The parliamentary election campaign has begun in Ukraine on July 30.
The elections will be held on October 28. They will be conducted on a
mixed system, with 225 MPs to be elected on party lists and 225 in
single-member constituencies. Candidates for MPs can run for
single-member districts from parties or through self-nomination. The
election threshold for political parties on party lists is 5%.
The parliamentary elections were last held on a mixed system in 2002, and the threshold was 4% at that time.
Unlike previous parliamentary elections, candidates running for
single-member constituencies will be registered by the Central Election
Commission, rather than district election commissions.
According to the schedule of the key organizational activities on
preparing for and holding the elections of people’s deputies of Ukraine
on October 28, which was posted on the commission’s Web site, the
nomination of candidates running on party lists and in single-member
districts begins on July 30 and ends on August 9.
The main condition for the registration of a candidate running for a
single-member district is the placement of an election deposit of Hr
13,224 and for the registration of a party list – Hr 2.204 million.
Documents for the registration of party lists, as well as candidates
in single-member districts, must be submitted to the Central Election
Commission no later than August 13, after which the commission, no later
than in five days, should make a decision on registration or refusal of
registration. Two more days are given to correct mistakes and
inaccuracies in the documents filed for the registration of candidates.
Thus, the registration of candidates must be completed on August 20.
Parties and candidates running in single-member districts have the
right to start campaigning on the next day after registration.
The CEC has created 225 single-member districts in Ukraine. The
commission also created 33,540 ordinary and special polling stations in
Ukraine and 114 foreign polling stations in 77 countries. Unlike in
previous elections, the districts and polling stations creation by the
CEC will now operate on a permanent basis. The CEC should form 225
district election commissions by August 26, while the latter, in turn,
will form 33,500 precinct election commissions by September 26.
Hr 1.2 billion is envisaged in the state budget for holding
parliamentary elections in Ukraine. Almost before the start of the
parliamentary election campaign, the majority unexpectedly passed a law
on the organization of video surveillance of the elections, which
foresees the installation of Web cameras at all polling stations, and
allocated almost Hr 1 billion for this purpose.
The president has not yet signed laws on this innovation.
The voting on the election of people’s deputies will take place on
October 28. The CEC is to determine the official election results by
November 12 and publish them in the Holos Ukrainy and Uriadovy Kurier
newspapers not later than five days after it takes a decision on the
voting results, i.e. no later than November 17.
Under current law, Ukraine’s imprisoned former Prime Minister Yulia
Tymoshenko and former Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko cannot
participate in the elections. International organizations believe
criminal cases opened against Tymoshenko and Lutsenko are politically
motivated and have already announced that parliamentary elections in
Ukraine will not be considered democratic if these opposition leaders do
not participate in them.
According to opinion polls, the Regions Party, the Batkivschyna
united opposition, Vitali Klitschko’s UDAR Party and the Communist Party
of Ukraine will win seats on parliament on party lists.
Forward-Ukraine! Party led by Natalia Korolevska and the Svoboda Party
also have a chance to overcome the 5% election threshold.
