2009 Ternopil Oblast local election

Background

The vote was initially appointed on December 18, 2008 by a decision of Ukrainian Parliament initiated by the Bloc Yulia Tymoshenko (BYuT), but cancelled on 3 March 2009 by the same Parliament, Following a lawsuit filed by the Svoboda the Ternopil oblast` court acknowledged this decision to be illegal on March 11, 2009. The next day BYuT lodged an appeal in the Lviv Administrative Appeal Court against this decision.

On 13 March 2009, President Viktor Yushchenko asked the Constitutional Court to estimate the constitutionality of the Ukrainian Parliament’s decision to cancel the early regional council elections in Ternopil. According to Yushchenko the Constitution reads that Parliament can appoint elections or early elections into the local authorities, but cannot cancel them.

Election

The elections were held on 15 March 2009. The Bloc Yulia Tymoshenko called the election "the presentation of cynical electoral fraud by Head of the Presidential Secretariat Viktor Baloha against expression of the will of the region's citizens".

Some villages reported cases Party of Regions representatives offering ₴50 per vote.

Challenging the results

On March 24, the Ternopil district administrative court rejected a lawsuit from the Bloc of Yulia Tymoshenko (BYuT) challenging the results of the elections. Four days later the Kyiv district administrative court banned the official publication of the result of the elections.

On April 7 the Lviv administrative court of appeals ruled to cancel a decision of the Ternopil district administrative court denying consideration of a lawsuit from BYuT against the results of the elections to the Ternopil regional council. The Lviv administrative court of appeals instructed the Ternopil district administrative court to consider the essence of the lawsuit.

On May 11, 2009 BYuT members gave up their twelve seats in Ternopil regional council. As a result, the number of deputies in the regional Ternopil council became 208. The overall number of mandates in the council still constitutes 120, and all the decisions taken by the majority of the council still has to be passed by no less than 61 votes.

On June 16, 2009 the Constitutional Court of Ukraine deemed the parliamentary resolution on canceling early election to Ternopil Regional Council (of March 3, 2009) unconstitutional. This case was initiated by President Viktor Yuschenko.

Results

The election have been conducted after the proportional electoral system. In an order to conduct the representatives in the Ternopil regional council, party or block must collect not less than 3% voices of electors.

According to political annalist the scores of United Centre and Party of Regions could be caused by mass fraud. Experts were less surprised by the high score of All-Ukrainian Union "Freedom" because (according to the think tank "Open Policy") support for rightist parties like "Freedom" typically builds up in conditions of economic and political crisis and "Freedom" has roots in the region. The turnout in Ternopil (city) was only 25%.

Polls

Ternopil city council

The elections to Ternopil city council took place in fall of 2010.

;Mayor elections

• Serhiy Nadal (Svoboda) - 27% (25,988 votes)
• Roman Zastavny (For Ukraine!) - 16% (15,709 votes)
• Petro Hoch (Party of Regions) - 13% (12,630 votes)

References

References

1. [http://www.obl-rada.te.ua/?page=news&sub=28 Тернопільська обласна рада]
2. [http://www.ukranews.com/eng/article/183958.html Rada Cancels Early Elections Of Ternopil Regional Council] {{Webarchive. link. (2013-02-08 , [[Ukrainian News Agency]] (March 3, 2009))
3. {{in lang. uk [http://www.day.kiev.ua/264095/ Стаття щодо виборів до Тернопільської облради на сайті газети «День»], [[Den (newspaper). Den]] (February 7, 2009)
4. with most members of BYuT voting against holding the snap elections, allegedly because of the fall of the party's ratings.[http://www.umoloda.kiev.ua/number/1345/180/47450/ Стаття в «Україні Молодій»], Україна Молода (February 10, 2009)
5. [http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2009/3/11/91124.htm «Українська Правда»]{{in lang. uk
6. [http://www.interfax.com.ua/eng/main/9831/ BYT appeals against court ruling on Ternopil regional council elections on March 15], [[Interfax. Interfax-Ukraine]] (March 12, 2009)
7. [http://www.ukranews.com/eng/article/185885.html Yuschenko Asking Constitutional Court To Estimate Constitutionality Of Cancellation Of Early Ternopil Regional Council Elections By Rada ] {{Webarchive. link. (2012-09-13 , [[Ukrainian News Agency]] (March 13, 2009))
8. [http://www.interfax.com.ua/eng/main/9977/ Committee of Electors of Ukraine registers no major violations at elections to Ternopil regional council], [[Interfax. Interfax-Ukraine]] (15 March 2009)
9. [http://www.interfax.com.ua/eng/main/9980/ BYT intends to challenge in court results of elections to Ternopil regional council], [[Interfax. Interfax-Ukraine]] (15 March 2009)
10. [http://www.ukranews.com/eng/article/191425.html Lviv Appeal Court Decides To Consider Suit Of BYT Challenging Results Of Elections To Ternopil Regional Council] {{Webarchive. link. (2013-02-05 , [[Ukrainian News Agency]] (April 9, 2009))
11. [http://www.interfax.com.ua/eng/main/13561/ BYT MPs give up seats in Ternopil regional council], [[Interfax. Interfax-Ukraine]] (May 11, 2009)
12. [http://www.interfax.com.ua/eng/main/15624/ Constitutional Court deems unconstitutional parliamentary resolution on canceling early election to Ternopil Regional Council], [[Interfax. Interfax-Ukraine]] (June 16, 2009)
13. [http://zik.com.ua/en/news/2009/03/16/173393 High tallies of PR and YT in Ternopil indicate fraud or pollsters’ slips], ZIK (17 March 2009)
14. [http://zik.com.ua/en/news/2009/03/16/173390 Results of Ternopil elections to force BYUT and Regions to alter Constitution ], ZIK (17 March 2009)
15. ""Єдиний Центр" — паралельний підрахунок голосів".
16. [http://www.svoboda.org.ua/dokumenty/inshi/010207/ ВО «Свобода» — Результати паралельного підрахунку голосів на Тернопільських виборах] {{Webarchive. link. (2009-09-26)
17. {{in lang. uk [http://www.umoloda.kiev.ua/number/1369/180/48272/ Генеральна репетиція президентських виборів: на Тернопільщині стався прогнозований тріумф націоналістів і крах Тимошенко], [[Ukrayina Moloda]] (March 17, 2009)
18. [http://www.unp.ua/ua/bodywork/10951/200/208.htm Вибори в Тернополі]
19. [http://www.rbc.ua/rus/newsline/2009/03/15/517293.shtml Явка избирателей по Тернопольской обл. по состоянию на 20:00 составила больше 50%, - ТИК] {{Webarchive. link. (2009-03-17 , РБК-Украина (March 15, 2009))
20. Source: [http://www.obl-rada.te.ua/?page=about&sub=14 Official website Ternopil Oblast Council]
21. {{in lang. uk[http://zik.com.ua/ua/news/2009/01/27/167010 Основна політична тенденція виборів до Тернопільської облради: падіння рейтингів БЮТ та НСНУ] {{Webarchive. link. (2011-01-15 , ZIK (January 27, 2009))
22. {{in lang. uk[http://www.unp-ua.org/ua/pages/14.htm Official website - history section] {{Webarchive. link. (2008-12-12 , [[Ukrainian People's Party]])
23. {{in lang. uk [http://maidan.org.ua/static/news/2010/1289033360.html Mayor elections]