Slipachuk elected Ukraine Central Election Commission head

The Central Election Commission voted on Oct. 5 to
elect Tetiana Slipachuk as its new head. Slipachuk was nominated to the
commission by the People’s Will parliamentary group. Having built her career as
an international lawyer for leading Kyiv firms, Slipachuk became the president
of the Ukrainian Arbitrage Association in 2012 and has represented private
clients in hundreds of arbitrage cases globally, according to her Wikipedia
page. Slipachuk was elected at a closed meeting of the newly formed commission to
which journalists were not invited, drawing their protest.

Zenon Zawada: The election commission head will play a critical role during the
presidential vote, scheduled for March-April. Slipachuk is as good a selection
as any, with her extensive international experience. With her in this position,
the election results are more likely to be viewed as credible. That will help
President Poroshenko, who needs to convince the Ukrainian public, as well as
the international community, of the legitimacy of the results, particularly if
he wins.