At the time of election the population in Ukraine was 50,105,600 with 34,017,400 living in cities. The most districts contained the Donetsk Oblast as the most populous one, the least electoral districts among oblasts were in the Chernivtsi Oblast, only 4. The city of Kiev had 12 electoral districts and Sevastopol - 2. There also was a special out-of-country district available for voters who at the moment of elections were not available to vote in Ukraine.
All pretenders were required to collect signatures to become candidates. In the process ten pretenders were not able to gather the required signatures, while six were reinstated on decision of the Supreme Court of Ukraine. Later another two registered candidates withdrew.
Oleksandr Bazylyuk, initially denied in registration, Bazylyuk was granted candidate status on decision of the Supreme Court of Ukraine of August 11, 1999
Nataliya Vitrenko
Mykola Haber, initially denied in registration, Haber was granted candidate status on decision of the Supreme Court of Ukraine of August 9, 1999
Yuriy Karmazin, initially denied in registration, Karmazin was granted candidate status on decision of the Supreme Court of Ukraine of August 16, 1999
Vitaliy Kononov, initially denied in registration, Kononov was granted candidate status on decision of the Supreme Court of Ukraine of August 12, 1999
Yuriy Kostenko
Leonid Kuchma
Yevhen Marchuk
Oleksandr Moroz
Volodymyr Oliynyk
Vasyl Onopenko,, initially denied in registration, Onopenko was granted candidate status on decision of the Supreme Court of Ukraine of August 6, 1999
Oleksandr Rzhavsky,, initially denied in registration, Rzhavsky was granted candidate status on decision of the Supreme Court of Ukraine of August 10, 1999
Petro Symonenko
Oleksandr Tkachenko
Hennadiy Udovenko
Notes:
On October 27, 1999 Oliynyk and Tkachenko withdrew from the election campaign.
Since the summer of 1999 there was a sharp competition among the candidates. Four candidates Yevhen Marchuk, Oleksandr Moroz, Volodymyr Oliynyk, and Oleksandr Tkachenko met in Kaniv and called on all candidates to just and honest elections. The "Kaniv Four" had intentions to present a single candidate who would have more chances for success. It however failed to do so and no one else joined them neither. Volodymyr Oliynyk being promoted by Kirovohrad city residents, on October 27 surrendered his candidacy in favor of Yevhen Marchuk, while Oleksandr Tkachenko favored Petro Symonenko.
Conduct
According to historian Serhy Yekelchyk President Kuchma's administration "employed electoral fraud freely" during the election.
Results
In the first round the most oblasts and the out-of-country district were won by Leonid Kuchma. In seven oblasts the top candidate was Petro Symonenko mostly in the centre and south. Oleksandr Moroz managed to become the leader in the more agrarian oriented Poltava and Vinnytsia Oblasts. Nataliya Vitrenko took the peak of the candidate list in the Sumy Oblast.
