UKRAINE-KYIV-ELECTIONS

Kyiv, February 16 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The question of the date of local elections in Kyiv has entirely moved from the legal to the political plane, Central Election Commission (CEC) member Mykhailo Okhendovsky has said.

“In legal terms, there’s currently no perfect date for the simultaneous holding of both elections [of Kyiv City Council deputies and Kyiv mayor]. The question has entirely moved to the plane of political expediency. It can only be resolved in parliament,” he said in an interview published in the Mirror Weekly newspaper on Saturday.

He recalled that the current city council and former mayor were elected in early elections in May 2008. According to the provisions of the then Constitution of Ukraine, the city council’s deputies were elected for five years and the mayor was elected for four years. That is, the term of office for Kyiv City Council deputies was to expire in 2013 and for the mayor in 2012.

However, the effect of the constitution of 1996 was resumed in 2010. The term of office according to its provisions was four years both for the deputies and the mayor. In February 2011, the constitution was amended, and the term of office for the deputies and the mayor is five years, but only for those who were elected in early elections, Okhendovsky said.

“Since the powers of Kyiv mayor were terminated in 2012, the next mayoral election should obviously be extraordinary,” he said.

“The issue does not currently concern the termination of the powers of Kyiv City Council. If the city council completes the entire term of office envisaged by the constitution, the next election of its deputies will be regular. What does it mean? It means that in the next election of the city council the deputies will be elected for five years and the mayor only until the next national local elections,” Okhendovsky said.