ФЕНОМЕН РЕГІОНАЛЬНИХ ПАРТІЙ ІЗ УСЕУКРАЇНСЬКИМ СТАТУСОМ НА МІСЦЕВИХ ВИБОРАХ 2020 року

Abstract

The article analyzes the phenomenon of regional parties with all-Ukrainian status in the 2020 local elections. It is noted that the early and atypical for Ukraine parliamentary elections of 2014 were a direct consequence of the transformation of electoral consciousness during the Revolution of Dignity. It is noted that local elections have become decisive for the future political life in Ukraine due to several circumstances: these are the first local elections after the completion of the decentralization reform (on a new territorial basis); voters, according to the Electoral Code, could vote primarily for the party and choose its candidate; electoral technologies were transformed through the COVID-19 pandemic; low turnout for local elections has become a traditional fact, which encourages parties to maximize motivation and intensify their electoral field; some political parties, losing electoral support in most regions and turning into regional projects. It is stated that the local elections in 2020 changed the schedule of political players. Local elites in many regions relied on non-parliamentary parties, which marked the beginning of local political decentralization. Many voters opted for a particular political force, associating it with the hope of overcoming the crisis at both the national and local or even personal levels. The success of regional parties with all-Ukrainian status in the 2020 local elections in the regions is the result of growing confidence in regional elites, who often demonstrate their independence from parliamentary parties and pursue autonomous regional policies, which can have negative consequences if separatist sentiment and political activism intensify. national minorities. The Ukrainian state must understand these threats, and legal mechanisms must make it impossible to create regional political projects. Parliament needs to regulate the participation of political parties in local and parliamentary elections to avoid regionalism.