On 10 June, Chernivtsi City Territorial Election Commission (CTEC) has repeatedly considered the approval of Oleksandr Madei as the Member of Chernivtsi City Council. We remind that Oleksandr Madei was the second in party list of the Party of Regions after Vitalii Mykhailishyn, who refused to take the office. Approval of the latter on the councilor position was already considered during commission meeting on 5 June. However, the issue wasn't resolved. It was explained by the fact that Oleksandr Madei has just leaved the Party of Regions.
Having received the explanation from the Central Election Commission, on June 10, Chernivtsi CTEC did take into consideration the Article 81 of the Law of Ukraine on the Elections of Deputies to the Verkhovna Rada of Autonomous Republic of Crimea, Deputies of Local Councils, Village, Town and City Heads, particularly the following regulation: "Substitutions of councilors and interim elections: If a counselor, who was elected in multi-mandate election district, has withdrawn his mandate or his powers were early terminated on the grounds and in accordance with the procedure provided by the Constitution and Ukrainian laws, the next in electoral list of local organization of the party shall be considered elected by the decision of territorial election commission."
This time, 8 commission members supported the recognition of Oleksandr Madei, 2 voted against and 1 abstained from voting. The taken decision was announced right after the voting.
However, according to the Article 27(14) of the Law of Ukraine on Local Elections, election commission shall take its decisions by open vote by majority of its MEMBERSHIP, not majority of present members, as the Chernivtsi CTEC ruled.
During the commission meeting, the Head Henrieta Baranova has repeatedly emphasized that the commission membership is 12 persons as of June 10, 2014. With such membership, 7 votes "for" are necessary to take the decision. However, only 5 members voted "for". Thus, according to the Law on Local Elections, such decision cannot be considered adopted.
According to the paragraph 5 of the CEC's Resolution #6 as of 19.01.2012 concerning application of the certain regulations of the Law of Ukraine on Local Elections, if candidate's application on cancellation of registration is received by the territorial election commission after this candidates was considered elected, the territorial election commission shall pass a decision to consider that this elected in multi-mandate election district councilor has refused from his mandate, approves the next candidate in electoral list of local organization of the party, and registers him in accordance with the legislative procedure.
Thus, the Chernivtsi CTEC has violated the Article 81(1) of the Law of Ukraine on Local Elections and paragraph 5 of the CEC's Regulation #6 as of 19.01.2012. According to the Article 172 of the Code of Administrative Procedure of Ukraine (CAPU), decisions, actions, and inaction of election commissions may be appealed (by a candidate) during 5 days after they were taken/made.
By the way, it's also quite difficult to check the exact number of members in Chernivtsi CTEC. There are two resolutions on the official site of the CEC, as of 16 May and 19 May 2014, which modify the membership of Chernivtsi CTEC. After 20 May, the official site of the CEC doesn’t contain any decisions or resolutions. Besides that, there is no information about changes in the membership of the Commission on information board of Chernivtsi CTEC.
In April, OPORA submitted information request concerning the membership of the Commission, and received the answer that it consisted of 17 members as of beginning of May. With consideration of amendments introduced by resolutions as of 16 and 19 May 2014, the commission membership was 14 persons on May 19. To specify membership of the commission, OPORA sent the repeated request for information to the CEC.
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Civic monitoring conducted by OPORA - is a type of network activity, aimed at impartial assessment of the preparation and conduct of elections, as well as preventing electoral violations through comprehensive civic action. Since March, OPORA conducts a wide observation campaign during snap Presidential election, interim Parliamentary elections (district #83), and special local elections. The organization cooperates with 175 long-term observers, who are watching the course of election campaign in all Ukrainian regions. On the Election Day on May 25, 3,000 activists will join them to conduct the parallel vote tabulation, based on statistical sample.