TRENDS IN THE ELECTION OF CLERGY TO DISTRICT COUNCILS (THE CASE OF VOLYN REGION)

Abstract

This study examines the trends in clergy participation in district council elections as candidates for deputies.The research covers all sixteen districts of Volyn region that existed before the 2020 administrative-territorial reform and were subsequently consolidated into four. Chronologically, the study spans the period of Ukraine’s independence, beginning with the first democratic convocation in 1990 and concluding with the first elections of district council deputies held on October 25, 2020, under the new territorial structure.Sociological surveys indicate that the church has traditionally maintained a high level of public trust throughout Ukraine’s independence. This has contributed to increased trust in the clergy, whose public activities can also take on a public-administrative dimension, making the topic of scientific interest. The study explores the dynamics of clergy participation in electoral campaigns for regional-level local self-government bodies.Notably, in the 1990 election campaign, clergy members in the region did not attempt to secure deputy mandates. One of the reasons for this political inactiveness was the separation of church and state during the Soviet period. However, the election of a metropolitan as a member of the Verkhovna Rada in March 1990 demonstrated a certain readiness among church representatives to engage in national-level political life.The peak of clergy political activity at the district level occurred in 2002. The following two convocations of district councils were also marked by significant clergy participation. However, by the 2010 elections, the number of elected clergy members had almost halved. This decline in political activity was likely influenced by a general decrease in public trust in government institutions, the growing dominance of political parties in regional governance processes, and, consequently, the reluctance of clergy candidates to associate with political organizations that had monopolized the nomination process for district council elections.