Fatherland loses 2 Rada seats, Regions gain 3 by court decisions

The ruling Party of Regions gained three additional seats in simple-majority constituencies following court decisions, according to media reports. Two of the seats were picked up at the expense of candidates from the leading opposition party, Fatherland. In each of the three cases, Regions’ candidates appealed official election counts in court, which overturned the results in their favor, citing damaged ballots. As “official” results stand this morning, the Party of Regions will have 189 seats in the new parliament (+2 vs. Thursday’s official results).

Brad Wells: Though with the many imperfections noted in last Sunday’s election, we cannot rule out just cause for questioning certain vote counts, but having elections decided by courts threatens the legitimacy of the entire election process, which was already widely derided by international election observers. The fact that in each of these three instances, the courts ruled in favor of the ruling party only further raises eyebrows.