Ukraine parliament elects central election commission

Ukraine’s parliament approved on Sept. 20 the new
members of the Central Election Commission of Ukraine, which will regulate the
presidential and parliamentary elections scheduled for 2019. Quotas to select
commissioners were largely based on the results of the 2014 parliamentary vote.
Out of the commission’s 17 members, 14 were approved by a separate vote. Two
remained from the prior commission and one more commissioner will be voted
upon.

The Poroshenko Bloc selected six commissioners, the
People’s Front chose three, and the remaining parliamentary factions and groups
each selected one commissioner. Two commissioners remained, one from the
Svoboda party and another from the UDAR party.

Zenon Zawada: We counted
at least 10 commissioners that the president can count on to be “sensitive to
his concerns.” So we can already expect the commission will be amenable to his
possible plans to enforce certain rules while ignoring others, manipulating
procedures for counting and disqualifying votes, and ultimately adjusting the
election results in his favor.

Not surprisingly, the Russian-oriented Opposition
Bloc was allowed to select only one commissioner (despite being the
third-largest parliamentary faction), thereby minimizing the Russian influence.
The Opposition Bloc has also appealed to the Constitutional Court to overturn the Sept. 18 parliamentary ruling
expanding the commission by two members, which we believe was done to enhance the president’s control of the
commission and water down the Russian influence. The president has already
signed this legislation.