Introduction
There are 15 candidates for Kryvyi Rih City Mayor, and only 5 of them were nominated by local cells of political parties. Although the regular elections of City Mayor on 25 October 2016 had 6 candidates more than this election, the voters have a competitive list of nominees to select from, representing various political groups.
The official registration has finished, and 5 of 15 candidates are campaigning the most actively: Yurii Vilkul (self-nominated), Oleh Boichenko (self-nominated), Inna Ivanchenko (self-nominated), Mykola Kolesnyk (Ukrainian Union of Patriots – UKROP), Ihor Levytskyi (Narodnyi Kontrol Civic Movement), Semen Semenchenko (Samopomich Union), and Svitlana Sova (Syla Liudei). The other candidates do not demonstrate any permanent activeness related to the election process.
The competitiveness of election campaign in Kryvyi Rih is well preserved, as different candidates can unrestrictedly use various campaigning means to engage the voters. OPORA's observers haven't detected any existing or potential obstacles for voter engagement and campaigning in various forms. The only exception is unbalanced coverage of the campaign by municipal mass media. Thus, reforming of this sector becomes even more topical.
Another problem is that some candidates who hold positions in local government bodies mix their official duties and campaign efforts. Such problem was typical in 2015 local elections. As long as such candidates are not obliged to take a vacation for the election period, they are tempted to use powers to gain political benefits. In addition, as long as the legislation is not efficient in preventing misuse of resources available for state authorities and local self-government bodies during the election process, the principle of equal opportunities is hazarded. We can see such problem in campaign efforts of self-nominated candidate Yurii Vilkul, who is also current Mayor of Kryvyi Rih. Mr. Vilkul receives non-proportional privileges thanks to wide media coverage of local social programs and other initiatives of the Mayor financed from the state budget before the official start of election campaign. OPORA denotes that such problems emerge not only because of gaps in the legislation, but also because the hazards brought by the conflict of interests are not clearly understood yet to take the corresponding measures for its prevention. However, although individuals subordinate to the current Mayor participate in his election campaign in a centralized way, such efforts usually can not be explicitly defined in terms of electoral legislation.
The most widespread violation of electoral legislation, according to OPORA's assessment, is violation of campaigning rules. Firstly, we should mention placement of campaign materials in forbidden places (especially concerns Yurii Vilkul), and dissemination of printed campaign materials without an imprint. There were some incidents when political advertisement of self-nominated candidate Yurii Vilkul was damaged and his representatives appealed to law-enforcement bodies.
In general, Kryvyi Rih City Election Commission acts in correspondence with legislation, and actively responds to possible violations of electoral legislation. Secondly, the City Election Commission took legally controversial decisions in some cases, which could be challenged by electoral subjects in court. For example, the information on some campaign materials of Yurii Vilkul was recognized as unauthentic.
Kryvyi Rih District Election Commissions committed a number of violations in the process of PEC formation. These violations, however, were neither wide-scale, nor crucial. 5 of 15 mayoral candidates didn't nominate any PEC members: Semen Semenchenko (Samopomich Union), Ihor Levytskyi (Narodnyi Kontrol Civic Movement), Inna Ivanchenko and Oleh Kosiak (self-nominated candidates). The candidates didn't submit any candidates for PEC members. Local cells of the Radical Party of Oleh Liashko and AUU Batkivshchyna, which have factions in the current convocation of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, didn't nominate any candidates at all. Thus, City District TECs had to appoint more than 20% of PEC members choosing from candidates nominated by the commissions themselves.
We should mention that PECs were organized and are functioning properly despite the rotation in their membership. According to OPORA's data, the PECs received preliminary voter lists in time, and they are available for the citizens.
Nomination and registration of candidates
Nomination of candidates for Kryvyi Rih City Mayor started in 34 days before the election day (on 22 February), in accordance with the Law of Ukraine on Local Elections. In 24 days before the election day, the candidates could submit registration documents to Kryvyi Rih City Election Commission (till 2 March inclusive). The TEC shall take decision on registration of a candidate within 3 days after receiving the corresponding application for registration with all the needed documents attached, but not later than 23 days before the election day (till 3 March inclusive).
According to the current law on local elections, local cells of political parties are allowed to nominate candidates only if the central administrative body of a party takes decision on participation in the corresponding election.
