On 25 October 2015 local elections took place in Ukraine. The elections were conducted a little over a year since the 2014 snap local elections, which were only held throughout parts of the country. A second round of voting for the election of mayors in cities with more than 90,000 residents where no candidate gained more than 50% of the votes were held on 15 November 2015. Because of the ongoing conflict in East Ukraine and the February 2014

annexation Annexation (Latin ''ad'', to, and ''nexus'', joining), in international law, is the forcible acquisition of one state's territory by another state, usually following military occupation of the territory. It is generally held to be an illegal act ...

of Crimea by Russia, local elections were not conducted throughout all of the administrative subdivisions of Ukraine. The highest number of seats were won by the

Petro Poroshenko Bloc "Solidarity" European Solidarity ( uk, Європейська солідарність, Yevropeis'ka solidarnist', YeS) is a political party in Ukraine. It has its roots in a parliamentary group called Solidarity dating from 2000 and has existed since in vario ...

, Fatherland and Our Land parties, followed by the

Opposition Bloc russian: Оппозиционный блок , colorcode = , logo = Opposition Bloc.png , logo_size = 240px , leader1_title = Chairman , leader1_name = Rinat Akhmetov (one wing)Dmytro Firtash & Yuriy Boyko ( ...

and the Radical Party. The Petro Poroshenko Bloc did well in the western regions,

central Ukraine Central Ukraine ( uk, Центральна Україна, ''Tsentralna Ukraina'') consists of historical regions of left-bank Ukraine and right-bank Ukraine that reference to the Dnipro River. It is situated away from the Black Sea Littoral N ...

, and the

Kherson Oblast Kherson Oblast ( uk, Херсо́нська о́бласть, translit=Khersónsʹka óblastʹ, ), also known as Khersonshchyna ( uk, Херсо́нщина, ), is an oblast (province) in southern Ukraine, currently claimed and partly occupied ...

of the

south South is one of the cardinal directions or Points of the compass, compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Pro ...

. The Opposition Bloc gained most of the votes of the south and east (except Kharkiv Oblast). In the west, Svoboda improved its performance compared with previous year's parliamentary election. A total of 132 political parties took part in the elections.
The political parties contested for the 1,600 regional council seats in 22 regional parliaments, more than 10,700 local councils and mayoral seats.Exit Polls Show Ukraine Divided For, Against Poroshenko Rule

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) is a United States government funded organization that broadcasts and reports news, information, and analysis to countries in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Caucasus, and the Middle East where it says tha ...

(27 October 2015)
Ukraine's prime minister opts out of polls
Financial Times (24 October 2015)
Electoral lists of candidates in multimember constituencies within the regions of Ukraine in the local elections in 2015
,

Central Election Commission of 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 Ukrai ...

The voter turnout was 46.62% of the population.
/ref> During the second round, the voter turnout dropped to 34.08%.

Background

Late January 2014 the Constitutional Court of Ukraine made a decision declaring that regardless of under which conditions the previous elections were conducted, regularly scheduled local elections must occur in October 2015. The

asked the government to allocate ₴1.2 billion (approx. 100 million USD) towards financing the election (on 9 July 2014) The campaign for the elections started on 5 September 2015. But since the start of the summer political advertising had begun to increase rapidly.Surprise electorate from advertising balloons to motorcycles
The Ukrainian Week (9 October 2015) This was marred with a sharp rise of

handout A handout is something given freely or distributed free to those in need. It can refer to government welfare or a charitable gift, and it may take the form of money, food, or other necessities. During the Great Depression, many people lived en ...

s by potential candidates. Local issues were ignored by parties, who focused on national issues.Ukraine's Local Elections: New law, old problems
by

Melanie Mierzejewski-Voznyak Melanie is a feminine given name derived from the Greek μελανία (melania), "blackness" and that from μέλας (melas), meaning "dark".New Eastern Europe (22 October 2015) According to Depo.ua and the

Committee of Voters of Ukraine The Committee of Voters of Ukraine (CVU) ( uk, Комітет виборців України (КВУ)) is an all-Ukrainian non-government organization whose main task is to observe the election campaigns, maintain relations between voters and the ...

political parties spend at least $82 million on campaigning. They claim that during the last two months of the campaign political parties rented 75 percent of Ukraine's 20,000 billboards. More than 350,000 candidates (representing 132 political parties or as an

independent candidate An independent or non-partisan politician is a politician not affiliated with any political party or bureaucratic association. There are numerous reasons why someone may stand for office as an independent. Some politicians have political views th ...

