Kiev local election, 2008

Kiev legislative election, 2008

2006 ← 25 May 2008 → Next

All 120 seats to the Kiev City Council   Majority party Minority party Third party   Leader Leonid Chernovetskyi Yulia Tymoshenko Vitaliy Klychko Party Leonid Chernovetskyi Bloc Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc Vitaliy Klychko Bloc Leader since April 13, 2003 February 9, 2001 Seats won 43 32 15 Popular vote 350,700 262,500 122,243 Percentage 30.45% 22.79% 10.61%

Results of the Kiev City Council election.

Mayor before election Leonid Chernovetskyi Leonid Chernovetskyi Bloc Elected Mayor Leonid Chernovetskyi Leonid Chernovetskyi Bloc

The Kiev City Council building on the Khreschatyk, the main street of Kiev.

Early mayoral and city council elections (Ukrainian: Дотермінові вибори до київської міської ради (2008) were contested in the Ukrainian capital Kiev (Kyiv) on May 25, 2008. The snap election was called by the Ukrainian parliament, the Verkhovna Rada by a 246-5 vote on March 18 amid corruption allegations involving the incumbent Mayor Leonid Chernovetskyi.^[1] The local election determined the new Mayor of Kiev, as well as the composition of the 120-seat Kiev City Council.

The Ukrainian parliament assigned the job of determining the election costs to the Central Election Commission of Ukraine, working in partnership with the Kiev City Election Commission.^[2] The Kiev CEC designated March 26 as the date for the start of election campaigning.^[3]

In all, seven parties and blocs passed the 3% threshold needed to gain seats in the Kiev City Council^[4]. The incumbent Leonid Chernovetskyi was officially declared the winner of the mayoral election on May 30.^[5] Yuriy Lozovskyi, Secretary of the Kiev CEC, said that the voter turnout was estimated at 53-54%.^[6]

The electoral commission said that the elections were largely clear and fair without any major incidents, but that the largest electoral violation was voter shopping.^[7]

On December 12, 2008 Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko announced at a news briefing that she is confident that early mayoral elections will be held again in Kiev.^[8]

Candidates, parties, and blocs

In all, seventy-nine candidates were registered by the Kiev Territorial Electoral Commission for the upcoming mayoral election.^[9] Candidates from some of the main political parties include:

• the incumbent Mayor Leonid Chernovetskyi, from the Christian Liberal Party of Ukraine. He currently faces allegations of corruption and illegal privatization of Kiev territiories,^[10]
• Vitaliy Klychko, a politician in the Kiev City Council and former heavyweight boxer,^[11]
• Oleh Tyahnybok, from the All-Ukrainian Union "Freedom",^[12]
• Vladyslav Kaskyv, from the Civil Party "PORA";^[13]
• Vice-Prime Minister Oleksandr Turchynov, from the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc and the Our Ukraine–People's Self-Defense Bloc;^[14]
• Vasyl Horbal, from the Party of Regions;^[15]

A total of 37 parties and blocs participated in the Kiev City Council election. These included both national (e.g. Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc, Our Ukraine) and local political parties (e.g. Leonid Chernovetskyi Bloc).

Results

Mayoral election

e • d Summary of the 25 May 2008 Kiev mayoral election (main contenders)

Candidates	Votes	%	2006
Leonid Chernovetskyi (Leonid Chernovetskyi Bloc)	431,500	37.72%	5,89%[16]
Oleksandr Turchynov (Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc)	218,600	19.13%	Did not run
Vitaliy Klychko (Vitaliy Klychko Bloc)	205,300	17.97%	5,73%
Victor Pylypyshyn (Lytvyn Bloc)		6.73%	Did not run
Mykola Katerynchuk (Mykola Katerynchuk Bloc)		4.43%	Did not run
Vassyl Horbal (Party of Regions)		2.54%	Did not run
Oleksandr Omelchenko (Oleksandr Omelchenko Bloc)		2.37%	18,82%
Oleh Tyahnybok (All-Ukrainian Union "Freedom")		1.38%	Did not run
Oleksandr Pabat (Kyiv Civil Activists)		1.35%	Did not run
Invalid ballot papers	48,600
Total (turnout 52.02%)	1,164,823
Source: UNIAN News Agency (English)