Only 5 of 16 political parties, which have timely took a decision on participation in early election of Kryvyi Rih City Mayor, have nominated their candidates. As for the AUU Svoboda, its nominee is running as a self-nominated candidate because of legal inaccuracies made in the decision making process[1]. OPORA's observers reported that Dnipropetrovsk oblast cell of the Party of Simple People violated law requirements concerning announcement of a meeting dedicated to nomination of candidates (they didn't indicate the time of the meeting in a notification sent to the City Election Commission). As a result, members of the election commission, mass media representatives, and official observers couldn't attend the corresponding meeting of this party. Besides that, security guards in the Kryvyi Rih City Council, where City Election Commission is located, didn't allow some official observers and journalists to enter the building when registration documents of self-nominated candidate Yurii Vilkul, who is the current City Mayor, were submitted. Such activities could be classified as obstruction to activities of the media and observers.
OPORA's observers emphasized the fact that only two members of the Samopomich Union participated in a meeting dedicated to nomination of mayoral candidate by party's local cell. Decision on nomination of MP of Ukraine Semen Semenchenko for mayor of Kryvi Rih was taken from the second attempt, as long as one of two party members (Yurii Myloboh, who was nominated by the party in regular local elections) refrained from the voting.
17 candidates submitted registration documents to Kryvyi Rih City Election Commission – 11 self-nominated and 6 nominated by local cells of political parties (one candidate was nominated by local cell of a party, which didn't take a decision on participation in the corresponding election).
Kryvyi Rih City Election Commission registered 15 candidates for early election of city mayor and rejected 2 within the legislative time constraints. One of them was rejected because he didn't pay a monetary pledge, another because the central administrative body of the party nominating him didn't take a decision on participation in the corresponding local elections.
Thus, 15 candidates participate in the early mayoral race in Kryvyi Rih, and 10 of them were nominated independently. Most of 15 registered candidates are unaffiliated (8 persons). Two candidates are members of Serhii Kaplin's Party of Simple People (one nominated by local cell of the party and another runs independently).
Local cells of political parties Ukrainian Union of Patriots – UKROP, Narodnyi Kontrol Civic Movement political party, Serhii Kaplin's Party of Simple People, and Syla Liudei nominated candidates for mayor of Kryvyi Rih. Local cells of these parties except for Serhii Kaplin's Party of Simple People, Narodnyi Kontrol Civic Movement nominated candidates in 25 October 2015 regular elections of mayor in Kryvyi Rih.
Besides that, local cells of Petro Poroshenko Bloc 'Solidarity', AUU Batkivshchyna, Nash Krai, Opposition Bloc, Radical Party of Oleh Liashko, Party of Afghanistan War Veterans, and Revival party, which participated in 2015 mayoral election in Kryvyi Rih, haven't nominated any candidates in this election. We would like to remind that AUU Svoboda has nominated a candidate, but didn't manage to prove that party's central administrative body took a decision on participation of its local organizations in the corresponding election.
There are 6 candidates less participating in this early mayoral race if compared to regular election of Kryvyi Rih city mayor held on 25 October 2015 (15 and 21 candidates respectively).
Table “Candidates nominated in Kryvyi Rih early mayoral election, their party affiliation, type of nomination and gender”
| Men | Women | Unaffiliated | Party members | Self-nominated candidates: | Nominated by parties | |
| Number of candidates | 11 | 4 | 8 | 7 | 10 | 5 |
Civil Network OPORA denotes that the process of nomination and registration of candidates in early mayoral election in Kryvyi Rih was legitimate and conflict-free. Rare legal inaccuracies or violations of electoral legislation, detected at this stage of election process, are minor and don't affect the election campaign. Kryvyi Rih City Election Commission took a decision on registration of candidates in a legitimate manner; rejection of nominees was justified.
Campaigning efforts
OPORA has emphasized in the previous report that potential candidates started campaigning before their official registration. We have also mentioned that such actions may hazard equal opportunities for candidates and transparency of campaign financing. Conclusions made by observers were proved when candidates were officially registered. For example, information leaflets “Kryvorozhanyn” containing information promoting current Mayor Yurii Vilkul, which was widely disseminated before his registration and didn't contain information about client ordering the leaflet, did contain such information when he was officially registered.
OPORA has noticed that campaigning became more active after Kryvyi Rih City Election Commission had officially registered candidates. While current Mayor Yurii Vilkul was the most active before registration, after the registration other candidates started actively campaigning too.
The following candidates are quite active after the registration: Yurii Vilkul (self-nominated), Oleh Boichenko (self-nominated), Inna Ivanchenko (self-nominated), Mykola Kolesnyk (Ukrainian Union of Patriots – UKROP), Ihor Levytskyi (Narodnyi Kontrol Civic Movement), Semen Semenchenko (Samopomich Union), and Svitlana Sova (Syla Liudei). Thus, 5 of 15 candidates are campaigning systematically, and the other are campaigning either sometimes or never.
