KRYVYI RIH, Ukraine - The city election commission of Kryvyi Rih in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast upheld a complaint by mayoral candidate Yury Milobog during an overnight meeting held on Dec. 4-5, paving the way for a possible recount in the Nov. 15. mayoral run-off election.
However, the city commission faces several challenges including an unfavorable court ruling, the Central Election Commission’s uncertain position on the issue and delays in the work of the parliamentary commission on vote fraud in Kryvyi Rih.
Milobog, who represents the pro-European Samopomich party, argues that incumbent Mayor Yury Vilkul, a member of the Opposition Bloc and former ally of disgraced ex-President Viktor Yanukovych, won by rigging the vote.
Vilkul’s team denies the accusations. Kostyantyn Pavlov, a Verkhovna Rada member from the Opposition Bloc, accused Milobog’s proponents of “undermining the rule of law and the principles of democracy.”
According to the official results, Vilkul won with 49.25 percent, while Milobog got 48.83 percent – a difference of just 752 votes.
The next major protest by Milobog supporters is scheduled for Dec. 6.
During the Dec. 4-5 meeting, Kryvyi Rih’s city election commission, which is dominated by pro-European parties, upheld Milobog’s complaint against six district commissions’ decisions not to recount votes at hospitals.
Milobog cited numerous procedural violations, including the commissions’ failure to invite him to their meetings.
The district commissions, where Vilkul supporters had a majority, made the decisions following a court ruling instructing them to consider a recount.
The city commission cancelled the district commissions’ decisions and formed new district commissions after disbanding the old ones earlier this week.
The new district commissions, which are supposed to consider a recount again, were formed partially out of parliamentary factions and partially out of other parties by lot. Pro-European parties are expected to dominate them.
The city commission also approved asking the Central Election Commission to rule on whether the actions of Pavlo Hivel, head of Kryvyi Rih’s commission and a representative of the Opposition Bloc, are illegitimate.
Commission members accuse him of sabotaging the commission’s work, including by not showing up at meetings and hiding the official seal and the office keys. Hivel denies the accusations.
However, Kryvyi Rih’s election commission faces a legal challenge since the Dnipropetrovsk Administrative District Court late on Dec. 4 canceled the city commission’s decision to disband district commissions, citing procedural violations. Thus the court upheld a complaint filed by the Opposition Bloc.
The ruling will come into effect only if it is approved by an appellate court.
Milobog’s supporters took security measures to protect the city commission from outside interference on Dec. 4-5. Members of the Community Watch, a self-defense unit set up by anti-Vilkul protesters, as well as fighters of the Donbas volunteer battalion and Georgian volunteer fighters, were deployed on the first floor of City Hall.
The building’s first floor was peacefully taken over by protesters during a rally on Nov. 29.
On Dec. 4, Community Watch activists were also positioned on the third floor of the building, where the offices of the mayor and his deputies are located.
“People power is being established in Kryvyi Rih,” Yegor Sovolev, a Vekrhovna Rada member from Samopomich, wrote on Facebook on Dec. 4. “From now on, City Hall’s work will be under the community’s oversight and the Community Watch’s protection. I’d like those who want to live in the same way as under Yanukovych or become a new Yanukovych to pay attention to this. This won’t happen.”
He said that society would remove those who abuse their power and urged “vote riggers, corrupt officials and traitors to surrender or flee.”
Semen Semenchenko, another Verkhovna Rada member from Samopomich, said protesters’ security measures at City Hall were necessary to prevent the commission meeting from being derailed the way a previous meeting was disrupted by Opposition Bloc representatives on Dec. 2.
The Dec. 2 meeting was supposed to consider Milobog’s complaint and form new district commissions before a midnight deadline set by the Central Election Commission for decisions on the Nov. 15 mayoral election. However, the commission failed to make any substantial decisions due to Opposition Bloc members’ interference and asked the Central Election Commission to extend the deadline.
The Central Election Commission has not yet replied to the city commission and did not respond to a Kyiv Post request.
A Kyiv Post reporter saw representatives of Vilkul and the Opposition Bloc preventing the commission from working by shouting loudly and engaging in scuffles with commission members on Dec. 2.
Opposition Bloc lawmakers snatched documents out of commission members’ hands, tore them, upturned a table, broke a lamp and hit one of the members, Tetiana Rudenko, a member of the commission from the Batkyvshchyna party, told the Kyiv Post.
Pavlov, one of the Opposition Bloc lawmakers who were present at the meeting, denied any wrongdoing. He told the Kyiv Post he had not seen any violent actions by Vilkul supporters.
Another obstacle is delays in the work of the parliamentary commission on vote rigging in Kryvyi Rih.
The commission was scheduled to hold meetings on Dec. 4 and Dec. 5 but they were cancelled due to a lack of quorum.
Kyiv Post staff writer Oleg Sukhov can be reached at [email protected].
