On 27 October 2015, the Central Election Commission passed a Resolution #515 on Explanations concerning application of some regulations of the Law of Ukraine on Local Elections when determining the voting results in mayoral election. According to the Explanations, the second round shall not be conducted if information about application of absolute majority system in mayoral election was announced within the established time constraints, but the number of voters in voter lists at polling stations turned out to be less than 90 thousand voters. However, the second round shall be held in mayoral election if none of the candidates receives more than 50% of casted votes.

OPORA is convinced that this Resolution of the CEC is against the principle of legal certainty, which is one of the main principles of the rule of law and is the key characteristic of a law-governed country. According to the Article 2 (7) of the Law of Ukraine on Local Elections, information about the number of voters registered within territory of each city, and the voting system to be used for mayoral elections, shall be published by the CEC on its official website and in nationwide and/or local media not later than 5 days before the electoral process begins, and the CEC published the corresponding information on 1 August 2015.

Thus, the voters and other electoral subjects, particularly in the city of Pavlohrad (Dnipropetrovsk oblast), were duly informed that absolute majority system is going to be applied in mayoral election. The change of electoral system after the voting day undermines basic principles of the election process and negatively influences the constitutional rights and freedoms of voters and candidates.

Implementation of the CEC's Explanation in mayoral elections (the city of Pavlohrad in Dnipropetrovsk oblast in particular) could destabilize the election process, may enhance citizen distrust to the state's role in the electoral process, lead to violation of the equal opportunities principle, and acute confrontations between the electoral subjects. As long as the quality of electoral legislation is extremely low, the CEC must not grasp de-facto law-making functions, but should base its decisions on priority of electoral rights and election law principles.

CEC's Explanation on determination of voting results in mayoral elections contains the following regulations:

  • One of criteria the territorial election commission used to take a decision on second round in mayoral elections was information about the number of voters in voter lists at polling stations of the corresponding city, indicated in a protocol on election results in the corresponding single-mandate election district in mayoral elections;
  • If a territorial election commission ascertains in the process of preparing a protocol on mayoral election results in the corresponding unified single-member district that the voter lists at polling stations in the corresponding single-mandate election district contain less than 90 thousand voters, the corresponding election commission shall pass decision on recognition of a candidate who received the highest number of votes as elected in the corresponding single-mandate district;
  • If a territorial election commission ascertains in the process of preparing a protocol on mayoral election results that the number of voters in voter lists of the corresponding single-mandate election district is below 90 thousand, there are no grounds to take a decision on organization of the second round.

Thus, according to explanations of the CEC, if voter lists at polling stations contain less than 90 thousand voters, what may become apparent even after the election day, the second round shall not be conducted. OPORA is convinced that a decision to consider the number of voters in voter lists at polling stations of the corresponding city as grounds for adoption of a decision on the second round by the TEC could rather be classified as law-making, but not an explanation of existing regulations of the Law of Ukraine on Local Elections.

OPORA would like to draw attention of the public to the fact that it's necessary to secure political responsibility of Parliament's deputy corps, which have failed to secure the existing standards when drafting the Law of Ukraine on Local Elections and, therefore, caused negative consequences in the election process.