Ukraine's February 2019: a record field and a constitutional course
A look back at two developments in the weeks before 13 February 2019, as Ukraine prepared for a presidential election.
What did Ukraine's political calendar look like on 13 February 2019? Two developments from the days just before it set the scene: a record field of presidential candidates and a constitutional commitment to Euro-Atlantic integration.
On 8 February 2019, the Central Election Commission completed registration for the presidential election. It registered 44 candidates, the largest number in Ukraine's history of such contests, a figure reported at the time as a record for the country.
On 7 February 2019, the Verkhovna Rada amended the Constitution to enshrine the country's course towards full membership of the European Union and NATO.
Together, the two decisions, taken within a day of each other, framed the period: an electoral process opening to an unusually large number of contenders, and a parliament writing the country's foreign-policy direction into its basic law. Viewed from 13 February 2019, voters were preparing to choose among dozens of names, while the constitutional direction of the state had just been set down in writing.
