Ukraine local elections, 2010

Ukraine local elections, 2010

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October 31, 2010

The 2010 Ukraine local elections are scheduled to be held in October 2010, two years before the 2012 general election. On July 1, 2010 the Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian parliament) scheduled the election (originally scheduled for May 30, 2010) of local council deputies, as well as the heads of villages, towns and cities, for Sunday, October 31, 2010.^[1]

Initially parties that had been established less than a year before the election and political blocs where not permitted to compete in the election^[2][3]; but on August 30, 2010 this restriction was abandoned by the Verkhovna Rada.^[4]

Self-nomination for the post of mayor is not allowed.^[5] Half of the total number of local council deputies will be elected from the lists of political parties in a multi-mandate constituency. The other half is elected under a majority system in single-mandate constituencies.^[5] The elections will be held with closed lists.^[6] The election campaign will start on September 11, 2010.^[7]

A number of territorial election commissions contained members who although expelled by there party where appointed under the quota of the party they where expelled from.^[8][9][10]

Contents 1 Rescheduling of election date 2 Restrictions for political parties 3 Regional exceptions 4 Costs 5 References

Rescheduling of election date

On February 16, 2010 the Verkhovna Rada (the parliament of Ukraine) cancelled all Ukrainian local election dates original set for May 30, 2010.^{[11][12][13][14][15]} A new date was not set but Members of Parliament expected new local elections in the spring of 2011.^[16][17] On April 2, 2010 the Verkhovna Rada set early local elections in a number of cities, towns and villages for June 20, 2010.^[18] According to opposition lawmaker Mykola Katerynchuk (Our Ukraine–People's Self-Defense Bloc faction) the voting results proved that the Party of Regions intends to extend its influence over local government bodies, as the faction did not support elections in any of those regions where they already had a majority.^[18]

Late April 2010 President Viktor Yanukovych expected local elections in Ukraine to take place in 2011.^[19] Late May 2010 Yanukovych stated that local elections should be held next autumn.^[20] Yanukovych also called for these elections to be based on the majority representation system and stressed the need to adopt the relevant laws.^[20]

On July 1, 2010 the Verkhovna Rada scheduled the election for Sunday, October 31, 2010.^[1] On July 11 lawmakers approved the bill on the procedure for holding the elections.^[5][21] A total of 259 out of 485 MPs registered voted to pass the bill.^[21] Before voting the Bloc Yulia Tymoshenko faction walked out of parliament in protest against consideration the bill without taking into account the faction's proposals.^[22] The party is planning to challenge the law on local elections under a majority-proportional system at the Constitutional Court of Ukraine.^[23] This was done by the Front of Changes party on August 5, 2010.^[24] Besides Front of Changes and Bloc Yulia Tymoshenko Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Tigipko's Strong Ukraine party also stated the law violates the Constitution.^[24]

Restrictions for political parties

Parties that have been established less than a year before the election and political blocs where at first not permitted to compete in the election.^[2] This meant that parties like Strong Ukraine and Front of Changes who are high in election polls^[25][26] where excluded.^[3] Soon Bloc Yulia Tymoshenko (which won 156 out of 450 seats in the 2007 parliamentary elections^[27]) announced it would not participate in the elections but its main component, the All-Ukrainian Union "Fatherland", will.^[28][3]

On August 30, 2010 the Verkhovna Rada approved Party of Regions leader Oleksandr Yefremov's amendments to the law on the election extends the opportunity to participate in local elections to all parties, not only those registered more than a year before the elections.^[4] Similar bills submitted by lawmakers Lev Biriuk (Bloc Yulia Tymoshenko) and Arseniy Yatsenyuk (Our Ukraine-People's Self-Defense) had failed to collect the necessary number of votes to pass.^[4]

Regional exceptions

Except the election of Kiev mayor, the elections to the Kiev Regional Council and the elections to Ternopil Regional Council elections will be conducted in all local authorities.^[5]

The elections in rural councils are held under a simple plurality voting system based on single-member constituencies; the elections of mayors of cities, towns and villages are held under a plurality voting system in single-member constituencies that lie within the boundaries of the relevant city, town or village.^[21]

Parties or candidates themselves can propose to run election in rural areas and for the posts of rural areas heads; only local parties can propose candidates for the post of city mayors.^[7]

The Supreme Council of Crimea decided to held the 2010 Crimean parliamentary election simultaneously with the Ukrainian local elections on August 4, 2010.^[29]

Costs

Ukraine's Central Electoral Commission estimated the cost of holding local elections at 3.1 million Hryvnya in May 2010^[30] and over 1 billion Hryvnya in July 2010.^[31] The Ukrainian Finance Ministry and the Central Election Commission signed a joint protocol, which envisaged a provision of 1.024 billion Hryvnya of budget funds the elections on September 14, 2010.^[32]

References