Candidates who campaign on a regular basis use various forms of voter engagement: meetings with the voters, campaigning tents, outdoor political advertising, dissemination of printed campaign materials, and public events. The campaign is overall competitive. There are no systematical and/or centralized obstruction to activities of separate candidates. However, current Mayor Yurii Vilkul, who mixes hisofficial duties and campaign efforts, hazards the principle of equal opportunities for all candidates. These hazards are even deepened by local assistance program, conducted by local authorities, providing one-time payment to socially disadvantaged population groups.
Violation of electoral legislation and/or standards
During the reporting period, electoral subjects usually violated campaigning restrictions. Besides that, Kryvyi Rih City Council is still realizing an assistance program providing one-time 500 UAH payment for socially disadvantaged population groups, which coverage in the media promotes the current Mayor Yurii Vilkul. Observers noticed participation of public officials in campaigning efforts, what is against the current legislation and electoral standards. However, there were also some incidents when outdoor advertising was damaged, what may be characterized as obstruction to campaigning.
Violation of campaigning restrictions
1) Some violations concerned restrictions on placement of political advertising.
According to the Article 60(9) of Law of Ukraine on Local Elections, it is forbidden to place political advertising outside and inside of public transport, including taxi; inside and outside of subways, bus and railway stations, ports and airports. At the same time, Article 212-14 (1) of the Code of Administrative Offences of Ukraine prohibits placement of political advertising in the certain places.
OPORA's observers have detected stickers with promotion of self-nominated candidate Yurii Vilkul, who is the current Mayor. Besides that, printed materials placed on a taxi didn't contain information about establishment that published them, the number of copies, and information on individuals in charge of the issue (Article 56 (2) of the Law of Ukraine on Local Elections prohibits placement of campaign materials without the abovementioned information).
OPORA has officially applied to law-enforcement bodies concerning this violation. Kryvyi Rih City Election Commission also applied to law enforcement during its meeting on 3/9/2016 based on complaints and appeals submitted by candidates. Poxy of Yurii Vilkul Maryna Akimova has publicly supported Commission's decision to appeal to law-enforcement, but stated that the candidate didn't order production and placement of these stickers on taxi, and they don't belong to his campaigning efforts.
2) Dissemination of printed campaign materials without an imprint.
According to the Article 56 (2) of the Law of Ukraine on Local Elections, printed materials should contain information about the customer, printing house, individuals in charge of the issue, and number of printed copies. The Law prohibits placement of campaign materials without the abovementioned information. Violation of these requirements is punished under Article 212-13 (2) of the Code of Administrative Offences of Ukraine with a fine from three to five untaxed salary minimums, and from twenty to thirty untaxed salary minimums for public officials.
It should be emphasized that the absence of an imprint on campaign materials, may mean that their production was financed from other sources than electoral fund account of a mayoral candidate. According to the Article 54 (6) of the Law of Ukraine on Local Elections, it is prohibited to use other sources for campaign financing. According to the Article 159-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, violation of campaign financing rules shall be punished by a fee from three hundred to five hundred untaxed salary minimums or restriction of liberty for up to two years, or deprivation of liberty for the same period with no right to hold the certain positions or be involved into the certain activities from one to three years.
OPORA's observers have noticed a number of incidents when disseminated campaign materials didn't contain mandatory data. For example, stickers on show-windows of newstands "Druk" and other trade facilities with the following text: “No to swindlers and raiders! For Kryvbas! For Vilkul! Association of Kryvyi Rih Entrepreneurs” (in Russian – OPORA). These printed campaign materials didn't contain information about the printing house, client, number of printed copies, and individuals responsible for the publication, what is required by the Article 56 (2) of the Law of Ukraine on Local Elections. OPORA has reported this violation to law-enforcement bodies.
On 3/6/2016, OPORA's observers have noticed that printed campaign materials titled “Pro Kryvbas”, disseminated from tents of Samopomich Union, contained incomplete imprint (without client's and publisher's names etc.). Most of information in leaflets concerned mayoral candidate Semen Semenchenko, nominated by the Samopomich Union, and was aimed at creation of a political image of the politician. At the same time, a banner without an imprint was noticed in the Central-Minsk district of Kryvyi Rih with self-nominated candidate Oleh Boichenko and symbols of AUU Svoboda depicted. Boichenko is a member of AUU Svoboda party.
