Lviv residents want to primarily elect deputies rather than parties. 49% are opposed to introducing a bicameral Parliament in Ukraine.

Press

15.04.2009

Lviv residents want to primarily elect deputies rather than parties. 49% are opposed to introducing a bicameral Parliament in Ukraine.

In spring 2009, rising prices and the devaluation of the hryvnia are becoming increasingly painful issues for Lviv residents. 51.4% believe that the situation in Ukraine is deteriorating, while 40.3% think it is not changing. Only 2.1% of respondents feel that the situation in the country is improving.
Only 7.5% of respondents have not felt the effects of the financial and economic crisis in Ukraine. 47.3% have felt the impact of the crisis very seriously, and another 42.9% have felt it to some extent.
85.6% of respondents are most concerned about rising prices (in December it was 73.4%), and 40.3% are concerned about the depreciation of the hryvnia (in December it was 33.9%). At the same time, concern about job losses decreased from 48% to 29.1%, and concern about delayed wage payments decreased from 20.1% to 12.5%.
58% of respondents personally are ready to take part in various protest actions, including due to non-payment of salaries or pensions (44.5%), deterioration of their personal financial situation (41.4%), rising prices or utility tariffs (40%), and the tense political situation in the country (33.6%). 22% are ready to protest for money or some form of remuneration.
11.9% are ready to participate in all of the listed protest actions. 33.4% are confident that they will not take part in any of these protest actions.
Lviv residents want to primarily elect deputies rather than parties. 49% are against introducing a bicameral Parliament in Ukraine. 26.3% of respondents are ready to support the introduction of a bicameral Parliament, while 24.6% are undecided.
Residents of Lviv are mostly against early elections. In particular, 47.6% do not support early elections to the Verkhovna Rada (45.5% are in favor), and 52.3% are against early presidential elections (40.9% are in favor). Notably, 37.9% support both early parliamentary and early presidential elections, while 43.9% support neither early presidential nor parliamentary elections.
Lviv residents do not support elections being held under the existing proportional electoral system with closed party lists. This applies both to elections to the Verkhovna Rada, where only 10.4% called it optimal, and to local council elections, where only 10% consider it the best option.
Respondents view the majoritarian electoral system most favorably. 33.6% consider it the best for parliamentary elections, and 36.6% for local elections. 20.3% believe that a proportional system with open lists is optimal for elections to the Verkhovna Rada, while 17.5% consider it the best for local elections. 22% believe that a mixed system, combining proportional and majoritarian elements, is the best electoral system.
In Lviv, the Yatsenyuk Bloc became the leader of electoral support in parliamentary elections. The Hrytsenko Bloc passes the 3% threshold.
Since the beginning of the year, support for the Yatsenyuk Bloc has increased from 13.6% to 21.4%, allowing it to overtake the BYuT, which has 19.1%. Third place belongs to Svoboda with 16.5%. More than 3% was received by Our Ukraine (5.3%), the Party of Regions (4.4%), and the Hrytsenko Bloc (3.4%).
Voters’ motives in supporting political forces differ. 40% of BYuT supporters have supported this force for a long time and have not become disillusioned with it, while another 40% have become disappointed but still consider it the best among the alternatives. Meanwhile, 82% of Yatsenyuk Bloc supporters and 48% of Svoboda supporters began supporting these forces recently because they became disappointed with others.
Notably, 22% of Hrytsenko Bloc supporters support it “out of spite” toward another political force.
In Lviv, trust in Yushchenko and Tymoshenko continues to decline. Over the past year, trust in Viktor Yushchenko in Lviv has fallen from 77.3% to 22.8%, and trust in Yulia Tymoshenko has fallen from 85.4% to 37.4%. Distrust in the President stands at 66.9%, and in the Prime Minister at 57.1%.
At the same time, since the beginning of the year, trust in all national leaders has declined, most notably in Oleh Tiahnybok (from 56.6% to 42.6%) and Yurii Lutsenko (from 39.3% to 28.9%). The exception is Arsenii Yatsenyuk, whose level of trust has not changed since the beginning of the year.
The highest levels of trust among Lviv residents are enjoyed by Yatsenyuk (63.3%), Tiahnybok (42.6%), and Tymoshenko (37.4%). Only Yatsenyuk has a positive trust balance (+35.3%). Respondents were most uncertain in their attitudes toward Anatolii Hrytsenko (18.3%).
The politician who is most distrusted in Lviv is traditionally Viktor Yanukovych (89.3%).
In the presidential elections in Lviv, Yatsenyuk leads with 23.3%, followed by Tymoshenko with 19.5%, and Tiahnybok with 10.4%. Viktor Yushchenko’s rating has stabilized at 6.9%, and Anatolii Hrytsenko is fifth with 5.5%. 10.8% of respondents would not vote for any of the candidates, and another 9.5% have not decided.
It is interesting that in Yulia Tymoshenko’s electorate in Lviv, 59% are women, while among Volodymyr Lytvyn’s voters, 65% are men. The highest shares of voters with higher education are found among Viktor Yanukovych’s and Anatolii Hrytsenko’s supporters.