Although some electoral subjects have started campaigning too early and managed to get non-competitive advantages for the certain candidates and parties, the official registration of candidates has finished only on 1 October. Thus, the candidates are allowed to organize campaign efforts in accordance with the Law since this date. We haven't noticed that territorial election commissions would unreasonably refuse to register candidates on a systematic basis.

However, OPORA's observers have often recorded conflicts between commissions and electoral subjects, which often appealed to the court against resolutions on refusal to register candidates. 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.

OPORA's observers have noticed that there are many technical errors and corrections on the stage of paperwork and submission of documents to election commissions. For example, incomplete set of documents, inaccuracies in the documents, violated procedure of making a monetary pledge, failure to inform commissions about party conferences, violated limitations of simultaneous nomination to different representative bodies and to different offices. All this is due to the lack of information electoral subjects have and their misunderstanding of the corresponding election law standards. Thus, commissions were legitimately refusing to register candidates due to such errors and violations.

Party meetings and conferences dedicated to nomination of candidates were held in accordance with Law requirements and within the established time constraints. Although there were some incidents when journalists were barred from entering party conferences, we didn't notice significant violations at this stage of the election process. The main problem was the lack of public information about party conferences, and mostly in oblast centers and big cities. Most of local party cells have informed election commissions about upcoming conferences. However, it should be mentioned that not all the territorial election commissions attended party conferences. We can explain this by the fact that TEC members are not directly obliged to attend party conferences and, besides that, many parties were holding them on the last days established by the Law.

OPORA hasn't noticed any violations of the Law of Ukraine on Condemnation of Communist and National Socialistic (Nazi) Totalitarian Regimes in Ukraine and Ban on the Propaganda of Their Symbols in relation to candidates nominated by local party cells, their activities, names or symbols.

Although the technology of candidates-doubles was actively used in the certain regions, mostly in election of city mayors, it was not widespread. This problem was usually resolved by such 'technical' candidates withdrawing their candidacies by themselves.

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 (almost 28 thousand persons).

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 9 political parties have registered from 10 to 28 thousand candidates in multi-mandate election districts.

Local cells of the other 17 political parties have registered from 1 to 5 thousand candidates in multi-mandate election districts. The other 96 parties are represented only in some territorial communities, and have smaller number of candidates (less than 1 thousand). Thus, 122 of 142 political parties, which have approved participation of their local cells in local elections, nominated the candidates.

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 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.

 

CONFERENCES HELD BY LOCAL PARTY CELLS AND NOMINATION OF CANDIDATES

According to the Law, local party cells shall nominate their candidates at a meeting (conference) organized in accordance with party statute. Local party cells shall notify in writing the relevant territorial election commission about the date, time and place of holding meeting (conference) no later than one day before the day of the meeting or conference. Members of the territorial election commissions have the right to attend such meetings (conferences). Besides that, local party cells shall inform mass media about the time and place of holding a meeting (conference) dedicated to nomination of candidates. Mass media accreditation procedures for such meeting (conference) is established by an organizer.

However, there were instances when parties failed to inform election commissions about such conferences. For example, in Putyla raion of Chernivtsi oblast, raion cell of the Agrarian Party of Ukraine had failed to inform the commission about its conference and, therefore, the commission refused to register party's list of candidates to raion council. Representatives of Cherkasy oblast cell of the Radical Party of Oleh Liashko informed Cherkasy Oblast Election Commission about the conference less than 24 hours before the event. On the contrary, city and oblast cells of the Nash Krai party in the city of Cherkasy held their conferences earlier than the date announced to journalists. Svativ city cell of the Nash Krai party (Luhansk oblast) informed the local TEC about conference on the day it was held. It's a direct violation of Article 37 (5) of the Law on Local Elections. In Krasnyi Lyman (Donetsk oblast), local cells of the AUU Batkivshchyna, Radical Party of Oleh Liashko, Nova Derzhava party, and Petro Poroshenko Bloc 'Solidarity'

REJECTION OF CANDIDATE NOMINATIONS

The Law on Local Elections establishes a number of requirements for nomination and registration of candidates, which can became a basis for rejection of candidates to village, settlements, city heads and headmen by territorial election commissions if not adhered to. Errors and inaccuracies detected in documents submitted for registration of candidates shall be subject to correction and shall not be a reason for refusing to register the MP candidate. A decision on refusal of registration of a candidate shall contain a complete list of the grounds for refusal. Electoral subjects had an opportunity to appeal against a decision, actions or inaction of a territorial election commission to the court.