3) Probably unbalanced and biased coverage of the election process by local media.
According to the Article 57 (1) of the Law of Ukraine on Local Elections, coverage of an election process in mass media companies of all forms of ownership, including interviews, discussions and debates, information messages, and news should be unbiased and balanced.
However, according to the assessment of OPORA's observers, the Rudana TV and radio company provides a disproportional coverage of activities of current Mayor Yurii Vilkul, who is nominated in the upcoming early mayoral election. This fact hazards the standards of electoral process media coverage and providing information about candidates to the citizens. In Saksahanskyi district of Kryvyi Rih, observers noticed dissemination of the Chervonyi Perets comic paper, containing five articles about mayoral candidates Semen Semenchenko, Mykola Kolesnyk and Svitlana Sova. The context of these materials is not in line with the Article 57 (1) of the Law of Ukraine on Local Elections, which says that coverage of the election process must be unbiased and balanced.
4) Signs of public officials violating restrictions on participation in campaigning efforts.
According to the Article 60 (1,2) of the Law of Ukraine on Local Local Elections, public servants and officials at all levels are banned from participating in campaigning efforts during their working hours; candidates that hold the corresponding positions shall not use corporate vehicles, means of communication, equipment, premises, other objects or resources at the place of his or her work, staff or production meetings, or corporate meetings for election campaigning, or to engage the following persons in his or her election campaign activity or use them for any kind of activity associated with election campaigning.
Information materials, ordered by candidate for Kryvyi Rih city mayor Yurii Vilkul, were disseminated from campaigning tents in all districts of Kryvyi Rih. These materials were aimed to familiarize the voters with representatives of "Mayor's political team" from each district and their joint declaration for support of candidate Yurii Vilkul in the upcoming early mayoral election. Next to the text of declaration, one could find pictures of individuals subordinate to the current City Mayor, particularly: First Deputy Mayor of Kryvyi Rih O.V. Fishchenko; Deputy Mayor of Kryvyi Rih N.L. Podoplielova; Deputy Mayor of Kryvyi Rih K.A. Bielikova; and Executive Committee Administrator of Kryvyi Rih City Council O.M. Shovhelia. Although demonstration of political position of the corresponding individuals in printed campaign materials is not a direct violation of legislation, it has signs of their attraction to campaigning efforts of current Mayor Yurii Vilkul, to whom they are subordinate.
OPORA has also appealed to law-enforcement bodies concerning the placement of information about submission of registration documents by Yurii Vilkul on official website of Kryvyi Rih City Council. This fact may be characterized as misuse of local self-government resources in political interests of the candidate.
5) Dissemination of opinion polls in online media without substantial information about the time and location of its conduct, the scale and type of sampling, polling method, exact wording of questions, and possible statistical error.
On 3/8/2016, Kryvyi Rih local website Krivbas24.com has published an article titled “Social Poll in Kryvyi Rih 'Life': Whom Kryvyi Rih citizens see as a mayor?” (in Russian – OPORA). The resource gives a reference to sociological poll, conducted by another online edition – krlife.com.ua. There is a screen shot of an ongoing voting next to a screen shot from website krlife.com.ua, displaying that candidate Ihor Levytskyi, nominated by the Narodnyi Kontrol Civic Movement, received the highest number of votes.
However, the Law of Ukraine on Local Elections provides specific requirements to publication of polling results. In particular, according to the Article 53 (1) of the Law of Ukraine on Local Elections, one shall indicate in a publication about the poll the time when the poll was conducted, the territory covered by the poll, the size and mode of selection of the poll sample, the polling method used, the exact phrasing of the questions, and the margin of error. The corresponding website, however, has not only failed to provide such data, but also presented the poll available for all internet users as an opinion of Kryvyi Rih citizens.
6) Obstruction to activities of a candidate by making damages to political advertisement materials and printed campaign materials.
OPORA's observers have detected a number of damages made by unknown persons to outdoor advertising boards with campaign materials of Yurii Vilkul (self-nominated candidate). The candidate has reported this criminal violation to the SBU Head, Prosecutor General of Ukraine, Head of the National Police of Ukraine, and Head of Kryvyi Rih Police Department.
7) Obstruction to legal activities of an official observer.
There were some incidents during the reporting period, when activities of official observers were hindered. In the first one, an official observer was threatened, in another, the corresponding electoral subject was barred from attending an election commission meeting.
