The Ukrainian parliament assigned the job of determining the election costs to the Central Election Commission of Ukraine, working in partnership with the Kyiv City Territorial Election Commission.[2] The Kyiv CTEC designated March 26 as the date for the start of election campaigning.[3]
In all, seven parties and blocs passed the 3% threshold needed to gain seats in the Kyiv City Council.[4] The incumbent Leonid Chernovetskyi was officially declared the winner of the mayoral election on May 31.[5] Yurii Lozovskyi, Secretary of the Kyiv CTEC, said that the voter turnout was estimated at 53-54%.[6] The electoral commission said that the elections were largely clear and fair without any major incidents, but that the largest electoral violation was voter shopping.[7]
Although, legally, next Kyiv local elections had to take place in 2013,[8][9] eventually they were postponed and took place on 25 May 2014 as a part of the 2014 Ukrainian local elections.[10]
Candidates, parties, and blocs
In all, seventy-nine candidates were registered by the Kyiv Territorial Electoral Commission for the upcoming mayoral election.[11] Candidates from some of the main political parties included:
A different poll conducted by the Center of Political and Marketing Studies Sotsis, showed that 22.8% of the respondents support the incumbent mayor, 22% support Vitaliy Klychko, 11.5% support Oleksandr Omelchenko, 6.3% support Verkhovna Rada Deputy Mykola Tomenko, and 5.7% support Yuriy Lutsenko.[19]
On 12 December 2008 Prime MinisterYulia Tymoshenko announced at a news briefing that she was confident that early mayoral elections would be held again in Kyiv.[22] Day before, the Kyivenerho utility company began cutting the supply of hot water to about 5,000 homes in Kyivbecause of the Kyiv State City Administration's failure to compensate the company for the difference between the tariffs charged by Kyivenerho and the actual cost of its services. Following the event, Tymoshenko accused MayorLeonid Chernovetskyi of using money from the local budget to finance his election campaign.[23]
In the January of 2010 Verkhovna Rada ChairmanVolodymyr Lytvyn stated he started preparing a law draft to conduct an early mayoral election in Kyiv on 30 May 2010, alongside city council election. Lytvyn said that he "could not stand what was going on in Kyiv any longer" and that his own Lytvyn Bloc would take part in the election.[25][26] A resolution setting another snap election in the capital city for the 30 May 2010 was registered in the Verkhovna Rada on 18 January,[27] but was never included in the agenda, being later withdrawn on 16 February.[28]
After then-incumbent Mayor Chernovetskyi had tendered his resignation on 1 June 2012,[29] a petition to the parliament calling to hold an early mayoral election in the city was initiated.[29] Although, it looked that the next Kyiv local election was set for 2012 nevertheless;[30] However, by the January 2013 the Verkhovna Rada had set no date for these elections.[31] Legally they had to take place in 2013,[8][9] but in May 2013 the Constitutional Court of Ukraine has set the date of the election to 25 October 2015.[32]
Severe changes occurred in the Kyiv City Council following 2008. By the September 2011, seven new factions had been created (2 of which included just 2 deputies, and another one had only 3 deputies).[33] The winning bloc of the 2008 election, Leonid Chernovetskyi Bloc, disbanded itself on September 22, 2011,[34][35] with all of its deputies later becoming non-partisan deputies in the city council.[35] Such move has made UDAR (Vitali Klitschko Bloc until April 2011) the biggest faction with 12 deputies (3 deputies less compared to 2008 result), followed by the Party of Regions faction with 10 deputies (4 deputies more).[33]Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc saw 22 deputies leaving the faction since the election.[33]
In January 2013 the UDAR faction consisted of 13 deputies, while the Party of Regions faction had fallen down to 8 deputies.[33] This made the People's Party faction the second biggest with 11 deputies.[33] The Democratic Party of Ukraine faction contained 10 deputies.[33] Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc had lost 1 more deputy and stood at the total of 9 deputies.[33] Same as factions "Social Justice" and "Initiative".[33] "Social Justice", "Initiative" and the faction of the Democratic Party of Ukraine were created in 2011.[36][37][38][39] In June 2013 the People's Party faction contained 4 people.[33] The other factions membership had stayed stable.[33]
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