In Cherkasy oblast, Cherkasy City Election Commission has refused to register 12 candidates from the list of the Party of Free Democrats on the basis of Article 38 (7) of the Law of Ukraine on Local Elections – the absence of mandatory information in autobiographies: the citizenship of one candidate, party affiliation of three candidates, and public activities of eleven candidates. The Party of Free Democrats, for its part, filed a complaint to Cherkasy District Administrative Court, which has partially satisfied it and ascertained that resolution of the TEC is unlawful.

Cherkasy City Election Commission refused to register lists of candidates to Cherkasy City Council and mayoral candidates, submitted by the Party of Simple People and People's Labour Union. The refusal was based on non-conformity of the documents proving registration of parties to the established requirements. Cherkasy District Administrative Court refused to satisfy the claim filed by People's Labour Union party against the TEC. The Party of Simple People didn't appeal to the court. Besides that, Cherkasy Election Commission refused to register 8 candidates from the Democratic Alliance, including the first one in the list. Cherkasy District Administrative Court has partially satisfied the appeal: TEC resolution was considered unlawful.

In Chernihiv oblast, Chernihiv City Election Commission refused to register 3 candidates for city mayor due to the errors in documentation. Mena Raion Election Commission refused to register a candidate to raion council from the UKROP party, who was simultaneously registered as a self-nominated candidate for village head of Berezhne. Novhorod-Siverska City Election Commission refused to register candidate of the Radical Party of Oleh Liashko, who was already registered as a self-nominated candidate for village head of Kovpynka.

In Chernivtsi, city and oblast TECs refused to register candidate Drahosh Kozma from the Radical Party of Oleh Liashko. The refusal was based on the fact that the candidate failed to submit a complete set of documents (only passport copy and unsigned autobiography was submitted). Putyla Raion Election Commission refused to register the list of candidates submitted by Putyla raion cell of the Agrarian Party of Ukraine because the party had failed to inform it about the date and place of party conference. In Storozhynets raion, raion election commission refused to register Rehina Ionashky, who was nominated in district #21 by two nominating entities: People's Party and Opposition Bloc. The parties didn't appeal against commission resolutions.

Dnipropetrovsk City TEC refused to register candidates to local council and mayoral candidate Ivan Stupak, submitted by the Socialists party. Reason: according to the commission, decision of the party on participation in the elections looks like original document, but not a copy (in both instances), and discrepancies in autobiography of a mayoral candidate. Dnipropetrovsk District Administrative Court has partially satisfied demands of the claimant and obliged the commission to accept nomination documents one more time. Besides that, the commission refused to register candidates to local council from the Democratic Alliance and the Revival party, as well as a mayoral candidate Anatolii Krupskyi from the latter. The reason – monetary pledge was submitted by the head of local party cell as a physical person, but not as a representative of the local cell. The first instance court (Dnipropetrovsk District Administrative Court) has partially satisfied demands of the claimant and obliged the commission to accept nomination documents one more time.

Dnipropetrovsk Oblast TEC had registered both the Socialists party and Revival party despite the sets of documents were identical to those submitted to the City TEC. Nonetheless, the commission rejected the other documents of these parties. For example, the Socialists party didn't submit 30 personal written consents to run (these candidates were not registered). Decision of the Revival party containing the list of candidates had discrepancies with the list of districts. The commission had put this issue to a vote and decided to consider these discrepancies as inaccuracies. In Vasylkiv raion, parties Nash Krai and Narodnyi Kontrol (People's Oversight) Civic Movement were refused for registration because they had failed to submit income declarations and applications on participation in the elections.

In Donetsk oblast, Kramatorsk City Election Commission refused to register candidates to Kramatorsk City Council from local cell of the Hromada i Zakon party on the basis of CEC's refusal to register the party itself. Kramatorsk Election Commission took a decision on its meeting to refuse to register candidates for Kramatorsk City Council, submitted by local cell of the Nova Derzhava political party (due to the paperwork inaccuracies).