On 3/6/2016, the Head of Ternivskyi District Election Commission prohibited OPORA's observer from being present during submission of precinct election commission nominees to the TEC. Moreover, the Commission Head didn't change her decision even when the observer called police and officers arrived. As a result, the observer couldn't watch the submission of documents for registration of PEC members. Police officers didn't even manage to get an explanation from the Head of Ternivskyi District Election Commission, as long as she refused to leave the Commission premises as the officers legally demanded. Thus, OPORA's representative reported the criminal violation to the District Police Department (obstruction to activities of official observers in duty, article 157 (3) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). OPORA's official observer, for his part, filed the Kryvyi Rih City Election Commission a complaint about obstruction to his legal activities. Having considered the complaint, the City Election Commission has partly satisfied demands of the observer. It has acknowledged that the Head of district TEC acted against the Law, violated the rights and legal interests of the electoral subject, and failed to fulfill her duties.
In another case, OPORA's observer has threatened by an unknown person, when he was recording campaign materials, unlawfully placed on a taxi. Police has promptly responded.
Another issue in the election campaign is a budget assistance program for socially disadvantaged population groups, launched before the campaign has officially started. Local government has allocated 80 million UAH for the program, which is widely covered by mass media. For example, OPORA's observers have noticed dissemination of leaflets containing information about the program in local self-government bodies, groceries, hairdresser's, apartment building entrances, public transport, and high-speed tram stations. It was written in leaflets that this assistance program was initiated by the current Mayor and City Council, and 300 thousand citizens can get 500 UAH.
On 3/9/2016, Kryvyi Rih City Election Commission has considered a complaint from an independently nominated mayoral candidate Inna Ivanchenko concerning dissemination of leaflets about 500 UAH social assistance. The Commission recognized these leaflets as election campaigning. According to the Commission, printed materials containing information about the corresponding assistance program are campaign materials, because they have direct relation to City Mayor Yurii Vilkyl, nominated in the upcoming election. Thus, the City Election Commission appealed to law-enforcement bodies, but refused to recognize monetary assistance under the social program as a voter bribery.
The key hazard for competitiveness of the election process is that current Mayor Yurii Vilkul mixes his official duties and campaign efforts, and that a number of candidates disseminate printed campaign materials without an imprint. OPORA is concerned about Mayor's not to take a leave for the election period, and call on him publicly to do this one more time. During the reporting period, observers were provided with proper conditions to fulfill their duties, with exception of some incidents.
Besides that, observers, election commissions, and candidates who apply to law-enforcement bodies officially conduce efficient prevention and investigation of electoral violations.
Activities of election commissions
Taking into consideration the district division of Kryvyi Rih, early mayoral elections are being organized by the City Election Commission and 7 city district election commissions. There are 293 election commissions created in the city.
Activities of Kryvyi Rih City Election Commission
During the reporting period (02/21/16 - 03/14/16), Kryvyi Rih City Election Commission had the following duties: 1) registration and rejection of candidates (until 3/3/2016); 2) cancellation of candidate registration (until 3/8/2016); 3) approval of the ballot paper text to be used in the certain electoral districts (until 3/9/2016); 4) transference of the ballot paper text approval to precinct election commissions, which should be placed in precinct election commission premises to inform the public (until 3/14/2016); 5) determination of the quantity of ballot papers for each election district (until 3/14/2016); 6) consideration of complaints received from the electoral subjects, cancelation of decisions, illegally taken by lower-level election commissions (for the whole period).
Civil Network OPORA informs that there were no acute conflicts or politically motivated decisions noticed in Kryvyi Rih City Election Commission during the registration of candidates.
City Election Commission has focused on consideration of complaints from candidates and official observers, and on cancellation of decisions taken by city district election commissions. The Commission demonstrated its readiness to respond to possible violations of electoral legislation. Although the electoral disputes were resolved in a questionable or controversial manner from legal perspective, dissatisfied electoral subject had a chance to challenge resolutions of the election commission in court.
Kryvyi Rih City Election Commission has considered a number of complaints from electoral subjects:
1) Candidate for Kryvyi Rih city mayor Inna Ivanchenko has complained on Yurii Vilkul, who had placed the following statement on outdoor advertising boards: “Yurii Vikruk - the only candidate from Kryvyi Rih citizens”. Ms. Ivanchenko affirmed that this information violates the Article 60 of the Law of Ukraine on Local Elections,“ is unauthentic, stirring up hostility and hatred, offends feelings of citizens who live in other locations, hinders free voting”. Proxy of Yurii Vilkul Maryna Akimova has objections concerning such claim, stressing that only a court may recognize the information as unauthentic, but not an election commission.
