Rada allows election commissions to meet without quorum

Yesterday Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada amended the law “On the Ukrainian Presidential Election” on second reading to allow election commissions to meet, even without 2/3 quorum. This provision permits the count at polling stations to be approved without all commission members, which are made up equally of representatives of both candidates. The law was initiated by the Party of Regions. It was supported by 233 deputies: 172 from the Party of Regions, 29 from Our Ukraine, 27 from the Communist Party, one from the Tymoshenko Bloc and four other deputies. The amendments will now pass to the desk of President Viktor Yushchenko. The Party of Regions argued that the bill was necessary to assure election-related decisions are processed promptly and not hostage to the interests of a particular candidate’s representatives. Tymoshenko has loudly decried the move. Brad Wells: As we wrote in our report yesterday, we expected further destabilizing incidents surrounding the election, which only heighten the risk of legal challenges to the results. Yushchenko, given his animosity toward Tymoshenko, is unlikely to support her on this – Yanukovych has said he is sure Yushchenko will sign the bill – and we tend to believe him, given their implicit cooperation throughout the campaign.