You're reading: Central Election Commission to decide on Tymoshenko, Lutsenko’s participation in election

The Central Election Commission (CEC) has refused to comment on the inclusion of the convicted former prime minister and former interior minister, Yulia Tymoshenko and Yuriy Lutsenko, on the party ticket of the Batkivschyna United Opposition.

“This information is unofficial, the CEC hasn’t received any
documents yet. After we get the documents we will study the situation
and then make a decision in line with the requirements of the law,”
deputy chairman of the Central Election Commission Andriy Mahera told
Interfax-Ukraine.

As reported, the Batkivschyna Party’s congress decided on Monday that
Ukraine’s ex-premier and the party’s leader Yulia Tymoshenko, who is
serving a prison sentence for exceeding her authority in signing the
2009 gas contracts with Russia, would head the party ticket of the
Batkivschyna United Opposition.

Second on the party ticket is the head of the United Opposition
Council, Arseniy Yatseniuk, Civil Position Party leader Anatoliy
Hrytsenko is third, head of the central campaign headquarters of the
United Opposition Oleksandr Turchynov is fourth, and ex-interior
minister Yuriy Lutsenko is fifth.

On Oct. 11, 2011, the Pechersky District Court in Kyiv sentenced
Tymoshenko to seven years of imprisonment for exceeding her authority
when signing gas contracts with Russia in 2009. She has been serving her
sentence at the Kachanivska correctional facility in Kharkiv since late
December 2011.

On Feb. 27, 2012, the same court found Lutsenko guilty of
malfeasance and sentenced him to four years of imprisonment. Lutsenko
was arrested on Dec. 26, 2010.