Having considered candidate's complaint on 3/9/2016, city election commission has partly satisfied it and suggested Yurii Vilkul to bring the campaign materials in accordance with the legislation, and apply to Kryvyi Rih Division of the Main Department of National Police of Ukraine in Dnipropetrovsk oblast to secure the lawfulness. The City Election Commission explained its decision by the fact that Yurii Vilkul has allegedly stated in his campaign material that he is the only candidate nominated or supported by citizens of Kryvyi Rih, and other candidates are nominated not by Kryvyi Rih citizens, despite they are nominated by local cells of political parties in Kryvyi Rih. OPORA is convinced that legal ground for such decision of the City TEC is questionable, but it's quite reasonable to appeal to law-enforcement bodies to solve an electoral dispute.
2) On 3/9/2016, Kryvyi Rih City Election Commission has partly satisfied a complaint from mayoral candidate Inna Ivanchenko concerning dissemination of leaflets about 500 UAH social assistance from local government.
Commission recognized these leaflets as election campaigning because they contain information, which can induce the voters to vote for the subject of charge in 27 March 2016 early election of Kryvyi Rih city mayor and, therefore, can be characterized as election campaigning. Besides that, City Election Commission decided to apply to a city police department concerning legality of placement of campaign materials in local self-government bodies, transport, train stations etc.
3) Having considered the complaint filed by OPORA's observer, the City Election Commission has acknowledged that the Head of district TEC acted against the Law, violated the rights and legal interests of the electoral subject, and failed to fulfill her duties. The observer filed the complaint because he was banned from entering the premises of district election commission on the final stage of submission of candidates for the membership of PECs.
Kryvyi Rih City Election Commission also had to intervene in the process of PEC formation by Kryvyi Rih city district election commissions.
On 3/11/2016, Kryvyi Rih City Election Commission canceled decision of Dovhyntsivskyi, Zhovtnevyi and Ternivskyi District Election Commission in Kryvyi Rih on formation of the certain PECs, because they were either formed not in accordance with the Law of Ukraine on Local Elections, or were formed in membership larger than provided by the Law.
Dovhyntsivskyi and Ternivskyi District Election Commissions in Kryvyi Rih didn't receive enough nominees to form commissions with minimal membership. Thus, heads of these commissions nominated the candidates for commission members themselves. However, the TEC didn't take into consideration the Article 23 (9) of the Law of Ukraine on Local Elections, according to which the TECs should be formed with minimal membership in such cases. As a result, the corresponding PECs don't have minimal membership. Besides that, heads of three commissions of Zhovtnevyi district and seven commissions of managerial positions Ternivskyi district submitted nominees for managing officials of the corresponding district election commissions, what is against the Article 23 of the Law (which doesn't provide appointment of a PEC head, deputy head or secretary nominated by a commission head if there are no nominees from political parties and candidates). Taking into consideration these circumstances, Kryvyi Rih City Election Commission has canceled those paragraphs of DECs' decisions violating the Law, and obliged the commission to create PECs in accordance with the Law on the same day.
Kryvyi Rih City Election Commission has approved its expenditure budget for preparation and conduct of early mayoral election in Kryvyi Rih. The total amount of expenditure reached over 700 thousand UAH. The largest amount (625 thousand UAH) was allocated for production of ballot papers. Over 40 thousand UAH – remuneration for election commission members, specialists and technical staff. Transportation services – nearly 10 thousand UAH.
Kryvyi Rih City Election Commission considered a letter from Deputy Head of the CEC Zhanna Usenko-Chorna. The Deputy Head informed in the letter about possible violation of the Article 35 (4, 5) of the Law of Ukraine on Local Elections by some candidates for Kryvyi Rih city mayor. Thus, according to the paragraph 4 of this Article, a person cannot be nominated for member of some local councils in a multi-mandate election district (more than one oblast, one raion, one city, and one city district council). At the same time, a person nominated for member of a local council in a single-member district, for village, settlement, city mayor or headmen, cannot be nominated in other single-member or general single-member districts in any election. According to the paragraph 5 of the Article 35, with consideration of the paragraph 4 of this Article, a person may be nominated for member of a local council, or village, settlement, city mayor or headmen either by a party local cell, or independently.
