ABSTRACT
Since 1991, Ukraine has developed a particular political system that can be characterised as oligarchic pluralism. Coupled with commercialised and polarised media, this system has invested Ukrainian politics with strong competition between different politico-economical groupings. In this climate, televised debates are ascribed significance in the electoral process as a powerful tool that can decide the voting outcome. This leads to the perception of debates as a threat to the candidate who leads the polls and the resultant boycott or subversion of the debates process by the same candidate. Due to this, the Ukrainian electoral culture has developed a cycle where the debates perceived as decisive intersperse with the debates that are either ignored or sabotaged by one of the candidates. However, the debates remain an important aspect of politainment and electoral spectacle in Ukrainian political culture.
