Parliament expands election commission by two members

Ukraine’s parliament voted on Sept. 18 to expand the
membership of the Central Election Commission to 17 commissioners from 15 previously.
The vote was supported by the Poroshenko Bloc, People’s Front and Radical Party
factions, as well as 29 MPs of smaller groups. No votes were offered by the
Fatherland party, led by leading presidential challenger Yulia Tymoshenko, the
Self-Reliance party and the Russian-aligned Opposition Bloc. The CEC will
organize the presidential elections scheduled for late March.

Zenon Zawada: Expanding the commission is part of the Presidential Administration’s
plan to stack the commission with loyal members ahead of the presidential vote.
This vote also revealed that a solid majority is in place to approve the new
appointments. However, as the Orange revolts showed in 2004, control of the CEC
doesn’t mean that the public will recognize its approved election results.