Report. Nomination and Registration of Candidates: Key Issues and Tendencies
According to OPORA's calculations, 122 of 142 local cells of political parties, which passed the corresponding decisions on participation in local elections, have nominated and registered their candidates. Thus, 9 parties have nominated the highest number of candidates to local councils – approximately from 10 to almost 28 thousand. However, 96 political parties have nominated less than 1 thousand candidates. Only Petro Poroshenko Bloc 'Solidarity', Agrarian Party of Ukraine, and Nash Krai party have managed to secure 30% representation of each gender in election lists among nearly 12 parties with the highest number of candidates for oblast council members. There are 13% of women candidates for city mayors in the whole country.
Local cells of the Petro Poroshenko Bloc 'Solidarity' party have nominated the highest number of candidates to oblast, raion, city, raion in city councils where new electoral system is applied. Local cells of AUU Batkivshchyna, Radical Party of Oleh Liashko, Opposition Bloc, Ukrainian Union of Patriots – UKROP, Nash Krai, AUU Svoboda, Revival, and Agrarian Party of Ukraine have the best representation. These political parties have registered from 10 to 28 thousand candidates in multi-mandate election districts.
Oleksandr KLIUZHEV, Analyst at the Civil Network OPORA, has stated: “OPORA's observers have often recorded conflicts between commissions and electoral subjects, which had often appealed to the court against resolutions on refusal to register candidates. We have noticed such cases in Kyiv city and at least 14 regions: Cherkasy, Chernihiv, Chernivtsi, Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Ivano-Frankivsk, Kharkiv, Kherson, Mykolaiv, Khmelnytsk, Kirovohrad, Luhansk, Lviv, and Odesa oblasts.” In most cases, the courts satisfied demands of candidates and parties and obliged commissions to comply with the law and register the corresponding candidates. One of the most resonant conflict has occurred in Sloviansk. It concerned registration of Opposition Bloc's candidate for city mayor, and resulted in prematurely terminated authority of Sloviansk Election Commission by the CEC.”
Local cells of Petro Poroshenko Bloc, AUU Batkivshchyna, and AUU Svoboda parties have nominated the highest number of candidates for city mayors in over 100 cities (total number of cities of oblast and raion significance participating in election process is 358).
Oleksandr NEBERYKUT, Analyst at the Civil Network OPORA, describes a portrait of typical city mayor candidate: “Most of candidates for city mayors (55%) are unaffiliated. However, 79% of self-nominated candidates for city mayors are nonpartisan. There are 13% of women candidates for city mayors in the whole country (183 self-nominated candidates and 185 candidates nominated by local party cells). The average age of candidates nominated by local cells of 9 political parties having the highest number of candidates in multi-mandate election districts varies from 39 years (Samopomich Union) to 47 years (Agrarian Party of Ukraine).
The technology of candidates-doubles was actively used in the certain regions (for example, in Cherkasy, Kherson, and Kyiv oblasts, as well as in Dnipropetrovsk and Mykolaiv cities) and predominantly in election of city mayors. However, it is not very widespread. This problem was usually resolved by such 'technical' candidates withdrawing their candidacies by themselves.
Although the requirements concerning balanced representation of both sexes in electoral lists is poorly regulated by the Law, electoral subjects were trying to realize this principle. Only Petro Poroshenko Bloc 'Solidarity', Agrarian Party of Ukraine, and Nash Krai party have managed to secure 30% representation of each gender in election lists from nearly 12 parties with the highest number of candidates for oblast council members. The average number of women candidates for oblast council members in electoral lists of these parties was 20%, 23% and 29% respectively. However, there are 13 % of women candidates for city mayors in the whole country.
It should be mentioned that 16 heads of oblast state administrations and 24% of all heads of raion state administrations are nominated to oblast councils. Moreover, all 16 heads of oblast state administrations were nominated by local cells of Petro Poroshenko Bloc 'Solidarity' party. Taking into consideration negative experience in 2010 local elections and 2012, Civil Network OPORA calls on state authorities and local self-government bodies to demonstrate a new approach to guaranteeing their political impartiality and objectivity. We also call on the corresponding candidates to take a leave for the campaigning period in order to draw an explicit line between their duties and campaign efforts and, in such a way, to prevent misuse of administrative resources.
Report. Nomination and Registration of Candidates: Key Issues and Tendencies
Report. Nomination and Registration of Candidates: Key Issues and Tendencies