Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko's team is attempting to delay the restoration of district councils in the capital to prevent elections this fall. After the resolution "On the Governance of Kyiv City Districts" was adopted in its first reading at the plenary session of the Kyiv City Council on June 2, the "heavy artillery" was brought in: City Council Secretary Oleksiy Reznikov prepared a series of amendments to the resolution that contradict current electoral legislation.
As KV has learned, these amendments were discussed at a meeting of the City Council's standing committee on local self-government, regional, and international relations on July 7. Mr. Reznikov proposed significantly reducing the number of district council deputies and "reaching a maximum of 28, proportional to the district's population." Furthermore, his proposed amendments to the aforementioned Kyiv City Council resolution proposed holding elections exclusively under the majoritarian system.
The Kyiv City Council Secretary cited research into Kyiv residents' opinions and the position of members of the parliamentary committee on state building and local self-government.
"When we went to the relevant committee, they heard our point of view. It was that Kyiv residents want the return of district councils, but they don't want the return of the party list system," stated Oleksiy Reznikov.
Meanwhile, the City Council's decision to hold elections under a majoritarian system would contradict current electoral legislation, which currently exclusively provides for a mixed system. The chances that the Verkhovna Rada will introduce a majoritarian system for local (or even Kyiv) councils by the fall of 2015 are virtually zero. Four bills on the restoration of Kyiv district councils alone have been registered in parliament. Several other bills are also being considered to amend the laws "On Local Self-Government" and "On the Capital of Ukraine – the Hero City of Kyiv."
Until all these initiatives from people's deputies can be brought to a common denominator and put to a vote, elections in the capital's districts can be forgotten.
It's clear that this is precisely what Vitali Klitschko's team, which is rapidly losing the last vestiges of its former credibility with voters, is counting on. They're also counting on the fact that they'll somehow magically avoid city-level elections by the fall. Or at least a runoff for the next mayor.
"The law on local elections, adopted in the Verkhovna Rada in its first reading, does not provide for any majoritarian system. It requires open party lists, and it's already clear that a majoritarian system will not be adopted. The essence of these amendments is simply to prevent us from holding district council elections in October. But even if the system is fully proportional, it will be better than the extreme centralization of power that exists now, the complete destruction of the representative branch of power at the district level," noted independent MP Oleksandr Fedorenko during the discussion.
Ultimately, the Local Government Committee rejected Alexei Reznikov's amendments yesterday. The votes of his two colleagues from the UDAR-Solidarity faction, Andriy Bilozir and Anna Starostenko, were clearly insufficient.
Alexander Zvorsky, KyivVlast
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