Verkhovna Rada Speaker VolodymyrGroysman on Jan. 26 signed a law on holding a re-run of the Nov. 15 mayoral election in the city of Kryviy Rih on March 27.
To become law, the bill must also be signed by President Petro Poroshenko.
Alleged voting fraud in the mayoral election in Kryvyi Rih, an industrial city of almost 650,000 residents some 400 kilometers southeast of Kyiv, triggered major protests in mid-November, with demonstrators taking over City Hall and creating a self-defense unit. Protesters from Kryvyi Rih are currently holding a hunger strike in the Verkhovna Rada building, demanding that Groysman and Poroshenko sign the bill.
According to the official results, incumbent Mayor Yury Vilkul from the Opposition Bloc defeated Yury Milobog, a candidate from the Samopomich party, with a lead of just 752 votes.
Following the protests, the Verkhovna Rada on Dec. 23 approved holding an early mayoral election in Kryvyi Rih. However, Groysman had previously refused to sign the bill on legal grounds, because the Opposition Bloc had submitted a bill to cancel the re-vote.
The Opposition Bloc’s bill was rejected on Jan. 26, with only 40 lawmakers supporting it. As a result, the last legal hurdle for signing the re-run election bill was removed.
“This means that the head of the Verkhovna Rada has a legal right to sign the bill on mayoral elections, which I’m going to do,” Groysman said at a meeting of parliament.
But Samopomich lawmaker Yegor Sobolev accused Groysman of dragging his feet on signing the legislation in an effort to derail the early election.
If Poroshenko does not sign it by the Jan. 27 deadline, Mikhailo Okhendovsky, chairman of the Central Election Commission and an ex-Yanukovych ally, may refuse to schedule a re-election, Sobolev said.
The Opposition Bloc’s leader Volodymyr Boyko promised to appeal the decision in court.
Kyiv Post staff writer Oleg Sukhov can be reached at [email protected].
Kyiv Post staff writer Oksana Grytsenko can be reached at [email protected]
