cy on
domestic and international matters and advising the president; a
Presidential Administration that helps draft presidential edicts and
provides policy support to the president; and a Council of Regions
that serves as an advisory body created by President KUCHMA in
September 1994 that includes chairmen of the Kyyiv (Kiev) and
Sevastopol' municipalities and chairmen of the oblasti
elections: president elected by popular vote for a five-year term;
election last held 31 October and 14 November 1999 (next to be held NA
2004); prime minister and deputy prime ministers appointed by the
president and approved by the People's Council
election results: Leonid D. KUCHMA elected president; percent of vote
- Leonid KUCHMA 56.21%, Petro SYMONENKO 37.77%

Legislative branch: unicameral Supreme Council or Verkhovna Rada (450
seats; under Ukraine's new election law, half of the Rada's seats are
allocated on a proportional basis to those parties that gain 4% of the
national electoral vote; the other 225 members are elected by popular
vote in single-mandate constituencies; all serve four-year terms)
elections: last held 29 March 1998 (next to be held NA 2002)
election results: percent of vote by party (for parties clearing 4%
hurdle on 29 March 1998) - Communist 24.7%, Rukh (combined) 9.4%,
Socialist/Peasant 8.6%, Green 5.3%, People's Democratic Party 5.0%,
Hromada 4.7%, Progressive Socialist 4.0%, United Social Democratic
Party 4.0%; seats by faction (as of 25 February 2000) - Communist 115,
PRVU 36, Fatherland Party 35, United Social Democratic 34, People's
Democratic Party 27, Trudova Ukrayina 27, Rukh (K) 27, left-center 23,
Green 18, Rukh (U) 17, Peasant Party 15, Hromada 14, Reforms Congress
12, independents 14, unaffiliated 31, vacant 5

Judicial branch: Supreme Court; Constitutional Court

Political parties and leaders: Agrarian Party of Ukraine or APU
; Communist Party of Ukraine [Petro
SYMONENKO]; Fatherland (Motherland) All Ukrainian Party [Yuliya
TYMOSHENKO, chairperson]; Green Party of Ukraine or PZU [Vitaliy
KONONOV, chairman]; Hromada ; Liberal Party of
Ukraine or LPU ; Party of Regional Revival of
Ukraine or PRVU ; Peasant Party of Ukraine or SelPU
; People's Democratic Party [Valeriy PUSTOVOYTENKO,
chairman]; People's Movement of Ukraine or Rukh U [Hennadiy UDOVENKO,
chairman]; Progressive Socialist Party ; Reforms
Congress ; Reforms and Order Party ; Sobor
Party ; Social Democratic Party of
Ukraine (United) ;