What did Ukraine's snap vote deliver on 21 July 2019?

What did Ukraine's early parliamentary election produce? On 21 July 2019, citizens voted for a new Verkhovna Rada, following its dissolution by President Volodymyr Zelensky in May. The vote had originally been scheduled for the end of October and was brought forward after he dissolved parliament on 21 May 2019, during his inauguration.

The outcome was decisive. Servant of the People, the president's party, won most of the seats with a comfortable majority. Five parties entered 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.

Later tallies showed that Servant of the People won an outright majority of 254 seats. That figure was not part of the reporting on the voting day itself.

Why it mattered

A single party holding an outright majority gave the president's camp a clear base in the chamber that had been dissolved two months earlier. The result closed a short campaign that began with the dissolution decree and ended at the ballot box on 21 July 2019.

A sporting note

On the previous day, 20 July 2019, Olha Kharlan won gold in the sabre event at the World Fencing Championships, becoming a six-time world champion.