City Council election

e • d Summary of the 25 May 2008 Kiev City Council elections

Parties and blocs	Votes	%	Seats	(2006)
Leonid Chernovetskyi Bloc (Блок Леонід Черновецький)	350,700	30.45%	43	9%[17]
Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc (Блок Юлії Тимошенко) All-Ukrainian Union "Fatherland" Ukrainian Social Democratic Party Reforms and Order Party	262,500	22.79%	32	19%
Vitaliy Klychko Bloc (Блок Віталія Кличко)	122,243	10.61%	15
Lytvyn Bloc (Блок Литвина) People's Party Labour Party of Ukraine		8.17%	11	4.54%
Kyiv Civil Activists (Громадський актив Києва)		5.95%	8	1,94%
Party of Regions (Партія регіонів)		3.95%	6	1,81%
Mykola Katerynchuk Bloc (Блок Миколи Катеринчука)		3.47%	5
Oleksandr Omelchenko Bloc (Блок Олександра Омельченка)		2,26%	0	did not run[18]
Communist Party of Ukraine (Комуністична партія України)		2,24%	0	0,5%
All-Ukrainian Union "Freedom" (Всеукраїнське об'єднання «Свобода»)	23 971	2,08%	0	1,71%
Our Ukraine (Наша Україна)	23 202	2%	0	13%
Ukrainian People's Party (Українська народна партія)	2 884	0,25%	0	1,3%
Pora (ПОРА)		0,17%[19]	0	13%[20]
Invalid ballot papers		15,81%
Total (turnout 52.02%)			120
Source: Ukrainian News
The Reforms and Order Party, Vitaliy Klychko Bloc and PORA contested the March 26, 2006 city council elections as one bloc.[20]

Faction chances since the last elections

Severe changes have occurred in the Kiev Kiev City Council since 2008. As of September 2011 seven additional factions had been created (2 of them with only 2 members, 1 with 3 members).^[21] The faction of the winner of the election, the Leonid Chernovetskyi Bloc, disbanded itself on September 22, 2011.^[22][23] (all the deputies that were members of the faction at the time where then considered as independents^[23]); this made the faction of UDAR of Vitaliy Klychko the biggest faction with 12 seats (3 seats less them won) followed by the Party of Regions with 10 seats (4 seats more then won).^[21] Bloc Yulia Tymoshenko saw 22 deputies leaving the faction since the election.^[21]

Since the 2008 election the following persons gave up there seat: Yulia Tymoshenko, Oleksandr Turchynov, Mykola Tomenko, Mykola Katerynchuk, Anatoliy Khostykoyev and Stepan Chernovetskyi (son of the Kiev Mayor). The next person in the party list is appointed a city council deputy when their colleagues give up there seat.^[24]

Polls

According to a telephone poll conducted prior to the election by the Razumkov Centre, 25.2% of the respondents said they would support Vitaliy Klychko for the position of mayor, 24.9% support Mayor Leonid Chernovetskyi, 10% support the former city mayor Oleksandr Omelchenko, 6% support current Vice-Prime Minister Oleksandr Turchynov, and 5.4% said they support the Minister of Internal Affairs Yuriy Lutsenko.^[25]

A different poll conducted by the Center of Political and Marketing Studies Sotsis, showed that 22.8% of the respondents support the incumbent mayor, 22% support Vitaliy Klychko, 11.5% support Oleksandr Omelchenko, 6.3% support Verkhovna Rada Deputy Mykola Tomenko, and 5.7% support Yuriy Lutsenko.^[26]

Calls for new snap elections

On December 12, 2008 Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko announced at a news briefing that she is confident that early mayoral elections will be held again in Kiev.^[8] On December 11, 2008 the Kyivenerho power company began cutting the supply of hot water to about 5,000 homes in Kiev because of the Kiev municipal administration's failure to compensate the company for the difference between the tariffs charged by Kyivenerho and the actual cost of its services, Tymoshenko accuses incumbent Mayor Leonid Chernovetskyi of using money from the municipal budget to finance his election campaign (and so there were insufficient funds to pay Kyivenerho).^[27]

On February 6, 2009 the Vitaliy Klychko Bloc stated it will apply to the Verkhovna Rada, the Cabinet of Ministers, the National Security and Defense Council and the Kiev prosecutor's office with a request to take into consideration the unlawfulness of Mayor Leonid Chernovetskyi actions and to call early mayoral elections in the city.^[28]