Sloviansk City Election Commission faced a conflict while registering Opposition Bloc's mayoral candidate V. Liakh. Thus, commission members had been trying to take a decision on candidate registration for four days (four sittings). Even after the CEC had answered to an appeal from Commission Head N. Kurdiukova and a commission member representing the Radical Party of Oleh Liashko with a written and oral explanations concerning commissions' responsibility for a failure to take decision, the commission didn't manage to decide on registration of V. Liakh. Thus, representatives of the Opposition Bloc party had appealed to the court and Donetsk District Administrative Court ruled that inaction of the city territorial election commission is unlawful but, however, it didn't oblige it to register V. Liakh as a mayoral candidate. As a result, the CEC had prematurely terminated the powers of Sloviansk Election Commission due to a gross violation of the Law of Ukraine on Local Elections, and obliged a newly-created commission to decide on registration of V. Liakh.

Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast Election Commission refused to register five candidates of the People's Movement of Ukraine because their sets of documents lacked income declarations and pictures of candidates. Bohorodchany Raion TEC refused to register candidates to raion council from the People's Movement of Ukraine because there was a non-conformity between signatures in submitted documents. Kolomyia City Election Commission refused to register 7 candidates from Petro Poroshenko Bloc 'Solidarity' due to the discrepancies between the election list and registration documents.

Candidates to Kharkiv Oblast Council from regional cell of the Opposition Bloc political party in Kharkiv oblast were not registered by oblast TEC. Violation of party meeting (conference) requirements was one of the reasons why the party received a rejection. Thus, Kharkiv Oblast Election Commission didn't receive an announcement about a meeting (conference) from the nominating entity. The election commission, however, had received a notification from regional cell of the Law and Order political party in Kharkiv oblast informing that it was renamed into “Regional cell of the Opposition Bloc political party in Kharkiv oblast”. On the very next day, Kharkiv Oblast Election Commission received from the party a notification about the time and place of its conference. However, commission representative wasn't allowed to enter the conference when he arrived. The Commission assessed this fact as a violation of meeting (conference) procedure and, therefore, refused to register candidates of this party.

In the city of Kherson and Skadovsk, Kherson TEC refused to register a candidate for Kherson City Head Volodymyr Saldo. The refusal was based on the fact that Mr. Saldo was nominated as number one candidate from the Nash Krai political party and, according to the data of the Ministry of Justice as of 30 September 2015, he is a member of the Party of Regions. Thus, the territorial election commission was obliged to consider registration documents repeatedly as a result of appeal to the court. Besides that, Kherson TEC also refused to register candidates of the Khersontsi political party due to the paperwork inaccuracies.

In Mykolaiv oblast, Voznesensk City Election Commission refused to register Yurii Kret, who was nominated to city council by the Revival political party, because, according to the data of the Ministry of Justice, he is the Head of local cell of the Front for Change.

Skadovsk City Election Commission refused to register local cells of the Svoboda party and Spravedlyvist party. The reason for rejection was a violation of the Law of Ukraine on Local Elections, particularly a requirement concerning a minimum of 30 percent of each gender in lists of candidates to local councils (Article 4 (3)). Representatives of the Svoboda party claimed they are going to challenge the decision of Skadovsk City TEC in court.

In Khmelnytsk oblast, Kamianets-Podilskyi City Election Commission refused to register more than 100 candidates to Kamianets-Podilskyi City Council and two candidates for city mayor. Candidates of Party of Honor, Fight with Corruption and Organized Crime, as well as electoral lists of AUU Batkivshchyna and AUU Svoboda were all rejected. Besides that, city mayor candidate Oleh Tkachuk from the AUU Batkivshchyna and three candidates of the For Real Deeds party were rejected too. They appealed against resolutions of Kamianets-Podilstyi TEC to Khmelnitskyi Administrative Court. The Court ruled that the resolutions are unlawful. In addition, the TEC refused to register candidates to local councils nominated by the Nash Krai party, one candidate from the People's Party and two from the Opposition Bloc. These 5 candidates, however, didn't appeal to the court.

In Krasyliv, raion election commission refused to register 5 candidates from the Batkivshchyna, as long as all of them indicated the same district number in registration documents. Khmelnytskyi Raion Election Commission refused to register a list of candidates from the People's Movement of Ukraine (Rukh) (incomplete set of documents, the absence of monetary pledge). In the city of Volochysk, local TEC refused to register candidates submitted by raion cell of the Patriot political party because the party failed to inform the TEC about a place and time of its conference in written. Novoushytska TEC refused to register candidates submitted by local cell of the UKROP party because it had submitted registration documents after the deadline. Chemerivtsi TEC refused to register candidates submitted by the Opposition Block because it wasn't informed about the conference in written.

