DYNAMICS OF THE ELECTORAL SYMPATHIES OF THE KIROVOGRAD REGION POPULATION IN THE CONTEXT OF POLITICAL AND GEOGRAPHIC PROCESSES IN UKRAINE

Abstract

During the period of Ukraine's independence, there have been significant transformations of electoral sympathies of the population of the Kirovograd region. Since 1994, the place of the region in the electoral field of Ukraine was determined by its electoral marginality and political ambivalence, which testified to the split of the electoral space of the region. By 2002, the population of the region in electoral choices was solidarity with the inhabitants of the east and south of the country and preferred left-wing forces. In 2002, the level of support for left-wing forces declined, but there was still no structuring of political sympathies in the region, and the votes of voters were scattered among different political forces. In 2004, the political orientations of the population of the region for the first time became more close to the sympathies of the inhabitants of the north and west. For decades, the region entered the "orange belt", although
it was on its periphery, bordered by regions with opposing electoral sympathies. In the west, north, south and center of the region, the electorate favored the forces of the "orange camp", in the east and southeast - much of the support of the Party of Regions. Over time, the region lost its political ambivalence and finally entered the ranges of support for "pro-Ukrainian" political forces. In 2014, the oblast's inhabitants were unanimous in their electoral choices and the region lost the status of the electorate frontier. The  line of electoral frontier has shifted to the territory of the Dnipropetrovsk region. It is likely that the next election campaign will show quite different results that will require further analysis.