Start of Operations for District Commissions at the Interim Elections on March, 28, 2021

On March, 28, 2021, the interim elections of people’s deputies will be taking place, because the people’s deputy Zynoviy Andriyovych became a mayor of Nadvirna, and Ruslan Trebushkin became the mayor of Pokrovsk. On February, 5, 2021, the Central Election Commission finalized the composition of district election commissions for the organization and conduct of interim elections in a one-member constituency No 50 and No 87. The commissions were set up in the maximum membership – 18 persons in each. Overall, 17 political parties joined the commission setup: Batkivshchyna AU, Servant of the People, Opposition Platform – For Life, Holos, European Solidarity, Civic Position, Svoboda AU, Radical Party of Oleh Liashko, The Green Party of Ukraine, Fakel AU, Samopomich Union, Patriot, Shariy Party, Agrarian Party of Ukraine, Social Justice, Power of the People, Ukrainian Strategy of Groysman, and the Power of Law.

The most represented parties in the commissions are those which deputy factions have been registered within the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine of the current convocation. It is because under the electoral law they shall only be entitled to delegate two persons to commissions, when one of them shall be included into the DEC without any draw procedures. These are the Batkivshchyna AU, Servant of the People, Holos, European Solidarity, and they have four representatives, each, in two DECs. At the same time, the Opposition Platform – For Life has two commission members as it is represented only in the district commission No 50.

The executive positions in the commissions have been distributed among the representatives of five parties: Holos, Civic Position, Batkivshchyna AU, Opposition Platform – For Life, and the Servant of the People. Two thirds of DEC members have had a previous electoral experience. 12 persons from each newly-established commissions have the electoral background that includes the work in election commissions of different levels, as proxies, or as candidates.   

The first meetings of district election commissions have taken place in a timely manner, before February, 8. However, not all the commissions managed to assume their powers on time. Thus, the DEC meeting No 50 was attended by 11 members and the commission decided the number was not sufficient to assume the powers. The executive members of the district commission erroneously interpreted the legal provisions when they estimated they needed 12 persons to assume the powers. According to the Law of Ukraine “On Elections of People’s Deputies of Ukraine” (which provisions shall be applied during the conduct of interim elections in constituency No 50) the DEC powers shall start from the moment of taking the oath by at least two thirds of its minimum composition, as stipulated in part 1 of Art. 27 of the Law. In other words, the law requires the oath to be taken by at least 8 persons. That is why, through the erroneous interpretation of the law, no person took the oath at the first meeting, but as soon as on February, 9, the commission held the next meeting attended by 13 members and the commission managed to assume their powers at the second attempt.

Commissions started their work without the due material and technical supplies that is regulated by the CEC Resolution of August, 8, 2020 No 164. However, there has been no disruption in the work of commissions because the solution of material and technical issues is in progress. For example, Mykola Kravchuk, a chief of staff of Nadvirna DSA attending the meeting of DEC No 87, said the administration was capable and would fulfil all the requirements to the organization of the commission’s work.

The fine-tuning is also needed for the commissions’ abidance by the quarantine restrictions. The rules and procedures to implement the anti-epidemic measures during the organization and conduct of elections is regulated by the CMU Resolution of December, 9, 2020 No 1236. The rules set the mechanisms to implement the anti-epidemic measures, such as asking commission members about any respiratory diseases they may have, screening body temperature, using personal protective means, equipping the commission facilities with the disinfecting means and information materials. However, at the first commission meetings, no requirements were met, except for face masks.

In general, district commissions started their work openly and conflict-free. A key issue on the agenda was to assign commission members who would work on a paid basis, to adopt the schedule of work and duty shifts, to engage specialists, experts, and technical workers. Moreover, according to the timeline, the following steps of the commission shall be to assume a status of a legal entity (within four days from the day of establishing a district election commission) and to draft the unified cost estimate to prepare and conduct elections (within ten days from the date of establishing a district election commission).