Kirovohrad Oblast Election Commission refused to register candidates from three political parties: Party of Pensioners of Ukraine (paperwork inaccuracies – notarial certificate without a certification date); the Socialists political party and All-Ukrainian Union Svoboda (procedure of submitting the monetary pledge was violated). Two political parties have successfully challenged the decision of TEC. As for the third party, the TEC had reconsidered its decision and registered it.

Three self-nominated candidates for Kyiv mayor were not registered. Two of them failed to submit the necessary monetary pledge, and one sent the documents by mail, what is contrary to law requirements. Commission also refused to register some candidates from the Agrarian Party of Ukraine because their sets of documents lacked personal statements of consent to be nominated.

Kyiv Oblast Election Commission refused to register the Party of Motherland Defenders, which have informed the CEC about its conference by mistake. Ivankiv TEC refused to register candidates from the AUU Batkivshchyna because the set of documents was incomplete. Bohuslav City Election Commission refused to register one candidate from party list of the Petro Poroshenko Bloc 'Solidarity' because the surname in passport differed from those in registration documents.

In Luhansk oblast, Kreminna Raion Election Commission refused to register 5 candidates from the All-Ukrainian Union Batkivshchyna and 2 candidates from the Nash Krai political party (incomplete set of documents). However, nominating entities didn't challenge decisions of the election commission.

Commission refused to register candidates from the Svativ local cell of the Agrarian Party of Ukraine because of technical errors and inaccuracies in documents, as well as late notification about party conference dedicated to nomination of candidates to Svativ City Council.

Eduard Vysochyn from the Nash Krai political party was refused in registration as a candidate to Novopskov Raion Council because he is Deputy Head of Taniushivka Village Territorial Election Commission.

Lysychansk city cell of the People's Party was registered in registration because it failed to submit the monetary pledge in accordance with the procedure. Besides that, candidate submitted by the Opposition Bloc was rejected due to his affiliation in the Communist Party despite he is unaffiliated according to his autobiography. Nash Krai political party was refused in registration because the set of registration documents lacked a copied decision of party's central administrative body concerning participation of its local cells in the corresponding election. Candidate for Lysychansk City Council Volodymyr Khapchuk, submitted by the Petro Poroshenko Bloc 'Solidarity' party was not registered due to inaccuracies in district number.

In Lviv oblast (the city of Radekhiv), candidates from local cell of the Opposition Bloc party were not registered because the party failed to inform the TEC about its conference. Novyi Rozdil City Territorial Election Commission refused to register candidates from two political parties. One party was Democratic Alliance, which didn't manage to choose its number one in the list on its conference held in the morning of September 30. Thus, when the party submitted electoral lists with vacant number 1, the TEC refused to register them. The other party was the For Real Deeds political party, which has failed to officially announce the list of candidates on its conference and, therefore, violated the procedure. Representatives of the party appealed against illegitimate actions of the commission, which had groundlessly refused to register the list of candidates. Lviv District Administrative Court satisfied the claim and ruled that actions of Novyi Rozdil City Territorial Election Commission were unlawful.

Yavorivsk City Election Commission refused to register candidates submitted by city cell of the Civic Position party. The refusal was based on the fact that the documents were signed by the head of raion cell, but not oblast cell, and the set of documents wasn't complete. The party announced that itwas going to challenge this decision in court.

Starosambirsk Raion Election Commission refused to register electoral list of the Nash Krai political party. The reason was non-observance of gender quota requirements, as long as the list comprised 15 men only.

  Odesa Oblast Election Commission refused to register 27 candidates, submitted by local cell of the Revival party. The refusal was due to the non-compliance or absence of the registration documents (for example, Odesa Oblast Election Commission didn't receive any personal statements of consent to be nominated because they were sent to other election commissions). Decision of the corresponding TEC was canceled by court, what means the repeated consideration of registration documents from this local party cell.

