The 1999 election saw serious irregularities, monitors said
"President Kuchma is the best thing that happened to this country in this time of transformation," says Georgian-American restaurant owner Benny Gilani over his regular mid-afternoon cappuccino.
"Take a look at Moldova, Georgia, Belarus - there is civil strife everywhere. This president succeeded in escaping from these problems."
Since coming here over seven years ago, he has opened several restaurants catering to the country's new rich.
"This president was a fatherly figure who kept these people together," he says, referring to the diversity of Ukraine's population.
Winners and losers
Mr Gilani has done well out of Ukraine's wild brand of capitalism.
Asked about the luxurious decor at his restaurant, he responds: "Just don't ask how much it cost."
He believes the country is broadly on the right track: variety in the shops, mobile phones and new cars. He reels off a list of things he feels document the progress Ukraine has made over the last decade.
But not everyone is so sure.
In elections due later this month, opposition parties led by the former reformist Prime Minister, Viktor Yushchenko, look set to emerge as the head of the biggest single bloc.
Many voters have yet to see the benefits of the free market, and President Leonid Kuchma's reputation has also been tarnished by allegations he was behind the killing of an opposition journalist.
"This election is important because Kuchma realises this new parliament might be able to impeach him - or at least to reduce his powers," says journalist Andrei Shevchenko.
"He has never faced a largely hostile parliament before - it will be a tough test,"
Obstruction accusations
That's not a nice prospect for Mr Kuchma - and he's working hard to avoid it.
There have been all kinds of complaints about the campaign, some of them backed up by a monitoring mission from the pan-European security body, the OSCE.
Local authorities loyal to Mr Kuchma have been accused of obstructing opposition campaigns.
Mr Yushchenko recently complained that he was locked out of a meeting hall, and forced to hold a rally in the open air.
"The local girls, who were receiving us with the customary bread and salt, had to change into their traditional costumes behind a fir tree," he said.
At another meeting, the electricity was mysteriously turned off and he had to continue by candlelight.
There have also been reports of candidates being intimidated.
And state TV has been criticised for biased reporting.
Many people here are resigned to the idea these elections will not be free and fair.
But not everyone.
From a tiny hole-in-the-wall office in central Kiev, Oleg Popov runs the Committee of Voters of Ukraine.
It will be sending volunteers to supplement the OSCE observers monitoring the poll.
Local corruption
Nevertheless, Mr Popov admits that doesn't guarantee anything.
Mr Popov says that, paradoxically, Ukraine's improved election law has made this year's campaign the dirtiest yet.
The new law makes it harder for votes to be "miscounted" he says, meaning the authorities are trying even harder to influence the campaign.
He says that vote rigging in selected areas across the country could still lead to a four or five percent change to the overall national vote.
But that, he says, won't be enough to prevent victory for the opposition - only to limit the extent of that victory.
Mr Popov's group has been keeping an eye on Ukrainian elections for several years now, about the same amount of time that Benny Gilani has been doing business here.
And back at his upmarket restaurant, he too agrees some things do need improving.
"The most pro-reform governments can be elected. But on a clerk level, on a city administration level, I'd like to see favouritism and undue influences eradicated," he says, hinting at the corruption that pervades Ukrainian public life.
"For example, if you're a restaurant owner and the sanitary services shut you down deservedly you cannot hold a grudge - you should clean your kitchens.
"But if somebody will use undue influence to shut you down, I'd like that to be changed."