) were electable for 168,450 positions of mayors of cities, villages and settlements and for deputies of village, settlement, city, city district, district and 1,600 regional council seats in 22 regional councils. A candidate did not have to live in a constituency where she/he was electable.

Elections in Crimea and Donbass

Because of the March 2014 unilateral annexation of Crimea by Russia, the elections could not be held throughout Crimea.

With the ongoing

Russian aggression against Ukraine Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

in Donbass, elections were not held in regional councils and some parts of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts. Mariupol 01

On 25 October 2015, the elections were not be held in certain government-held towns (in south-east Ukraine) close to the frontline because (it was believed in August 2015) there "voting may be dangerous to people's lives". These towns include Avdiivka, Marinka, Artemivsk and

Kostiantynivka Kostiantynivka ( uk, Костянтинівка, ; russian: Константиновка) is an industrial city in the Donetsk Oblast (province) of eastern Ukraine, on the river. Administratively, it is incorporated as a city of oblast signific ...

. While in other towns near the frontline, like Mariupol, the elections were decided to be held.Ukraine's pro-government parties join forces ahead of local elections
Ukrainian Weekly (18 September 2015)

Changes in the law

Parties registered 365 days before the election and who had not changed their name 180 days before the election were allowed to participate in the elections.Rada adopts Law on local elections
UNIAN (14 July 2015) On 14 July 2015, the Ukrainian parliament passed a new law regarding the local elections in the country. This law uprated the election threshold from 3% to 5% (in order to get any seats in the council a party has to score 5% of the total vote of the election).Link to a pdf-fil
INTERIM REPORT 2015 Ukrainian local elections
OSCE (9 October 2015) It also introduced three electoral systems for (these) local elections: Deput2015 1 Eng

#Mayors and deputies of settlement and village councils directly elected under a

majoritarian system In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast their ...

; in a first-past-the-post system. #In cities with fewer than 90,000 voters Mayors are elected under a majoritarian system; in a first-past-the-post system. Region, district, city, and city district councils are elected in multi-member constituencies meaning that for the elections for the city council or district council their territory is split into constituencies. In these constituencies the parties nominated their candidates in closed party lists.

Independent candidate An independent or non-partisan politician is a politician not affiliated with any political party or bureaucratic association. There are numerous reasons why someone may stand for office as an independent. Some politicians have political views th ...

s can not take part in the elections in places bigger than a village or settlement. If a party passed the 5% election threshold the number of candidates from that party represented in a council will be established in accordance with the number of votes for a deputy in a certain constituency. Ballots have a check box for each party, rather than for individual candidates. Political parties in Ukraine can only register with the Ministry of Justice if they can "demonstrate a base of support in two-thirds of Ukraine's Oblasts" (Ukraine's 24 primary administrative units). #If in a city with more than 90,000 voters (at the time of the elections this was 35 cities) the highest scoring mayoral candidate does not score over 50% of the votes + 1 vote a second round of the election will be held no later than 3 weeks after the election (in these elections that meant all second round elections on 15 November 2015). A proposition of the minimum number of deputies in a local council was to be 10 in places were the number of voters does not go above 500. The maximum number of Deputies in a council is 80 in places with more than 1.5 million voters.The Rada adopted on the basis of a draft law on local elections
Ukrayinska Pravda (18 June 2015) However, the proposition was not passed and the composition of local councils was preserved according to the law originally adopted on 14 July 2015. According to the article 16 the composition of local council is defined by the number of voters which is set at a minimum 12 deputies for up to 1,000 voters and a maximum 120 deputies for over 2 million voters.Law of Ukraine "About the local elections"
Verkhovna Rada website. The composition of the Supreme Council of Autonomous Republic of Crimea is defined by the Constitution of Autonomous Republic of Crimea. A year after election voters can achieve a recall election if the collect as many signatures as voters. On the party list at least 30% have to be of the opposite sex as the other candidates. However, there are no legal sanctions if a party does not comply.

