The Ukrainian presidential election, 1991 was the first presidential

President of Ukraine

Prior to the formation of the modern Ukrainian presidency, the previous Ukrainian head of state office was officially established in exile by Andriy Livytskyi. At first the de facto leader of nation was the president of the Central Rada at early years of the Ukrainian People's Republic, while the...

 election held in Ukraine

Ukraine

Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...

 following independence from the Soviet Union

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

. The election was contested on December 1, 1991, with all six candidates campaigning in support of Ukrainian independence. With the exception of Kravchuk, none of the candidates ever ran for president again.

On the same day, Ukrainians overwhelmingly supported the Declaration of Independence

Declaration of Independence of Ukraine

The Act of Declaration of Independence of Ukraine was adopted by the Ukrainian parliament on August 24, 1991. The Act established Ukraine as an independent, democratic state....

 in the independence referendum

Ukrainian independence referendum, 1991

A referendum on the Act of Declaration of Independence of Ukraine took place in Ukraine on December 1, 1991. The only question of the referendum was: "Do you support the Act of Declaration of Independence of Ukraine?" – with the text of the Declaration as a preamble to the question...

.

Summary of 1991 Ukraine presidential election results

Candidates	Votes	%
Leonid Kravchuk Leonid Kravchuk Leonid Makarovych Kravchuk is a Ukrainian politician, the first President of Ukraine serving from December 5, 1991 until his resignation on July 19, 1994, a former Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada and People's Deputy of Ukraine serving in the Social Democratic Party of Ukraine faction.After a...	19,643,481	61.59
Viacheslav Chornovil	7,420,727	23.27
Levko Lukyanenko Levko Lukyanenko Levko Lukyanenko ; is a Ukrainian politician, and Soviet dissident and Hero of Ukraine.-Biography:Lukyanenko was born on 24 August 1928 in the Khrypivka village of Chernihiv Oblast, in the USSR...	1,432,556	4.49
Volodymyr Hryniov	1,329,758	4.17
Ihor Yukhnovskyi Ihor Yukhnovskyi Ihor Yukhnovskyi is a Ukrainian scientist, politician, and statesman, a member of the Presidium of Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Hero of Ukraine.-Life before politics:...	554,719	1.74
Leopold Taburianskyi	182,713	0.57
Total	30,563,954	100