Early January 2010 Parliament Speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn stated he started preparing a darft law to conduct an early mayoral election in Kiev on May 30, 2010 as well as a local council election. He stated he "could not stand what was going on in Kiev any longer" and that his own Lytvyn Bloc would will take part in the election.^[29][30] A resolution setting early Kiev election for May 30, 2010 was registered in the Ukrainian parliament on January 18, 2010 but it was not included in the agenda yet.^[31] The resolution was cancelled on February 16, 2010.^[32]

On February 16, 2010 the Ukrainian parliament cancelled all Ukrainian local election dates original set for May 30, 2010.^{[33][34][35][36][37]} A new date was not set but Members of Parliament expected new local elections in the spring of 2011.^[38][39] Eventually these local elections did take place late 2010^[40] but the next Kiev local election (including Mayoral elections) are set for 2012.^[41]

See also

• Legal status and local government of Kiev
• Ternopil Oblast local election, 2009
• Ukrainian local elections, 2010

References

1. ^ Laws of Ukraine. Decree of the Verkhovna Rada No. 143-VI: On the designation of early elections to the deputies of the Kyiv City Rada and the Kyiv City Head. Passed on 2008-03-18. (Ukrainian)
2. ^ "The Verkhovna Rada designated early elections to the Mayor of Kiev" (in Russian). Korrespondent. March 18, 2008. http://korrespondent.net/ukraine/politics/407644. Retrieved 2008-03-21. 
3. ^ "The election campaign in Kiev will begin on the 26th of March" (in Russian). Korrespondent. March 21, 2008. http://korrespondent.net/kyiv/410948. Retrieved 2008-03-21. 
4. ^ "Klychko To Continue His Political Career In Ukraine" (in English). UNIAN (Ukrainian News). June 2, 2008. http://www.ukranews.com/eng/article/126839.html. Retrieved 2008-06-16. 
5. ^ Liang, Yan (May 29, 2008). "Ukraine's Kiev mayor wins re-election" (in English). www.chinaview.cn (Xinhua). http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-05/29/content_8272983.htm. Retrieved 2008-06-16. 
6. ^ "Almost half of Kyiv residents neglected mayor election" (in English). UNIAN. May 26, 2008. http://unian.net/eng/news/news-253109.html. Retrieved 2008-06-16. 
7. ^ "KEC: Elections in Kiev were clear and fair" (in Russian). Korrespondent. May 26, 2008. http://korrespondent.net/kyiv/473856. Retrieved 2008-06-16. 
8. ^ ^{a b} Tymoshenko Confident That Early Mayoral Elections Will Be Repeated In Kyiv, Ukrainian News Agency (December 12, 2008)
9. ^ "The end of registration of candidates for the post of Mayor of Kiev" (in Russian). Korrespondent. April 23, 2008. http://korrespondent.net/kyiv/444125. Retrieved 2008-04-24. 
10. ^ "Parliament votes for ouster of Kiev mayor" (in English). Ukrainian Journal. March 18, 2008. http://www.ukrainianjournal.com/index.php?w=article&id=6195. Retrieved 2008-03-21. 
11. ^ "Tyagnibok goes for the Mayor of Kiev" (in Russian). Korrespondent. March 23, 2008. http://korrespondent.net/kyiv/409069. Retrieved 2008-03-22. 
12. ^ "Kyiv city organization VO "Svoboda" conducted an early party conference" (in Ukrainian). Press agency of the Kyiv city organization VO "Svoboda". All-Ukrainian Union "Freedom". March 22, 2008. http://www.vosvoboda.info/ukr_txt003811. Retrieved 2008-03-23. 
13. ^ "Kaskyv is moved into the candidates for mayor" (in Russian). Korrespondent. April 6, 2008. http://korrespondent.net/kyiv/426191. Retrieved 2008-04-10. 
14. ^ "Tymoshenko and Lutsenko announced Turchynov the only candidate from the coalition" (in Russian). Korrespondent. May 22, 2008. http://korrespondent.net/kyiv/471273. Retrieved 2008-05-23. 