Refugees A refugee, conventionally speaking, is a displaced person who has crossed national borders and who cannot or is unwilling to return home due to well-founded fear of persecution.

of the

War in Donbass War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular ...

and people who moved out of Crimea after the

2014 Russian invasion of Crimea In February and March 2014, Russia invaded and subsequently annexed the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine. This event took place in the aftermath of the Revolution of Dignity and is part of the wider Russo-Ukrainian War. The events in Ky ...

can not vote in the election if they are not registered as voters in the places they fled to. The new law also implemented election of

starosta The starosta or starost (Cyrillic: ''старост/а'', Latin: ''capitaneus'', german: link=no, Starost, Hauptmann) is a term of Slavic origin denoting a community elder whose role was to administer the assets of a clan or family estates. Th ...

post which was introduced with the 2015 administrative reform. With the creation of new territorial communities, which started in the summer of 2015, voters are able to elect new leadership.

Results

Election summary

In the election

, Fatherland and Our Land won the largest number of seats, followed by

and Radical Party.Poroshenko Bloc, Batkivschyna, Nash Kray get largest number of seats in local councils – Ukrainian Voters Committee

Interfax-Ukraine The Interfax-Ukraine ( uk, Інтерфакс-Україна) is a Kyiv-based Ukraine, Ukrainian independent news agency founded in 1992. The company does not belong to the Russian news corporation Interfax Information Services. The company pub ...

(12 November 2015) Petro Poroshenko Bloc did well in West and central Ukraine and

.www.cvk.gov.ua
Fellow coalition partners in the second Yatsenyuk Government

Self Reliance "Self-Reliance" is an 1841 essay written by American transcendentalist philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson. It contains the most thorough statement of one of Emerson's recurrent themes: the need for each individual to avoid conformity and false con ...

performed unconvincingly, with about 10 percent of the votes nationwide. (Coalition member People's Front did not take part in the elections, at the time Fatherland was also a member of the coalition.) Former coalition member Radical Party trailed behind Petro Poroshenko Bloc and Fatherland. Only Petro Poroshenko Bloc, Fatherland, Self Reliance and Radical Party won votes throughout the country. In

Southern Southern may refer to: Businesses * China Southern Airlines, airline based in Guangzhou, China * Southern Airways, defunct US airline * Southern Air, air cargo transportation company based in Norwalk, Connecticut, US * Southern Airways Express, M ...

and Eastern Ukraine Opposition Bloc gained most votes, but in Kharkiv Oblast, Revival gained most votes. In

Western Ukraine Western Ukraine or West Ukraine ( uk, Західна Україна, Zakhidna Ukraina or , ) is the territory of Ukraine linked to the former Kingdom of Galicia–Volhynia, which was part of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Austria ...

Svoboda improved its performance compared with the

2014 Ukrainian parliamentary election Snap elections to the Verkhovna Rada took place on 26 October 2014. Petro Poroshenko, the President of Ukraine, had pressed for early parliamentary elections since his victory in the presidential election in May.Why a 'Star Wars' Emperor Won Office in Ukraine
Bloomberg News (26 October 2015)
Exit Polls Show Ukraine Divided For, Against Poroshenko Rule

(27 October 2015)
After Ukraine's Local Elections: Early Misinterpretations
Carnegie Europe (27 October 2015)
Poroshenko hobbles on
Politico Europe (26 October 2015)
Week's milestones. Elections to be continued, blackmail in Minsk, and emotional lustration
UNIAN (27 October 2015) In 29 cities a second round of mayoral elections was held on 15 November 2015.

Number of elected deputies per administrative division

Number of elected heads of local councils in populated places

Mayor (selected cities)

Kyiv

In Kyiv incumbent Mayor Vitali Klitschko and

Boryslav Bereza Boryslav Yukhymovych Blacher-Bereza ( uk, Борислав Юхимович Бляхер-Береза; born 13 June 1974) is a former member of the Ukrainian parliament and a former spokesperson for Right Sector (2014). In the 2019 Ukrainian parl ...

competed in a second round of the mayoral election after Klitschko scored 40.5% of the vote and Bereza 8.8% in the first round. Klitschko won this second round with 66.5%; Bereza gained 33.51% of the votes. Former mayor Oleksandr Omelchenko came third with 8.4%, followed by Volodymyr Bondarenko with 7.86% and

Serhiy Husovsky Sergius is a male given name of Ancient Roman origin after the name of the Latin ''gens'' Sergia or Sergii of regal and republican ages. It is a common Christian name, in honor of Saint Sergius, or in Russia, of Saint Sergius of Radonezh, and ...

with 7.7%. The voter turnout in the first round of the election was 41.87%. In the second round of the election the turnout was 28.35%.