REGISTRATION OF NAMESAKE CANDIDATES

Uman City Election Commission in Cherkasy oblast registered mayoral candidate Anatolii Anatolliovych Yatsenko from the Nash Krai partyy (a namesake of MP elected in SMD #200 (centered in the city of Uman) who is also a number one candidate in the electoral list of the Revival party, nominated to Cherkasy Oblast Council). However, he has removed his candidacy sometime later. In the city of Korsun-Shevchenkivskyi, current Head of Raion Council Anatolii Ivanovych Haidai was registered as a self-nominated candidate for citry mayor. He is a surnamesake of Oleksandr Vasyliovych Haidai, who is effective City Mayor and a mayoral candidate from the Now Policy party. However, Anatolii Ivanovych Haidai has removed his candidacy.

Volkul Yevhen Romanovych is registered as a candidate for Dnipropetrovsk City Mayor (surnamesake of Oleksandr Vilkul). Dnipropetrovsk City and Oblast TEC registered the Revival of Ukraine party (namesake of the Revival party), which candidates in top of its electoral list are also namesakes of top candidates in the list of the authentic party.

Republican Platform party is registered in election to Dnipropetrovsk City Council. The party has candidate VladyslaV Ihorevych Filatov the first in its electoral list. However, candidate of the UKROP party Borys Albertovych Filatov has the same surname. Revival of Ukraine party is registered in election to Kryvyi Rih City Council, with candidate S. R. Karamanits on the first number in electoral list. The Revival party, however, has candidate K. F. Karamanits in the top of its list.

Two registered candidates for Kherson City Mayor bear surname Mykolaienko. One of them – Volodymyr Vasyliovych – is current Mayor of the city, and the other – Volodymyr Ivanovych is Ukrainian citizen living in Kyiv.

In Kyiv oblast, Vasylkiv City Election Commission registered two candidates bearing the same name Valerii Popovych, and only patronymics are different – Vasyliavych and Fedorovych. Valerii Fedorovych was born in 1951, and has already been a mayor of Vasylkiv. Valerii Vasyliovych was born in 1994 in Lutsk. There are two candidates for city mayor in the city of Yahotyn – Dziuba Nataliia Mykolaivna (current Mayor of Yahotyn), and Dziuba Valentyna Mykolaivna (works in Yahotyn Pension Fund). In the city of Irpin, Melnychuk Bohdan Omelianovych (AUU Svoboda) and Melnychuk Yevhen Volodymyrovych (unaffiliated and temporarily unemployed, born in 1982) are candidates for city mayor. Herashchenko Volodymyr Mykolaiovych (Petro Poroshenko Bloc 'Solidarity') and Herashchenko Petro Oksentiiovych (self-nominated, born in 1950) are candidates for Obukhiv city mayor.

There are two surnamesakes nominated for city mayor in Mykolaiv – Ihor Diatlov (Opposition Bloc) and Andrii Diatlov (self-nominated).
 

PARTICIPATION OF LOCAL PARTY CELLS IN ELECTIONS: MAJOR TRENDS AND CALCULATIONS

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 to oblast. raion, city, and raion in city councils.

Local cells of the following parties have nominated the highest number of candidates to oblast, raion, city, raion in city councils: Petro Poroshenko Bloc 'Solidarity', AUU Batkivshchyna, Radical Party of Oleh Liashko, Opposition Bloc, Ukrainian Union of Patriots – UKROP, Nash Krai, AUU Svoboda, Revival party, and Agrarian Party of Ukraine.

Local cells of these 9 parties have nominated from 10 thousand candidates (Agrarian Party of Ukraine) to almost 28 thousand candidates (Petro Poroshenko Bloc 'Solidarity').

 

Table 1. Top 9 political parties which have nominated the highest number of candidates to oblast, raion, city, raion in city councils

Petro Poroshenko Block 'Solidarity' party
27885
All-Ukrainian Union Batkivshchyna political party
25950
The Radical Party of Oleh Liashko
17569
Opposition Block political party
15598
Ukrainian Union of Patriots – UKROP political party
13825
Our Ukraine political party
13483
All-Ukrainian Union Svoboda political party
12795
Vidrodzhennia Party
10297
Agrarian Party of Ukraine
9880

Another 17 political parties have nominated from 1 to 5 thousand candidates to oblast, raion, city, and raion in city councils.