Deputy Head of the CEC informed that candidates Ihor Levytskyi, Inna Ivanchenko, Oleh Kosiak, Oleh Boichenko, registered for early mayoral election in Kryvyi Rih, were nominated for members of Kryvyi Rih city and city district councils in lists of local party cells in regular local elections on 25 October 2015. In response to this letter, the abovementioned candidates submitted to territorial election commissions statements of withdrawal from nomination for members of local councils and were excluded from the corresponding nomination lists of local party cells in 25 October 2015 elections. In such a way, Kryvyi Rih City Election Commission has avoided legal collisions that emerged after receiving this letter. However, OPORA is convinced that the ongoing early mayoral election is not connected to regular local election held on 25 October 2015 and, therefore, the candidates didn't have to apply for withdrawal from nomination lists.
Activities of city district election commissions
Major duty of city district election commissions during the reporting period was to create precinct election commissions.
Candidates for PEC members were to be submitted in twenty days before the election day (until 3/6/2016) to the corresponding city district election commissions. The corresponding candidates could be submitted by two electoral subjects: 1) local organization of a political party which have announced formation of a parliamentary faction on the first regular session of the current Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. 2) candidates for city mayor. These electoral subjects could nominate only one candidate to each PEC, and nominees from local party cells were mandatory included in the commissions. Nominees from mayoral candidates were selected by a draw of lots.
OPORA didn't notice any violations in nomination of PEC members, besides Ternivskyi District Election Commission in Kryvyi Rih, which Head obstructed to observation of the process.
Table “Number of nominees from mayoral candidates and local cells of political parties that have factions in the current convocation of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine”
| Candidate/Local cell of a political party | Number of candidates for member of PEC |
| Yana Berkut (self-nominated) | 38 |
| Oleh Boichenko (self-nominated) | 214 |
| Yurii Vilkul (self-nominated) | 293 |
| Inna Ivanchenko (self-nominated) | 0 |
| Mykola Kolesnyk (Ukrainian Union of Patriots – UKROP) | 292 |
| Oleh Kosiak (self-nominated) | 0 |
| Oleksii Kryvenko (self-nominated) | 293 |
| Oleksandr Kryzhov (self-nominated) | 0 |
| Ihor Levytskyi Narodnyi Kontrol Civic Movement | 0 |
| Oleksandr Natarov (self-nominated) | 293 |
| Nataliia Novytska (self-nominated) | 293 |
| Semen Semenchenko (Samopomich Union) | 0 |
| Vasyl Serdiukov (Serhii Kaplin's Party of Simple People) | 293 |
| Svitlana Sova (Syla Liudei) | 22 |
| Yaroslav Shram (self-nominated) | 293 |
| Local cell of the Opposition Bloc party | 293 |
| Local cell of the Samopomich Union party | 293 |
| Local cell of the People's Front party | 147 |
Thus, the following candidates didn't nominate any PEC members: Semen Semenchenko (Samopomich Union), Ihor Levytskyi (Narodnyi Kontrol Civic Movement), Inna Ivanchenko and Oleh Kosiak (self-nominated candidates). The candidates didn't submit any candidates for PEC members. Local cells of the Radical Party of Oleh Liashko and AUU Batkivshchyna, which have factions in the current convocation of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, didn't nominate any candidates at all.
Thus, electoral subjects didn't submit enough nominees to create PECs with minimal membership in all districts of the city. According to OPORA's calculations, 22% of appointed PEC members were nominated by heads of district city election commissions. Draw of lots was not necessary.
The Opposition Bloc party received the highest number of representatives in PECs – 150. In particular, local cell of the abovementioned party has 60 representatives holding positions of PEC heads, 40 deputy heads and 50 secretaries.
Self-nominated candidate Yurii Vilkul received 84 representatives holding managing positions: 28 PEC heads, 26 deputy heads, and 30 secretaries. Samopomich Union received 84 managerial positions: 21 heads, 41 deputy heads, and 22 secretaries. Vasyl Serdiukov (Serhii Kaplin's Party of Simple People) received 83 representatives holding managerial positions in PECs: 28 heads, 23 deputy heads, and 32 secretaries. Oleksandr Natarov (self-nominated) has similar number of representatives who hold managerial positions – 82, including 31 heads, 24 deputy heads and 27 secretaries.
Local cell of the People's Front has 81 representatives in PECs holding managerial positions: 33 heads, 22 deputy heads, and 26 secretaries. Candidate Nataliia Novytska receivel a little less managerial positions for her PEC representatives – 73, including 28 heads, 21 deputy heads and 24 secretaries). Candidate from the Ukrainian Union of Patriots – UKROP Mykola Kolesnyk received 65 managerial positions in PECs: 16 heads, 32 deputy heads, and 17 secretaries.
Oleksii Kryvenko (self-nominated) has 55 representatives holding managerial positions: 14 heads, 19 deputy heads, and 22 secretaries. Self-nominated candidate Yaroslav Shram has 53 managerial positions in PECs: 17 heads, 17 deputy heads and 19 secretaries.
