Regional and Municipal Elections in Ukraine: A Test Case

The regional and municipal elections in Ukraine of October 2015 tested the post-Maidan coalition government and especially President Poroshenko and his reform and decentralisation policy. Despite solid performance of the president’s party, the ruling coalition lacks a stable majority at the local level. Prime Minister Yatsenyuk was weakened. Despite the limited successes of reform parties, established elites have prevailed and the oligarchs have reasserted themselves as the central players in Ukrainian politics.