency deputies, who made up a significant bloc of their own.
