With the decentralization train, launched in 2015, anything may happen. Will one of the most successful reforms in Ukraine, as it is believed, stay on the rails? We will find out it over time. And we will not wait for long ‒ until 2020. It is possible that soon the train will be slowed down due to the 30-day martial law, which makes it impossible to hold local elections now.
To be or not to be?
The elections in the United Territorial Communities (UTC) will be most likely postponed in 10 regions. To elect a government, not only local, in such a situation is prohibited in accordance with Part 1 of Art. 19 of the Law of Ukraine “On the legal regime of martial law”. On December 5, at the Local Government Forum, the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, Andrii Parubiy, noted the impossibility of holding elections during this period. He assured that the electoral process in the UTC of 10 regions will begin after the end of martial law on December 26.
The President Petro Poroshenko noted at the Forum that there are all prerequisites for the smooth holding of elections in the UTC. He recalled that the day before an urgent bill “On introducing changes to Article 28 of the Law of Ukraine “On the legal regime of martial law” to ensure the holding of local elections, scheduled for Sunday, December 23, 2018” was submitted to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. The document says, “To establish that the action of the first part of Article 19 of this Law, prohibiting holding elections of local government, does not apply to the local elections scheduled for Sunday, December 23, 2018”.
It is about the exclusion for the opportunity to vote in a series of newly formed UTC. According to the head of the state, the holding of elections will be possible in the case of a thorough study of this issue with the CEC (Central Elections Committee), legal services, and international partners. And already on December 6, the Presidential Decree “On additional measures to ensure the reform of the decentralization of power”, which states that the Cabinet should ensure the development of the bill and submit it to the Parliament for improvement of legislation on local elections in connection with the formation of the UTC.
On December 23, elections were planned in 125 communities, but 45 of them are located in 10 regions, where the martial law is imposed. That is, local races must take place in 80 communities. However, as it was noted by the expert of the Committee of Voters of Ukraine Denys Rybachok to DUMKA, if the bill, initiated by the President is voted for, then the elections will be in all 125 UTC.
“But there are a lot of specific legal issues here because nobody fully understands how this can be done,” Mr Rybachok continues, “The electoral process in the communities has been going on for more than a month and the communities, in which martial law is imposed, missed certain stages of this process, and I can’t imagine how to catch up with this backdating. I think they also cannot imagine it in the CEC, but at the same time, there is clear position of the president, the Chairman of the Parliament and theoretically, it is possible that elections will be held in all communities if the bill is voted for.”
“I think everything will be fine and the elections will take place on December 23,” Yurii Bublyk assured DUMKA, a chairman of the subcommittee on local self-government of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on state-building, regional policy and local self-government, “There is a corresponding bill. I think we will vote for it in the Verkhovna Rada. Since we have a hybrid war, then martial law is also a hybrid one.”
Repeated elections
There is little time left for the local elections, so it would be logical for the Parliament to tackle this problem last week. However, this did not happen. And this week in the VR is not sessional, and it’s hard to believe that the deputies will vote a few days before the elections. If martial law does prevent elections in ten regions, then what will be there with the electoral process after December 26: will it be renewed or re-announced?
“Nobody will give this answer, because we didn’t have such precedents,” Oleksandr Serhienko, the director of Analytical and Research Center “City Institute”, said to DUMKA, “If you go strictly according to a law-defined schedule, for which term candidates are nominated, when election commissions are formed, this process simply shifts by 30 days. I think the CEC will do just that.”
Denys Rybachok confirmed that there is no answer to this question because Ukrainian legislation does not expect such a situation. It is about the principle of continuity of the electoral process, which the Constitutional Court emphasized in its conclusions.
“The only thing that is provided by the Law “On the legal regime of martial law ”: if the next local elections are transferred through it, the VR has 90 days after the end of martial law to declare the next elections,” Rybachok said. “As far as I understand, the CEC made a decision to appoint the actual repeated elections. They are appointed by territorial election commissions. That is, in 45 communities, the TECs should gather after December 26 and recognize the elections invalid and hold repeated elections. Such a mechanism exists, and, probably, it will be applied, at least, the CEC insists on it. This is the best solution in this situation.”
The association is voluntary…
At what stage is the decentralization?
“We are moving to a new stage of decentralization and are planning to complete the reform almost before the end of 2020 with the next local elections,” Vyacheslav Negoda, first deputy minister of regional development, construction and housing and public utilities of Ukraine, wrote on his Facebook page. The official is convinced that changes in Ukraine are possible because it has the best political will, community support, successful results of the reform, a team of like-minded people. The main goal was supported by all ‒ “the next local elections of 2020 should be held on a new territorial basis of communities and districts”.