 

 

Table 2. 17 political parties, which have nominated from 1 to 5 thousand candidates to oblast, raion, city, and raion in city councils

Civic Position political party
5142
 Samopomich Union political party
4535
 Narodnyi Kontrol ('People's Oversight') Civic Movement political party
4120
 New Policy party
3364
 People's Movement of Ukraine political party
3052
 Syla Liudei political party
2821
 Socialists political party
2804
 Serhii Kaplin's Party of Simple People
2375
 Volia political party
2331
 People's Party
1953
 Ridne Misto political party
1475
 The Strong Ukraine party of Serhii Tihipko
1206
 Ukrainian People's Party
1187
 Party of Afghanistan War Veterans
1127
 For Real Deeds political party
1101
 All-Ukrainian Union Cherkashchany political party
1039
 European Party of Ukraine political party
1021

Local cells of 99 political parties have nominated less than 1 thousand candidates to oblast, raion, city, and raion in city councils. At the same time, 45 of them nominated less than 100 candidates.

Thus, 122 parties, which local cells have nominated and registered candidates in multi-mandate districts could be divided into four main groups:

1) political parties, which participate in local election on the nationwide scale (9 parties);

2) political parties having limited regional representation in local elections (17 parties);

3) political parties, which cover only the certain regions or territorial communities (51);

4) political parties, which cover only the certain territorial communities (45).

As for mayoral elections, there are 2,759 candidates participating in the race (including cities of raion significance). 49% (1,361) of them are self-nominated candidates. Candidates for city mayors were nominated by 94 political parties.

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).

Table 3. Political parties, which have nominated the highest number of candidates for city mayors

Petro Poroshenko Block 'Solidarity' party
202
All-Ukrainian Union Batkivshchyna political party
174
All-Ukrainian Union Svoboda political party
130
The Radical Party of Oleh Liashko
94
Our Ukraine political party
90
Ukrainian Union of Patriots – UKROP political party
80
Opposition Block political party
77
Vidrodzhennia Party
54
Syla Liudei political party
48
Samopomich Union political party
41
Narodnyi Kontrol ('People's Oversight') Civic Movement political party
39
Civic Position political party
34
Agrarian Party of Ukraine
29
Volia political party
20
People's Movement of Ukraine political party
18
Serhii Kaplin's Party of Simple People
15
New Policy party
12
European Party of Ukraine political party
11
PATRIOT political party
11
New Faces political party
10
Ridne Misto political party
10

 

 

Most of candidates for city mayors (55%) are unaffiliated. However, 79% of self-nominated candidates for city mayors are nonpartisan.

At the same time, local party cells often registered unaffiliated citizens, but not their members. For example, local cells of the Petro Poroshenko Bloc 'Solidarity' nominated the highest number of unaffiliated individuals (48%) among three parties with the largest number of candidates. AUU Batkivshchyna and AUU Svoboda have 16% and 11% unaffiliated candidates respectively.

Table 4. Ratio of unaffiliated candidates and party members nominated for city mayors by local cells of political parties

Parties
Number of unaffiliated candidates nominated by a party
% of unaffiliated candidates from the total number of nominated candidates
Petro Poroshenko Block 'Solidarity' party
96
48%
All-Ukrainian Union Batkivshchyna political party
28
16%
All-Ukrainian Union Svoboda political party
14
11%
The Radical Party of Oleh Liashko
20
21%
Our Ukraine political party
41
46%
Ukrainian Union of Patriots – UKROP political party
33
41%
Opposition Block political party
22
29%
Vidrodzhennia Party
17
31%
Syla Liudei political party
10
21%
Samopomich Union political party
13
32%
Narodnyi Kontrol (People's Oversight) Civic Movement political party
13
33%

Civic Position political party

16

47%

Agrarian Party of Ukraine

9

31%

Volia political party

10

50%

       

 

ADHERENCE TO GENDER QUOTA REQUIREMENTS IN MULTI-MANDATE ELECTION DISTRICTS

According to the Article 4 (3) of the Law of Ukraine on Local Elections, there should be a minimum of 30 percent of each gender in election lists of candidates for members of local councils in multi-mandate election districts.

At the same time, Article 46(1) of the Law establishes the list of grounds for refusal of candidate registration, which doesn't contain non-observance of gender quota regulations.

The CEC has stated in its Explanation (Resolution #362 of 9/23/2015) that it's prohibited refuse to register candidates for council members in a multi-mandate constituency in election of People’s Deputies of the Verkhovna Rada of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, as well as elections to oblast, raion, city, and raion in city councils on the grounds of non-compliance with provision of the Law on gender quotas in election lists. This explanation of the CEC is based on the fact that Article 46(1) of the Law doesn't establish non-observance of gender quota requirements as a basis for refusal to register candidates for village, settlement, or city heads as well as candidates for village or settlement headmen nominated in local elections. Besides that, it is emphasized in Paragraph 3 of the Explanations that Article 46 (1) of the Law establishes an exhaustive list of reason for refusing to register candidates.

