What did Ukraine's voters decide on 21 July?

What did Ukraine's voters actually decide when they went to the polls the day before 22 July 2019? The answer, as the count came in, was a clear one: they handed President Volodymyr Zelensky's party, Servant of the People, most of the seats in the Verkhovna Rada, and a comfortable majority.

The vote on 21 July was an early one. Parliament had been due to face voters at the end of October, but the election was brought forward after Zelensky dissolved the Verkhovna Rada in May, during his inauguration.

A five-party chamber

As the results emerged, five parties cleared the threshold to enter parliament: Servant of the People, Opposition Platform – For Life, European Solidarity, the Batkivshchyna party and Holos. Alongside them came 199 deputies elected by the majoritarian system in single-member constituencies.

The scale of the winner's result was later set out in full. Servant of the People went on to hold 254 seats, an outright majority. That figure was a later tally, not something known on the evening of the vote itself.

One day, two kinds of news

The election dominated the weekend, but it was not the only Ukrainian result of note. On 20 July, the day before the vote, Olha Kharlan won gold in the sabre at the World Fencing Championships, becoming a six-time world champion.

For readers looking back, 22 July 2019 was the first morning on which the shape of the new parliament could be read: one party in a commanding position, four others in opposition benches, and a large bloc of constituency deputies whose loyalties were yet to be defined.