Kharkiv

In Kharkiv incumbent Mayor Hennadiy Kernes was re-elected in the first round of the election with 65.8% of the votes; with a voter turnout of 44.4%.Kernes wins elections for Kharkiv mayor with over 65% of vote

(31 October 2015)

Taras Sytenko Taras may refer to: Geography * Taras (ancient city) of Magna Graecia, modern-day Taranto * Taras, Iran, a village in Tehran province * Taras, Łódź Voivodeship, Poland * Taraš, a village in Vojvodina, Serbia * Taras, Kazakhstan, a village in ...

came second with 12.31%, followed by

Yuriy Sapronov Yury, Yuri, Youri, Yurii, Yuriy, Yurij, Iurii or Iouri is the Slavic (russian: Юрий, Yuriy, or uk, Юрій, Yuriy, or bg, Юрий, Jurij, or be, Юры, Jury) form of the masculine given name George; it is derived directly from the Gree ...

with 5.08%. Voter turnout was 42.41%.

Dnipropetrovsk

Also in

Dnipropetrovsk Dnipro, previously called Dnipropetrovsk from 1926 until May 2016, is Ukraine's fourth-largest city, with about one million inhabitants. It is located in the eastern part of Ukraine, southeast of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on the Dnieper Rive ...

a second round of the mayoral election was held after Borys Filatov scored 37.94% and Oleksandr Vilkul 35.78% in the first round of the election. finished third with 12.42%. In the second round Filatov was elected Mayor with 53.76% of the votes.CVU Chairman: Klitschko won the most votes among the mayors of cities
Espreso TV (18 November 2015)

Odessa

Odessa Odesa (also spelled Odessa) is the third most populous city and municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea. The city is also the administrativ ...

incumbent Mayor Gennadiy Trukhanov defeated

Oleksandr Borovyk Alexander "Sasha" Borovik ( uk, Олександр Боровик (Саша Боровик); born April 7, 1968) is an American (New York State) lawyer of German citizenship. From 2015 thru 2016, he was invited to be First Deputy Minister of Econ ...

with 52.9% against 25.7% in the first round of the mayoral election. Former Mayor Eduard Gurwits came in third with 8.5% of the vote.

Zaporizhzhia

In the mayoral election of Zaporizhzhia

Volodymyr Buriak Volodymyr ( uk, Володи́мир, Volodýmyr, , orv, Володимѣръ) is a Ukrainian given name of Old East Slavic origin. The related Ancient Slavic, such as Czech, Russian, Serbian, Croatian, etc. form of the name is Володимѣръ ...

Mykola Frolov Mykola ( uk, Мико́ла, Mykóla, ) is a Slavic variant, more specifically a Ukrainian variant, of the masculine name "Nicholas", meaning "victory of the people". It may refer to: People * Mykola Arkas (1853–1909), Ukrainian composer, wri ...

gained most votes in the first round of the election. Buriak gained 22.9% and Frolov 18.9% of the vote.http://zpinfo.com.ua/en/pomoshchnik-vladimira-buryaka-nam-vse-ravno-kto-budet-nashim-opponentom-vo-2-ture&page=2 http://zpinfo.com.ua/en/podvedeny-itogi-vyborov-v-zaporozhskoy-oblasti In the second round 58.48% of the votes supported Buriak as Mayor. Hence, incumbent

Oleksandr Sin Oleksandr Chyensanovych Sin ( uk, Олександр Чєнсанович Сін, russian: Алекса́ндр Ченса́нович Син, translit=Aleksandr Chensanovich Sin, ko, 올렉산드르 신; born on April 12, 1961, in Ordzhonikidz ...

was not reelected after gaining (in the first round of the election) 9% of the vote.

