UKRAINE: BYUT REGISTERED FOR ELECTION

C O N F I D E N T I A L KYIV 002010

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/15/2017
TAGS: PGOV PREL UP
SUBJECT: UKRAINE: BYUT REGISTERED FOR ELECTION

REF: KYIV 01986

Classified By: Political Counselor Kent Logsdon for reasons 1.4(b,d).


1. (C) Summary and comment. After a court ruled August 14
that the Central Election Commission (CEC) needed to review
BYuT's candidates list within one day, the CEC complied and
finally approved all 450 candidates of the bloc late in the
day August 15. Tymoshenko herself attended the August 14
court hearing, where her party argued that the CEC had
violated the election law--which says the CEC must make a
decision on registering candidates within three days of
receiving the party's list--by postponing the issue twice.
The Kyiv Administrative Court agreed with that argument and
ordered the CEC to act. Regions campaign manager Borys
Kolsenikov said publicly on August 14, and Prime Minister
Chief of Staff Serhiy Lyovochkin reiterated to us privately,
that the elections would be flawed if BYuT did not
participate, which was as close as Regions leaders came to
acknowledging the need for BYuT to be registered. It is
positive that Regions leaders heard the message that BYuT
needed to registered, but troubling that they tried to block
it in the first place. The event is unlikely to have any
impact on BYuT's ratings, but it is a bad way to start the
campaign. End summary and comment.

CEC Finally Acts
--------------


2. (SBU) After twice refusing to make a decision on BYuT's
list of candidates for the upcoming election (reftel),the
CEC finally took action, with 14 commissioners approving the
list after the Kyiv Administrative Court ruled August 14 that
the CEC had to review BYuT's candidates list by the end of
August 15. There was some small drama before the vote when
CEC Chairman Shapoval refused to put the BYuT issue on the
day's agenda because the CEC had not formally received the
court's decision. However, late in the afternoon, Shapoval
was satisfied and all 450 BYuT candidates were approved and
registered.


3. (C) Regions' reactions to the events at the CEC have been
varied. Campaign manager Borys Kolesnikov and PM Chief of
Staff Lyovochkin both acknowledged (the latter privately to
us) that the elections would not be valid if BYuT did not
participate, but neither would publicly urge the CEC to act.
Regions MP Chornovil publicly criticized BYuT for having
campaign billboards throughout Ukraine without waiting for
the CEC to register them. The CEC also voted 8-7 along party
lines to condemn the BYuT protesters outside their building.


4. (SBU) The CEC also formed the 225 district election
commissions (DECs),the first step in setting up the
administrative network that will run the voting. Each DEC
will have 18 commissioners, nominated by the five Rada
factions in the current convocation. This last fact was
bolstered, in part, by another August 14 court ruling, which
found Speaker Moroz's claim that Our Ukraine and BYuT should
not be allowed to nominate commissioners for the DECs was
without merit.


5. (U) Visit Embassy Kyiv's classified website:
www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/kiev.
Pettit