Changes of the Actor Structures and Configuration of Ukraine's Party System by the Results of 2019 Presidential and Parliamentary Elections

The article analyzes the impact of 2019 presidential and parliamentary elections on the configuration of Ukraine's party system. The authors of the article used the Laakso-Taagepera Index of Effective Number of Parties, the Pedersen Index of Volatility, Jones and the Mainwaring Party Nationalisation Score Index to study the configuration of the party system. The authors characterized the actor structure and format of the party system of Ukraine by the results of 2014 parliamentary elections. The authors pointed out that the political parties, which were formed after the Euromaidan, won the elections (November 2013 - February 2014). As a result of the elections, five new political parties out of six overcame the electoral barrier and formed the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, in particular: Blok Petra Poroshenka [Petro Poroshenko Bloc], Narodnyi front [People's Front], Obyednannya "Samo-pomich" [Union "Self Help"], the Radical Party of Oleh Lyashko, Opozytsiynyi Blok [Opposition Bloc]. The authors researched the 2019 presidential and parliamentary elections in the context of their influence on the party system. The decisive influence of the presidential election on the parliamentary election campaign was stated. As a result of the parliamentary elections, five political parties overcame the 5% electoral barrier, with four of them elected to the Verkhovna Rada for the first time. These parties formed on the eve of elections by either splitting in existing party structures (Opozytsiyna Platforma - Za Zhyttya [Opposition Platform - For Life]) or rebranding (Yevropeyska Solidarnist [European Solidarity], Sluha Narodu [Servant of the People], Holos [Voice]. Only the All-Ukrainian union Batkivshchyna [Fatherland] stayed in the Verkhovna Rada from the previous composition. The authors emphasized that the political party Sluha Narodu won 254 deputy's seats and formed the government individually. The authors concluded that the parliamentary actor structure had changed by 80% (the Pedersen Index of Volatility comprised 69 and was the highest in the history of parliamentary elections), and the configuration of the party system acquired characteristics of the system with a dominant party (the Index of Effective Number of Parties decreased to 2.7; the party received 59.7% of parliamentary seats). The Party Nationalisation Score Index (0.74) remained low by the elections results, with the Nationalization Score Index for individual parties even lower (Opozytsiyna Platforma - Za Zhyttya (0.55), Opozytsiynyi Blok (0.56), Holos (0.58), the All-Ukrainian union Svoboda [Freedom] (0.55)). Such indicators state the tendency to regionalization of the party influence and to the regional nature of political parties.

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