Dobkin denied election bid for Kharkiv regional council

Mykhaylo Dobkin, the former mayor of Ukraine’s second-largest city Kharkiv, can’t compete in the Oct. 25 election for the Kharkiv Regional Council, as decided by the Central Election Commission on Oct. 18. The reason is Dobkin failed to provide in his autobiography details of his “civic work” when he served as the head of the Kharkiv regional organization of the Party of Regions, said on Oct. 19 CEC Head Mykhaylo Okhendovskiy. The other regional council candidates from the Opposition Bloc party were registered, he said. The ruling against Dobkin came after the CEC denied the Opposition Bloc the ability to register its candidates for the regional council.

Zenon Zawada: Dobkin is not a sympathetic character, as he’s notorious for expletive-filled rants and massive corruption. Yet we are concerned with the rule of law and in our view, the reason offered for denying Dobkin’s candidacy is flimsy. With its ruling against Dobkin, the Central Election Commission has already tainted the legitimacy of the Oct. 25 local elections, especially in denying such a heavyweight as Dobkin. We can’t rule out that the ruling was issued at the behest of Dobkin’s biggest political rival in Kharkiv, Arsen Avakov, the current interior minister.