Central Election Commission (Ukraine)

The Central Election Commission of Ukraine ( uk, Центральна виборча комісія України, commonly abbreviated in Ukrainian as ЦВК (''Tse-Ve-Ka''); sometimes referred to as the Central Electoral Commission of Ukraine) is a permanent and independent collegiate body of the Ukrainian state that acts on the basis of the Constitution of Ukraine, the laws of Ukraine and is responsible for organizing the arrangements and the conduct of the presidential and parliamentary elections in Ukraine as well as the local elections at all levels, managing the all-Ukrainian and local referendums according to the procedure and within the legal framework defined by the laws of Ukraine.

Legislative status

The Commission manages the system of election commissions and referendum commissions established to arrange and conduct the presidential and parliamentary elections in Ukraine as well as the all-Ukrainian referendums. The Commission supervises activities and provides the advisory and methodological support to the commissions established to arrange and conduct the local elections at all levels as well as the local referendums.

The Commission discharges its mandate independently, separately from other government authorities, municipalities, officials and public officers.

General Information, Composition and Appointment

In November 1997 a new state institution, the Central Election Commission, was established according to the Constitution requirements. The Law of Ukraine "On the Central Election Commission" stipulates that the Central Election Commission shall be a permanent state body, which, in compliance with the Constitution of Ukraine, ensures the arrangements and the conduct of the presidential and parliamentary elections in Ukraine as well as the all-Ukrainian referendums.

The Central Election Commission also provides advisory-methodological support of elections and local referendums to local councils, village, town, city mayors. It supervises the system of election commissions established to arrange and conduct the presidential and parliamentary elections in Ukraine as well as the all-Ukrainian referendums , coordinates their activities.

The Central Election Commission is an independent state body. In order to perform its functions the Commission is entitled to enable the involvement of public authorities at all levels into the implementation of this extremely important state activity. The Commission performs its duties on the principles of legality, independence, objectivity, competence, professionalism, collegial decision-making, reliability, openness and transparency.

The activities of the Commission are carried out openly and publicly.

The Commission has its own publication - "The Bulletin of the Central Election Commission".

The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine appoints and terminates the authority of the CEC members upon the proposal of the President of Ukraine. The presidential submission on the CEC members shall take into account the nominee proposals of current parliamentary factions and groups.

Composition

The Commission consists of 17 CEC members (prior to September 2018 15 members). The Commission functions on a regular basis. Member of the Commission is a public officer. Each member is appointed for a 7-year term by the Verkhovna Rada (parliament) of Ukraine. A Commission member may be a citizen of Ukraine, who shall not be under twenty five years old on the appointment date, has the right to vote, has been lived in Ukraine for at least the last five years and commands the official language. The Chairperson of the Commission, the Deputy Chair of the Commission, the Secretary of the Commission, as well as at least five other members of the Commission shall have higher education in the field of law.

Secretariat of the Commission

*Chairman
*Deputy
*Operation-Methodical Department
*Legal Department
*Informational Department
*Department of Document Support
*Managing and Material-Technical Support Department
*Division in relationships with public media
*Division of human resources and the state service
*Division of planning and financing
*Division of control and use of funds
*Accounting division
*Division of international cooperation
*Editorial-publishing division
*Supporting service of the Central Election Commission

Appointment

History

The first election commission in Ukraine was created in 1917 as an Electoral Bureau of the General Secretary of Internal Affairs and was headed by Mykhailo Kovenko. It prepared elections to the Ukrainian Constituent Assembly, which were interrupted by the Ukrainian-Soviet War. In 1989 the modern election commission was created under the Cabinet of Ukraine, which in 1997 became an independent body of the Ukrainian government.

Districts

There are different electoral divisions depending on the level of elections. Before the electoral of 1997 and the installation of the Central Election Commission the country consisted of 450 electoral districts (number of parliamentarians in Verkhovna Rada). With the introduction of party voting principle the number of districts changed to 225. Each electoral district includes around 120-180 smaller electoral precincts (dilnytsi).

Beside the national level elections the country conducts local elections as well. Each region (oblast or Autonomous Republic Crimea), district (raion), urban or rural settlement (see Administrative divisions of Ukraine) has its own council (rada) amounting altogether to some 12,088 councils of various size across the nation.

Western Ukraine

Presidential elections

Northern Ukraine

Presidential elections

Members

The current Central Election Commission approved by parliament on 4 October 2019 includes 17 members:
*Oleh Didenko (chairman)
*Oksana Boyarchuk
*Yuriy Buhlaka
*Olena Hataullina
*Andriy Hevko
*Viktoria Glushchenko
*Vitaliy Gren
*Serhiy Dubovyk
*Andriy Yevstihneyev
*Iryna Yefremova
*Oleksandra Karmaza
*Pavlo Liubchenko
*Yuriy Myroshnychenko
*Volodymyr Perepeliuk
*Vitaliy Plukar
*Serhiy Postivyi
*Yuriy Frytsky

Former members

On 5 October 2018 14 new members began to exercise their powers (the Ukrainian parliament had appointed on 20 September 2018):
*Tetiana Slipachuk (Chairperson of the Central Election CommissionSlipachuk elected head of Central Election Commission at closed meeting
Ukrinform (5 October 2018))
*Alla Basalaieva
*Natalia Bernatska (Secretary of the Central Election Commission)
*Mykhailo Verbenskyi
*Andriy Yevstigneiev
*Iryna Yefremova
*Olha Zheltova
*Oleh Konopolskyi (Deputy Chair of the Central Election Commission)
*Svitlana Kustova
*Olha Lotiuk
*Vitaliy Plukar
*Yevhenii Radchenko (Deputy Chair of the Central Election Commission)
*Leontiy Shypilov
*Tetiana Yuzkova

In April 2014 parliament had already appointed:
*Kateryna Makhnitska
*Oleh Didenko

As of 20 September 2018 one seat was vacant.The council approved a new composition of the CEC
Ukrayinska Pravda (20 September 2018)

All members (appointed on 20 September 2018 and since) were dismissed by parliament on 13 September 2019."We are all", "This is a new reality": the CEC reacted to the decision of the Council
Ukrayinska Pravda (13 September 2019)

The Ukrainian parliament dismissed the following 13 members of the Central Election Commission on 20 September 2018:
* Mykhaylo Okhendovsky