Mykola Tomenko: One-Party System has not been restored in Ukraine, which is a Positive Result of the Elections
At the today´s briefing in the Parliament, Mykola Tomenko, Deputy Chairman of The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, commented upon the preliminary results of the election campaign. He drew attention to the non-democratic character of the local elections. At the same time, several positive aspects were singled out.
According to M.Tomenko, it is for the first time since V.Yanukovych became the President, and M.Azarov the Prime Minister, that the country experienced serious investments and a comeback of the shadow capital into Ukraine. "The general public has seen that hundreds of billion of hryvnias came back in Ukraine in the form of cash, foodstuffs, television and outdoor advertisements and other financial services to support the tasks set by the authorities at the local elections," M.Tomenko admitted.
"It is a positive moment that a one-party system, valid during the Soviet times, has not been restored," the Deputy Chairman stressed.
The third positive moment lies in the fact that during this election campaign the small and middle-sized business made itself known as a new and serious player. The analysis of elections in the cities of the Central, Southern and Eastern Ukraine proves the active role of the small and middle-sized business. "It rejected the cooperation formula suggested by the authorities," M.Tomenko claimed.
However, M.Tomenko singled out four problematic aspects of the election campaign.
Firstly, the Central Election Commission, the regional state administrations and other institutions responsible for the election campaign failed to conduct elucidative work regarding the new election system. "It was for the first time in Ukraine that there has been neither the television social advertising, nor the elucidative work to explain the peculiarities of the mixed election system", the Deputy Chairman of The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine stressed.
Moreover, M.Tomenko believes that the authorities have focused on the results of their party so much that they failed the organization of the elections. It is for the first time that so many polling stations have opened with a delay. Numerous problems with the ballot papers and their re-publication have led to the misprints in the surnames of the candidates, whereas a badly organized work at the polling stations resulted in long queues.
Secondly, M.Tomenko mentioned the work of the territorial and district election commissions. "We are collecting necessary materials to institute criminal proceedings against the leaders of the territorial and district election commissions who misbehaved during the election campaign," the Deputy Chairman of The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine stated.
The Deputy Chairman of The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine declared that the BYuT Faction would demand that the General Prosecutor reported to the Parliament.
M.Tomenko also stated, "These elections can be proclaimed democratic, provided the Batkivshchyna party was prohibited in Western Ukraine, in Kyiv region and in some parts of Luhansk and Kirovohrad regions."
The Deputy Chairman stressed that elections had not been completed yet. "Our deputies work in the regions to protect our results in these non-democratic elections and prevent falsification of election returns," M.Tomenko stated.