 

 

 

In one case (filed by the Samopomich Union paty), Kyiv Administrative Court of Appeals banned paragraph 4 of CEC's explanation on impossibility to reject candidate registration if a local party cell fails to comply with gender quota requirements in election lists. In another case (filed by two candidates and the Syla Liudei party), however, the Court refused to ban the very same explanations of the CEC. At the same time, Higher Administrative Court has later canceled the decision of Kyiv Administrative Court of Appeals (appeal of the Samopomich Union) and left in operation another decision of the corresponding court concerning declarativeness of gender quota requirements[1].

After the Court has passed two opposite decisions on the same issue, the ambiguity of some provisions in the Law on Local Elections (adopted by the Parliament less than two months and signed by the President less than a month before elections started) became an even more acute problem. Besides that, a problem with unequal interpretation of gender quota regulations by territorial election commissions, which has emerged yet before the corresponding court decisions were taken, has also worsened.

Civil Network OPORA has analyzed electoral lists of candidates to oblast councils, nominated by local party cells having the highest number of candidates in the country. Only 3 of 12 analyzed parties have failed to secure 30% gender quota (Petro Poroshenko Bloc 'Solidarity' (20%), Agrarian Party of Ukraine (23%), and Nash Krai (29%)). Other 9 parties having the highest number of candidates in multi-mandate districts did observe the corresponding requirement.

Table 5. Adherence to gender quota requirements in elections to oblast councils (voter lists of selected parties)

Political parties
Number of oblasts where parties nominated candidates
Average percentage of women in electoral lists of local party cells, oblast council elections
Petro Poroshenko Block 'Solidarity' party
22
20%
All-Ukrainian Union Batkivshchyna political party
22
30%
The Radical Party of Oleh Liashko
22
30%
 Opposition Block political party
20
31%
 Ukrainian Union of Patriots – UKROP political party
22
31%
Our Ukraine political party
18
29%
All-Ukrainian Union Svoboda political party
22
31%
Vidrodzhennia Party
13
33%
Agrarian Party of Ukraine
15
23%
Samopomich Union
16
35%
Narodnyi Kontrol (People's Oversight) Civic Movement political party
11
34%
Civic Position political party
6
33%

 

At the same time, OPORA has monitored the adherence to gender quota requirements in electoral lists of candidates to city councils in 26 Ukrainian cities (22 oblast centers, city of Kyiv and, to see the situation of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, cities of Kramatorsk, Sievierodonetsk, and Mariupol). We took 25% as a maximum percentage to better illustrate women representation in electoral lists.


 

 

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Table 6. Adherence to gender quota requirements in election to city councils in 26 cities of Ukraine – parties with the highest number of candidates.

Political parties

Number of cities where list of candidates are registered (out of 26 cities under analysis)

Number of cities having 25% women candidates and more

Number of cities having less than 25% of women candidates

% of cities, having less than 25% of women candidates (out of the total number of cities with nominated candidates)

Petro Poroshenko Block 'Solidarity' party

26

17

9

34.6%

All-Ukrainian Union Batkivshchyna political party

26

26

0

0

The Radical Party of Oleh Liashko

25

22

3

12%

Opposition Block political party

23

22

1

4.34%

Ukrainian Union of Patriots – UKROP political party

25

20

4

16%

Our Ukraine political party

25

21

4

16%

All-Ukrainian Union Svoboda political party

20

19

1

5%

Vidrodzhennia Party

13

13

0

0

Agrarian Party of Ukraine

15

13

2

13.3

Samopomich Union

26

26

0

0

Narodnyi Kontrol (People's Oversight) Civic Movement political party

13

13

0

0

Civic Position political party

18

15

3

16.6%

 

In 22 oblast centers, city of Kyiv, as well as cities of Kramatorsk, Sievierodonetsk, and Mariupol, there are only 42 electoral lists of local party cells with women placed first.

 

 

 

 

CORELLATION OF MEN AND WOMEN CANDIDATES FOR CITY MAYORS. AVERAGE AGE OF CANDIDATES

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). 

 

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The average age of candidates nominated by local cells of 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).