Voter turnout

Turnout of the elections was 46.62% nationwide. The highest participation was in

(around 50%), lowest was in the Donbass region (slightly above 30%). The turnout was typical of rates across Europe. In the second round of the mayoral election the turnout was 34.08%.In the CEC released official estimates of turnout
Ukrayinska Pravda (16 November 2015)

Conduct

1.554 international observers to the elections were registered by the

Council of Europe The Council of Europe (CoE; french: Conseil de l'Europe, ) is an international organisation founded in the wake of World War II to uphold European Convention on Human Rights, human rights, democracy and the Law in Europe, rule of law in Europe. ...

observers were positive about the electoral process. The OSCE observer mission was also positive about the electoral process, but it argued that the electoral legislation needed improvement. The

European Network of Election Monitoring Organizations European, or Europeans, or Europeneans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe a ...

observer mission qualified 15 November second round of mayoral elections as "generally held in line with international standards".

Absence of elections in areas of the Donbass

No elections took place on 25 October 2015 in Mariupol, Krasnoarmiisk and

Svatove Svatove () or Svatovo () is a city on the Krasna river in Eastern Ukraine currently occupied by Russia as part of Luhansk People's Republic. It serves as the administrative headquarters of Svatove Raion. Its population is . History After the ...

because there the majority of elections commission's members refused to accept the election ballots because of faulty ballots. In Mariupol allegations were made by pro-

Euromaidan Euromaidan (; uk, Євромайдан, translit=Yevromaidan, lit=Euro Square, ), or the Maidan Uprising, was a wave of Political demonstration, demonstrations and civil unrest in Ukraine, which began on 21 November 2013 with large protes ...

parties that the printing house owned by Rinat Akhmetov had manipulated the ballots to help

(whose mayoral candidate Vadym Boychenko worked in a company owned by Akhmetov).http://m.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/80f1f318-7bd8-11e5-a1fe-567b37f80b64.html
http://www.euronews.com/2015/10/26/ukraine-mariupol-vote-called-off-amid-irregularities/
http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/politicians-exchange-accusations-as-residents-outraged-at-no-vote-in-mariupol-400632.html

/ref> On 6 November 2015 the local election committee set the date for local elections in Svatove for the next 27 December. On 10 November (2015) the Ukrainian parliament set the date for local elections in Krasnoarmiisk and Mariupol for the following 29 November. In Mariupol Vadym Boychenko won this (mayoral) election (with a 36.49% voter turnout). The ENEMO-mission in Krasnoarmiisk and Mariupol was mildly positive about the elections.

Mayoral re-elections in Kryvy Rih

On 15 November

Yuriy Vilkul Oleksandr Yuriyovych Vilkul ( uk, Олексaндр Юрійович Вiлкул; born 24 May 1974), also known as Aleksandr Yuryevich Vilkul (russian: Александр Юрьевич Вилкул) is a Ukrainian businessman and politician wh ...

was declared winner of the second round of the mayoral elections in Kryvyi Rih. But runner-up

Yuriy Myloboh Yury, Yuri, Youri, Yurii, Yuriy, Yurij, Iurii or Iouri is the Slavic languages, Slavic (russian: Юрий, Yuriy, or uk, Юрій, Yuriy, or bg, Юрий, Jurij, or be, Юры, Jury) form of the masculine given name George (given name), George ...

filed complaints about the violations of the electoral process. The Verkhovna Rada (on 23 December 2015) set early elections of the mayor of Kryvyi Rih on 27 March 2016. According to NGO's

OPORA Pora! ( uk, Пора!, Russian: Пора!), meaning “''It's time!”'' in both Ukrainian and Russian, is a civic youth organization (Black Pora!) and political party in Ukraine ( Yellow Pora!) espousing nonviolent resistance and advocating in ...

and

these re-elections were marked by large-scale bribery, the use of

administrative resources Administrative resource is the ability of political candidates (and parties) to use their official positions or connections to government institutions to influence the outcome of elections. The term is widely used in Russia and other former USSR c ...

and other violations. Vilkul won the re-election with 74.18% of the vote; followed by Semen Semenchenko for Self Reliance with 10.92%. Voter turnout on 27 March 2016 was 55.77%.Yuriy Vilkul sworn in as Kryvy Rih mayor

(1 April 2016)

Notes

References

External links

*
Interactive display of the results of second round elections of mayors
by Ukrayinska Pravda (16 November 2015)
Elections-2015 information system
independent website that recorded the progress of the election campaign, as well as recorded violations

www.cvk.gov.ua (Ukrainian) {{DEFAULTSORT:Ukrainian Local Elections, 2015

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

2015 elections in Ukraine 2016 elections in Ukraine October 2015 events in Ukraine November 2015 events in Ukraine March 2016 events in Ukraine