You're reading: Yanukovych: Formation of election commissions by draw was a mistake

NICOSIA - Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych has said that adopting the procedure of forming district election commissions on the basis of a draw was a mistake.

“The amendment introduced by opposition lawmakers and then supported
by members of the parliamentary majority that the commission should be
formed from these parties on the basis of a draw was a mistake,”
Yanukovych told reporters in Nicosia on Friday during his visit to
Cyprus.

He suggested that it would be better to form the commissions from
among the parliamentary parties. According to the president, the
commission then would be more organized and accountable.

Yanukovych also said it was necessary to “raise the bar on the liability of members of election commissions.”

At the same time, has said that in his view, the shortcomings of the
electoral law did not affect the results of the election as a whole.

As reported, on August 24, 2012, the CEC made a draw among parties
that nominated their candidates for people’s deputies in order to
include their representatives in the composition of district election
commissions. A total of 81 parties out of the 87 that participated in
the elections nominated candidates to be included in the commissions.

According to the draw, 19 parties, most of which were little known in
Ukraine, received the right to include their representatives in the
composition of district election commissions. At the same time, Vitali
Klitschko’s UDAR Party and Svoboda Party received no seats in the
commissions.

The five parliamentary factions each nominated 225 candidates who, by law, had to be included in the district commissions.