15. ^ "Kaskyv is moved into the candidates for mayor" (in Russian). Korrespondent. April 12, 2008. http://korrespondent.net/kyiv/432013. Retrieved 2008-04-12. 
16. ^ "Campaigning In Early Mayoral And Municipal Council Elections Starts In Kyiv". www.ukranews.com (OtherSide). March 26, 2008. http://otherside.com.ua/news/detail.php?lang=3&id=41903. Retrieved 2008-06-16. 
17. ^ "Ukraine: Yulia Tymoshenko defeated in municipal elections in Kyiv". East Week Centre for Eastern Studies. http://osw.waw.pl/en/epub/EW/2008/080528/02.htm. Retrieved 2008-06-16. 
18. ^ Block Omelchenkowhich will storm Kyiv (in Ukrainian), Ukrayinska Pravda, April 9, 2008
19. ^ "Chernovetskyi Bloc, Tymoshenko Bloc, Klychko Bloc, Lytvyn Bloc, Civil Activists Of Kyiv, Regions Party, Katerynchuk Bloc Elected To Kyiv Council". Ukrainian News. May 28, 2008. http://www.ukranews.com/eng/article/126090.html. Retrieved 2008-06-16. 
20. ^ ^{a b} "Pora Nominates Kaskiv For Kyiv Mayor". April 6, 2008. http://www.ukranews.com/eng/article/114926.html. Retrieved 2008-06-16. 
21. ^ ^{a b c} (Ukrainian) Голови депутатських фракцій та груп Київради VI скликання, Kiev City Council
22. ^ Faction of Chernovetksyi’s Bloc stopped its existence, UNIAN (September 23, 2011)
23. ^ ^{a b} Chernovetsky Bloc in Kyiv City Council disbanded, Kyiv Post (September 22, 2011)
24. ^ Mayor’s son to give up his seat in city council, Kyiv Post (December 22, 2009)
25. ^ "Poll: Klichko is winning on the elections of the Mayor of Kiev" (in Russian). Korrespondent. March 21, 2008. http://korrespondent.net/kyiv/411253. Retrieved 2008-03-21. 
26. ^ "Sotsis: Chernovetsky passes Klichko by 0.8%" (in Russian). Korrespondent. March 20, 2008. http://korrespondent.net/kyiv/411015. Retrieved 2008-03-21. 
27. ^ Cabinet Of Ministers To Consider Problems Arising In Kyiv, Ukrainian News Agency (December 12, 2008)
28. ^ Klychko Bloc In Kyiv Council Seeking Early Termination Of Chernovetskyi's Powers, Ukrainian News Agency (February 6, 2009)
29. ^ Lytvyn wants early mayoral elections, Kyiv Post (January 7, 2010)
30. ^ Lytvyn believes that today there are enough grounds for early election of Kyiv Mayor and Kyiv Council, UNIAN (January 11, 2010)
31. ^ Draft resolution to oust Kyiv mayor registered in parliament, Kyiv Post (January 18, 2010)
32. ^ Ukrainian parliament cancels mayor's election date of May 30, Kyiv Post (February 16, 2010)
33. ^ Postponing local elections in Ukraine without appointing new date violates constitution, Kyiv Post (February 16, 2010)
34. ^ Ukrainian parliament cancels mayor's election date of May 30, Kyiv Post (February 16, 2010)
35. ^ Lawmakers cancel local elections, Kyiv Post (February 16, 2010)
36. ^ Postponement of local election date profitable to all political parties, says political scientist, Kyiv Post (February 17, 2010)
37. ^ Stealing votes, Kyiv Post (February 18, 2010)
38. ^ Yefremov: Local elections in Ukraine could take place in 2011, Kyiv Post (February 16, 2010)
39. ^ BYT member Tomenko suggests scheduling local elections for March 27, 2011, Kyiv Post (February 16, 2010)
40. ^ Yanukovych's Party Looks To Victory Amid Claims Of Election Fraud, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (November 01, 2010)
41. ^ Party of Regions leader: 'Pre-term mayoral elections in Kyiv are pointless', Kyiv Post (November 18, 2011)

External links

• "Head" (in Ukrainian). Official internet-site of the Kyiv City Council. http://kmr.gov.ua/chief.asp. Retrieved 2008-04-10. 
• "Kyiv City Head" (in Ukrainian). Official portal of the Kyiv City Government. http://kmv.gov.ua/cabinet.asp. Retrieved 2008-04-10. 
• "ТИК назвала аутсайдеров выборов в Киевсовет" (in Russian). http://news.liga.net/news/N0828136.html.