“There is a lot of work to do! This is only the first stage of a voluntary association of communities,” Yurii Bublyk said, “Next, it is necessary to eliminate white spots on the map of Ukraine. We are talking about communities that are undecided whom to join. In 2020 we have to enter on the new administrative and territorial structure. The next step, according to the Prime Minister, should be the economic component of these UTCs. That is, what can be attractive in the community for an investor, a tourist, other business things. Each community should be self-sufficient and capable, have money and zest.”
In order to complete the process of decentralization, not only elections are necessary; a number of draft laws should be voted for. At the Local Government Forum, Parliament Speaker Andrii Parubiy assured that the VR will adopt all the necessary laws.
“The key is about the principles of the administrative-territorial structure of Ukraine,” Anatoly Tkachuk, the director for science and development at the Institute of Civil Society, said to DUMKA, “After its adoption, a list and boundaries of new administrative-territorial units should be developed for each region. The second law, on the extension of the jurisdiction of local governments with respect to their territories, provides for the possibility of creating a scheme for planning the territory of a community, both within settlements and outside them. This is super actual, regarding the transfer of jurisdiction to the communities of lands. The third law has no draft yet ‒ this is the question of local elections. But it can wait until the end of 2019. The first two laws are needed now.”
“First of all, we need to adopt a law on the principles of the administrative-territorial structure of Ukraine,” Oleksandr Serhienko confirmed. “After all, on the map with the united and non-united communities, we see a heterogeneous structure similar to cheese with holes. Where the decentralization took place, the districts are practically destroyed. They became unnecessary, district councils and the Regional State Administrations actually have nothing to do, because UTCs took everything. The adoption of this law will open the way to the creation of new areas. There are already several draft laws on the formation of districts in various areas, but it is necessary to determine the principles of how they should be formed. For it will not be the patrimony of some oligarch, but a question of geographical expediency.”
…and forced
After DUMKA’s publication in early 2018 on the progress of decentralization and the formation of the UTC’s, attitude towards reform in the regions almost has not changed. The most active regions are Khmelnytsky, Zhytomyr, Ternopil, Chernihiv, Zaporizhya, Dnipropetrivsk. The worst situation is in the Transcarpathian region.
“This is the only area that does not have a long-term plan at all, where the chairman of the RSA is against public decentralization, did not sign a single document on the merger of the UTC,” Anatolii Tkachuk said. “Outsiders are Kharkiv, Vinnytsya, Kirovohrad, Kherson, Mykolaiv regions. But after Transcarpathia, the most problematic area is the Kyiv region. There is a complete failure, the regional council and the RSA have not been friends for many years. There is a land near Kyiv, and rural heads are trying to get the maximum of the remnants of state lands in order to divide them, and then talk about unification. The same tricks are in the Odesa region ‒ problems in the coastal areas. Question: Who will control the coastal zones? The western part of it is multinational, and in order to prevent unification, they are speculating on this, they say, you cannot be together.”
Reference
According to the Institute of Civil Society, already 40% of the territory of Ukraine is in the united communities, and this is 70% of the country’s population. Also, 15% of GDP and slightly more than half of all public funds is local budgets.
Till 2020, the entire territory of Ukraine should be covered with UTCs. Now it is a voluntary association, but then the state will encourage those, who do not have the time or do not want to do so. That is, coercion is unlikely to be avoided. About this president Poroshenko frankly stressed at the Forum: “In 2020, we must make an administrative decision on the association of communities that have not found any desire, aspiration, or forces to unite in four years. People should not suffer from the head, who hinders the creation of communities.”
“In October 2020, the next local elections will be held, and it is very important that the territory of the state will be covered as much as possible with the united communities so that after 2020 there will be no elections, no new communities will be created. So that there will be a clear structure and will be possible to plan further steps,” Denys Rybachok considers, “The next elections to the united communities will be held in April, then in October 2019. UTC elections next year will be difficult, since the deputies, who are elected will still have to be re-elected in 2020. It is not a good situation for any politician and for the state ‒ it is quite expensive.”
After completion of the community unification process, another territorial structure is planned. The issues of changing the boundaries of districts, their liquidation, amending the Constitution will arise. The decentralization train has to drive non-stop.
Text by Viktor Tsvilikhovsky