Candidate Oleh boichenko received 10 PEC heads, 18 deputy heads and 14 secretaries. Yana Berkut (self-nominated) and Svitlana Sova (Syla Liudei) received the smallest number of representatives holding managerial positions: 2 heads, 3 deputy heads and 3 secretaries and 2 heads, 1 deputy head and 2 secretaries respectively. Besides that, 14 precinct commission members nominated by heads of territorial election commissions were also appointed for managerial positions: 3 heads, 5 deputy heads and 6 secretaries. It should be mentioned that there precinct commissions in Zhovtnevyi and Ternivskyi city districts have undergone rotations in their membership after Kryvyi Rih City Election Commission had canceled appointment of managing officials in PECs, who were nominated by heads of the corresponding TECs. Dovhyntsivskyi and Ternivskyi City District Election Commissions, for their part, failed to comply with law requirements concerning the number of PEC members.
At the same time, a number of other issues occurred in city district election commissions. For example, Dzerzhynskyi and Saksahanskyi City District Election Commissions in Kryvyi Rih gave the PECs stamps before the commissions conducted their first meetings and their members have taken the authority. At the same time, the list of managing officials when Ternivskyi City District Election Commission initially created the PECs was different from the list included in the formal resolution. These facts may be characterized as forgery of electoral documents, and should be investigated in detail by law-enforcement bodies and election commission of the highest level.
Activities of precinct election commissions
There are 293 election commissions created in Kryvyi Rih early mayoral election. According to the Law of Ukraine on Local Elections, the first meeting of precinct election commission shall be conducted within two days after the decision on it's creation was taken.
OPORA's observers visited first meetings in the selected PECs and reported that they were organized properly. There were no disruptions in first meetings of PECs, and commission members attended them quite well. At the same time, OPORA gives a negative assessment to the fact that the stamps were given to PECs which hadn't conducted their first meetings yet. It should be mentioned that Kryvyi Rih City Distric Councils passed the recommendations to heads of enterprises and institutions urging them to provide assistance in material and technical support at polling stations in early mayoral election in Kryvyi Rih.
Until 3/13/2016 inclusive, State Voter Register maintenance bodies were obliged to provide printed preliminary voter lists to all the PECs and personal invitations to precinct election commissions of regular polling stations. According to OPORA's data, preliminary voter lists were transferred to the PECs on 12-13 March 2016 without significant violations of the law. At the same time, OPORA's observers stressed that it's difficult to watch adherence to the legislation by precinct election commissions during this process. In particular, State Voter Register maintenance bodies didn't verify whether three PEC members who came to receive preliminary voter lists belong to different nominating entities. However, there is such requirement in the Law of Ukraine on Local Elections.
Recommendations
To political parties and their local cells
- To refrain from politically motivated substitutions in election commissions at all levels, in order to secure their stable functioning and proper training of commission members;
- To officially report any detected violations of electoral legislation to law-enforcement bodies in addition to providing this information to the public;
- To strengthen oversight of adherence to campaigning regulations;
To mass media (including municipal)
- To secure unbiased coverage of both the election process and activities of candidates.
To law enforcement bodies
- To secure proper investigation of statements and reports on violations related to the election process;
- To actively inform the media and public about the course of investigations and any prevention measures;
To Kryvyi Rih City Election Commission, city district election commissions
- To avoid political debates in the decision-making related to fulfillment of duties;
- To secure qualitative training for members of precinct election commissions.
[1] On 23 February 2016, Kryvyi Rih city cell of the AUU Svoboda nominated and approved candidate Oleh Boichenko, who participated in mayoral election on 25 October 2015. The Central Election Commission, for its part, published on 21 February 2016 the list of political parties, which have approved participation of their local organizations in local elections scheduled for 27 March 2016. All-Ukrainian Union Svoboda takes number 33 in this list. The section containing information about the type of election (regular/early/first), which the political party decided to participate in, indicates:“First local elections, scheduled for 27 March 2016”. Thus, according to the document, the CEC didn't receive information that the local cell of AUU Svoboda is going to participate in early local elections scheduled for 27 March 2016. After the AUU Svoboda appealed to the court concerning this issue, the court ruled that party's local cell in Kryvyi Rih is not allowed to nominate Oleh Boichenko.
[2] It should be also mentioned that here is no Association of Kryvyi Rih Entrepreneurs in Unified Register of Legal Entities, Private Entrepreneurs and Citizen Associations.