{"id":96214,"date":"2019-09-13T18:36:40","date_gmt":"2019-09-13T18:36:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/uacrisis.org\/?p=73276"},"modified":"2019-09-20T10:24:39","modified_gmt":"2019-09-20T07:24:39","slug":"73276-parliament-dissolves-central-election-commission-reasons-implications","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/73276-parliament-dissolves-central-election-commission-reasons-implications","title":{"rendered":"Parliament dissolves the Central Election Commission: reasons and implications"},"content":{"rendered":"

On September 13 the Parliament of Ukraine dismissed all members of the Central Election Commission. The latter was administering the presidential and the parliamentary elections held in spring and in summer 2019 respectively. These elections got highest appraisal from Ukraine\u2019s international partners who said they were free, honest and devoid of violations. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Nevertheless despite the successful recent elections the powers of the Central Election Commission (CEC) were terminated early by the Parliament. The Commission\u2019s members were in office for a year instead of the seven foreseen. The dissolution of the CEC was initiated by President Zelenskyi \u2013 he submitted the motion to the respective parliamentary committee. UCMC explains what it means, why it happened and how experts comment on the news.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n

What<\/strong>happened<\/strong>? <\/strong>OnSeptember10 thePresidentofUkraineVolodymyrZelenskyiintroduced the motion to dismissallmembersoftheCentralElectionCommission. OnSeptember12, 2019 respectiveparliamentarycommitteeconsideredthemotion. It was voted by theVerkhovnaRada(theParliamentofUkraine) onSeptember13, 341 MPs voted in favor of the decision. The draft law was adopted in full.<\/p>\n

Powers of the Central Election Commission. <\/strong>Central Election Commission is a permanent multi-member state body responsible for organizing and holding elections of the President of Ukraine, of the Parliament as well as localelections. CEC must be independent, unbiased, independent from any political force or central state agency. The Commission is subordinated neither to the Parliament, nor to the President. Political moves towards the agency have justly caused a discussion in the society and among experts.<\/p>\n

Why is the President dissatisfied with the CEC? <\/strong>President Zelenskyi accuses the CEC in being biased and unbalanced. The President\u2019s motion suggests that the Central Election Commission \u201chas repeatedly acted in an unbalanced or even politically biased way\u201d, to support the statement it quotes CEC\u2019s order refusing registration to 28 candidates for MPs.<\/p>\n

The motion also mentions CEC\u2019s position on the situation in the electoral district no.169 in Kharkiv where the Commission did not register Oleksandr Kunytskyi of the \u201cServant of People\u201d (Sluha Narodu) party as a candidate at the parliamentary elections, he later lost to Oleksandr Hranovskyi in course of the election race.<\/p>\n

Another reason to dissolve the Commission mentioned in the motion is CEC\u2019s position on the situation in the constituency no.198 where the court revoked CEC\u2019s registration issued to Serhiy Rudyk, an independent candidate at the parliamentary elections. The President called the actions by the Central Election Commission \u201cextremely weird and inconsistent.\u201d<\/p>\n

The court considered the case following an appeal by the candidate from the \u201cServant of People\u201d party. After the President submitted the motion to dissolve the Commission, the CEC postponed the recalculation of votes<\/a>in the constituency no.198.<\/p>\n

Political views: \u201cEuropean Solidarity\u201d and \u201cHolos\u201d disagree. <\/strong>Only two parliamentary factions \u2013 \u201cEuropean Solidarity\u201d (Yevropeiska solidarnist) and \u201cHolos\u201d (Voice) were consistent in stating that they will not support the dissolution of the CEC calling it an undemocratic move and a way towards usurping the power.<\/p>\n

The Head of the CEC said that dissolution of the Commission calls into question thelegitimacy of the elections held<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Experts\u2019 view: \u201ca decision not motivated well enough.\u201d <\/strong>The majority of independent experts think that Zelenskyi\u2019s decision is lawful but not motivated well enough. Olha Aivazovska, head of the board at the civil network \u201cOpora\u201d, in a comment to Hromadske TV said:<\/p>\n

\u201cIn our opinion (\u2026) the motion is lawful, reasonable but not motivated well enough. Arguments presented (\u2026) show us no motivated reasons behind the decision to dismiss all CEC members,\u201d Aivazovska added.<\/p>\n

Andriy Mahera, legal expert, former deputy head of CEC, emphasized the professional and unbiased work held by the Commission in 2019: \u201cIn my opinion the Presidential elections were organized and held in the best way possible. There were no complaints about CEC\u2019s work at all. The parliamentary elections, same as the presidential elections, got best evaluation from international observers who studied the situation in detail,\u201d the expert said. \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

A step towards usurpation of power?<\/strong>Some experts say the decision follows an attempt by the new authorities\u2019 to get wider control over the CEC. \u201cThe new team in power is concentrating authority in their hands. The agency that demonstrated professionalism and independence from all political forces even from the ones that delegated many members to the CEC does not suit them,\u201d said Oleksandr Chernenko, expert in election legislation, MP in the 8th<\/sup>convocation from Petro Poroshenko\u2019s Bloc, in a comment to Hromadske TV.<\/p>\n

Central Election Commission and referenda. <\/strong>The move to renew the composition of the Central Election Commission can also be linked to plans of the new authorities to be holding nation-wide referenda. \u201cThough there is no law \u2018On referendum\u2019 yet, it still comes obvious that such law will be passed and that the authorities will be holding referenda for all the uneasy questions that may cause indignation. So the new Central Election Commission will have a serious task \u2013 that of organizing referenda called to legitimize the controversial decisions of the new authorities,\u201d Oleksandr Chernenko made an assumption.<\/p>\n

CEC and the Minsk accords. <\/strong><\/em>Experts do not rule out that renewal of the CEC\u2019s composition can be linked to the Minsk process that Zelenskyi is trying to intensify. One of the paragraphs in the Minsk agreements concerns elections in the uncontrolled areas in Donbas \u2013 the so-called \u201cDPR\u201d and \u201cLPR\u201d. \u201cWe\u2019re moving by leaps and bounds to implementation of the Minsk agreements but not in the order implying liberation of our territories preceding the elections, most probably in the order dictated by Russia \u2013 elections come first, liberation of territories and withdrawal of troops follow. According to the OSCE standards as long as the armed groups are there and until the voters\u2019 registry is not restored, it is not possible to hold elections. Any expert will confirm that. It seems that the authorities need the Central Election Commission that will not be asking questions,\u201d Oleksandr Chernenko commented.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Further developments will demonstrate what the President\u2019s actual motives are. It is yet obvious that an attempt to form a central election commission that would suit the authorities is not a positive signal to the Ukrainian society and the international community. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On September 13 the Parliament of Ukraine dismissed all members of the Central Election Commission. The latter was administering the presidential and the parliamentary elections held in spring and in summer 2019 respectively. These elections got highest appraisal from Ukraine\u2019s international partners who said they were free, honest and devoid of violations. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Nevertheless despite […] More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":96215,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[705,748],"tags":[],"section":[743],"form":[],"yoast_head":"\nParliament dissolves the Central Election Commission: reasons and implications | UACRISIS.ORG<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"On September 13 the Parliament of Ukraine dismissed all members of the Central Election Commission. 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