Ukraine court rules to hold Kyiv elections in 2015

The Constitutional Court of Ukraine ruled on May 30 that the election of the Kyiv City Council and its chair should be held along with the rest of the nation’s local elections in October 2015. With its ruling, the Court affirmed the position held by the ruling Party of Regions and extends the term of the current Kyiv City Council to seven years. Opposition parties argued the election should be held based on the terms established by the Constitution – five years for the Council and four years for its chair. That would have set the elections for June 2013 and June 2012 respectively. The Court ruled these terms shouldn’t be dependent on the 2008 elections, which were extraordinary (or beyond established terms). Opposition leaders accused the Court of undermining the Constitution and becoming a puppet organ of the Presidential Administration.

Zenon Zawada: Most legal analysts would agree that upholding established term limits takes precedence over other legal considerations. The ruling is evidence that the administration of President Viktor Yanukovych has influence over the nation’s courts. More importantly, it views controlling the Kyiv City Council as critical towards securing a victory in the 2015 presidential elections. Recall that in 2004, hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians traveled to the capital city to protest vote fraud, resulting in a revote and subsequent defeat of Yanukovych and the Party of Regions. The ruling serves to only sharpen hostility between the Party of Regions and the opposition and convince the latter that the 2015 vote won’t be fair. It also puts the latest dent in Ukraine’s prospects of signing the Association Agreement.