 

 

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Table 7. Political parties, which have nominated more than 100 candidates to oblast, raion, city, and raion in city councils

United Centre political party

957

PATRIOT political party

927

Sovist Ukrainy political party

912

People's Front political party

867

New Faces political party

835

Party of Pensioners of Ukraine

828

Congress of Ukrainian Nationalists political party

788

Ukrainian Galician Party political party

763

PROGRESS POLITICAL PARTY

688

Spravedlyvist party

663

Party of Volunteers of Ukraine

661

Party of Local Self-Government political party

650

Ukrainian Republican Party

611

The Party of Greens of Ukraine

596

Volia Narodu political party

582

New Policy party

476

DemAlliance (Democratic Alliance) political party

460

Republican Platform political party

451

Union of Left-Wing Forces political party

448

Hromadska Syla party

402

Patriotic Party of Ukraine

393

Party of Motherland Defenders

354

All-Ukrainian Union Vidrodzhennia Ukrainy political party

354

KMKS-Party of Hungarians of Ukraine

352

5.10 political party

312

Ukrainian Party Yednist

312

For Ukraine! political party

236

Auto-Maidan political party

222

Trust Deeds political party

216

Ukrainian Marine Party of Serhii Kivalov

211

Party of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs of Ukraine

204

All-Ukrainian Union Center political party

188

Christian Democratic Union party

187

All-Ukrainian Chornobyl People's Party 'For Welfare and Social Protection of People'

181

People's Front political party

179

Party of Honor, Fight with Corruption and Organized Crime

166

Syla Hromad political party

163

PORUCH POLITICAL PARTY

156

Democratic Party of Hungarians of Ukraine

148

Peasant Party of Ukraine

147

Social-Democratic Party of Ukraine

142

Ukrainian Party

136

Republic political party

135

Officer Corps POLITICAL PARTY

133

Youth Party of Ukraine

132

Spilna Sprava Civic Movement political party

121

Pravo Narodu political party

121

Movement for Reforms political party

120

Liberal Party of Ukraine

106

Joint Action political party

105

Democratic Party of Hungarians of Ukraine

100

Table 7 “Political parties, which have nominated less than 100 candidates to oblast, raion, city, and raion in city councils”

National Democratic Party of Ukraine

98

 PARTY OF DETERMINED CITIZENS political party

96

 Good Samaritan political party

95

 UNA-UNSO political party

93

 National Democratic Party

90

 Party of Free Democrats:

87

 For Human Rights Party

85

 Green Trident political party

85

 Green Planet Ukrainian Party

82

 Syla I Chest political party

73

 Solidarity of Women of Ukraine party

72

 HROMADA I ZAKON political party

64

 The Greens political party

62

 Tretia Syla political party

62

 DARTH VADER BLOC political party

61

 Liberal-Democratic Party of Ukraine

58

 Vinnytsia European Strategy political party

55

 RIDNYI DIM political party

54

 Ukrainian Cossack Party political party

48

 Solidarity of Right-Wing Forces political party

44

 Party of Economic Revival of Ukraine political party

43

 Social Christian Party

43

 HROMADSKYI KONTROL ALL-UKRAINIAN UNION political party

41

 Women for the Future All-Ukrainian Political Union

40

 Yedyna Syla political party

35

 All-Ukrainian party of Spirituality and Patriotism

34

 Civic Solidarity political party

30

 Narodnyi Kontrol political party

27

 All-Ukrainian Union Hromada political party

26

 Patriotic Movement political party

25

 New Life political party

22

 Slavonic party

22

 Sylna Derzhava political party

20

 Maibutnie Krainy political party

19

 SAMOPOMICH political party

18

 Ukraina Soborna political party

17

 CHILDREN OF WAR PEOPLE'S PARTY OF UKRAINE political party

16

 Social Party of Ukraine political party

16

 The Socialist Party of Ukraine

16

 Vidrodzhennia Ukrainy political party

15

 Molod do VLADY party

14

 Revival of Village party

4

 Kontrol. Poriadok. Spravedlyvist political party

3

 Ridna Kraina political party

3

 Ukrainian Social Democratic Party (united)

1

[1]http://www.oporaua.org/news/8607-haos-iz-zastosuvannjam-gendernoji-kvoty-na-miscevyh-vyborah-je-prjamym-naslidkom-bezsystemnosti-zakonodavchoji-roboty-parlamentu-opora