Some 75 observers have already arrived in Ukraine from abroad to monitor the local elections scheduled for October 25, Minister of the Cabinet of Ministers Oleh Nemchinov said, citing data from the State Border Guard Service.
“The State Border Guard Service of Ukraine said that 75 international observers have already arrived,” Nemchinov wrote in his Telegram channel on Friday.
According to him, a regular, fourth meeting of the Interdepartmental Working Group for Coordination of the Activities of Executive Authorities to Create the Right Conditions for the October 25 elections was held online on Friday. During the meeting, the issues of organizing the educational process in the regions, the readiness of election commissions to work, monitoring the decisions of local government agencies on the allocation of funds for anti-epidemic measures, providing election commissions with disinfectants and personal protective equipment, the development and maintenance of budget funds sent to territorial election commissions for organization and conduct of elections.
“There are only two days left before the local elections, so there are final preparations and active coordination of the activities of the central executive authorities and the Central Election Commission. We must consolidate efforts and ensure that local elections are held at the proper level,” Nemchinov wrote.
The electoral process of local elections, scheduled for October 25, 2020, started in Ukraine on September 5.
Previously the Central Election Commission (CEC) of Ukraine said the start date of the campaign was adopted at a meeting of the CEC on August 30 in compliance with the requirements of the Electoral Code of Ukraine.
“At the same time, the commission took into consideration the resolution of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine of July 15, 2020 on appointment of the next local elections in 2020, resolution No. 160 of the CEC of August 8, 2020 on the first elections of deputies of rural, town, city councils of territorial communities and the corresponding rural, town, city heads on October 25, 2020, resolution No. 161 on the impossibility of holding the first elections of deputies of individual rural, town, city councils of Donetsk and Luhansk regions and the corresponding rural, town, city heads on October 25, 2020 and resolution No. 176 of August 14, 2020 on the appointment of the first elections of deputies of district councils for October 25, 2020,” the report says.
The local election campaign has begun and the regional elites started investing in headquarters, advertising and PR campaigns. The local elites used the situation with the quarantine and poor coordination of events in the top-down system for self-promotion before the elections due on October 25, 2020, political technologist Kyrylo Molchanov, who is also an expert at the Ukrainian Institute of Politics, said.
In the second program “Expert Kitchen” on the Expert Club YouTube channel, Molchanov made assessment of the incumbent mayors’ chances to be re-elected for a new tenure at the upcoming elections.
The expert said that Hennadiy Kernes in Kharkiv, Vitali Klitschko in Kyiv and Hennadiy Trukhanov in Odesa have the highest chances to stay on their posts. He also noted that one should expect the most interesting election campaigns in Dnipro and Lviv, where Andriy Sadovy has lost his positions in recent years.
Speaking about prospects of parties, the expert said that some political forces continue dominating in certain regions where they used to be popular. The main struggle will take place between the Opposition Platform – For Life and the Servant of the People in southeastern Ukraine, between the Servant of the People and Batkivschyna in central regions, and the so-called pro-European and nationalist forces in western Ukraine.
According to Molchanov, the ruling party in general will fail to repeat the success of its previous campaigns as its popularity continues declining. Therefore, the Servant of the People will have to form coalitions with other parties in regions, which may result into unexpected political consequences both in Ukraine’s regions and, hence, in the central government.
Find more details about the 2020 local election campaign in the video on the Expert Club YouTube channel:
EXPERT, EXPERT CLUB, EXPERT KITCHEN, LOCAL ELECTIONS, MOLCHANOV
The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine calls on the Verkhovna Rada to provide internally displaced persons (IDPs) with the opportunity to vote in the upcoming local elections. The UNHR urges parliament to take steps to provide IDPs and labor migrants with the opportunity to vote in local elections scheduled for 2020, mission head Matilda Bogner said at a press conference, presenting “Report on the human rights situation in Ukraine 16 May to 15 August 2019” in Kyiv on Tuesday.
She noted that the Monitoring Mission would monitor developments around the Electoral Code, which President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky vetoed, giving Parliament 30 days to amend the document.
Bogner emphasized the need to solve the problem of paying pensions to residents of temporarily uncontrolled territories of Donbas. She said pensions should be paid to everyone who is entitled to them, regardless of their place of residence, adding this is an urgent recommendation, hoping that the new government will consider it one of the priorities.
In addition, the Mission notes that it is necessary to find a mechanism for paying off pension arrears.
At the same time, the UN Mission considers the decision of the Cabinet of Ministers to compensate families whose homes were destroyed as a result of the conflict in Donbas a positive sign. However, it has concerns about a number of issues, in particular, the condition that applicants for compensation should live in the same village where the destroyed housing is located, as well as the fact that funds for these needs will be provided for in the budget after 2020.
As reported, on July 15, 2019, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine established a mechanism for monetary compensation for private housing destroyed as a result of Russian armed aggression in eastern Ukraine.
