Mykola Tomenko, Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, believes that the most dangerous stage of the election campaign will start ten days before the election. He expressed this opinion at the briefing in the Parliament.
M. Tomenko admitted that even though the authorities made themselves number one in the ballot papers, it did not guarantee success. "Thus, in several regions, local authorities and law-enforcement agencies have launched the war against their opponents", M. Tomenko claimed. M. Tomenko named several examples. He reminded of the recent event in Zakarpattia region, where an unknown person fired at the house of I. Kapitan, Head of Batkivshchyna party primary organization in Ilnytsia village, deputy of the village council of three convocations and candidate for the village deputy office; severe beating of agitators in Kharkiv region; death of a candidate in Donetsk region.
"Such actions do no honour to the authorities", the Deputy Chairman emphasised. He claimed to be informed about the planned mass denial in the registration of popular candidates for the offices of mayors and deputies who do not belong to the Party of Regions. M. Tomenko stressed that such a scenario had been already implemented. He informed that O.Babaev, running for mayor in Kremenchuk city, People´s Deputy from the BYuT Faction, was denied registration.
"This scenario should be prevented, otherwise it means the end of the local self-government in Ukraine", M. Tomenko explained. "The system of local self-government will be formed by the people controlled by the central power with the help of the law-enforcement agencies", the politician added.
Mykola Tomenko gave three recommendations regarding the present situation. "Firstly, it is not a reason for joy that some of the candidates were denied registration. It is necessary to consolidate efforts and prepare a common action plan to protect the elections returns", he declared. He recommended the heads of the election commissions to think about their own families and health, "as the protocols signed remain in the regions." The Deputy Chairman gave the following recommendation to the local and central authorities: "If you follow the policy of indignity and disrespect for people, you will get hatred instead."