Ukraine Rada Election - 29 October 2023
The next Ukrainian Rada election is scheduled for 29 October 2023. Although the law provides for a ban on the simultaneous holding of Presidential and parliamentary elections, it is not difficult to circumvent it by referring to the postponement of elections to the Rada due to martial law.
President Zelenskyy signed a decree imposing martial law on 24 February 2022 following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Under martial law, regular elections may be held only after the termination of martial law. Parliamentarians would remain in their seats should their powers expire during martial law.
The Ukrainian authorities are determined to hold elections immediately after the lifting of martial law. There are persistent rumors that it could be canceled this year. If this happens before the end of summer, then it is possible to have time to hold parliamentary elections on time - October 29 - source of the Country in the OP state 14 April 2023. Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Ruslan Stefanchuk stated 21 April 2023 "I think that the elections will be held immediately after the end of martial law. Otherwise, the law needs to be changed, but I very much doubt that now it will be possible to hold high-quality, legal elections, the results of which will be trusted by society".
Director of social "Rating" group Aleksey Antipovich said 29 March 2023: "The Rada of the next convocation will include three main groups: representatives of the current leadership of the country, representatives of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and volunteers. Against this background, there will still be old politicians. But everything that happened before the war, no one will even remember."
After the closure in early February 2021 of three nationwide news channels owned by party member T. Kozak, on the 19th of the same month, the National Security and Defense Council imposed sanctions on the leader of the Opposition Platform - For Life party V. Medvedchuk and his wife, TV presenter O. Marchenko, blocking all their assets and property in Ukraine. The reason was the investigation of the SBU under the article on the financing of terrorism. In addition, O. Marchenko was blacklisted by the website "Peacemaker" for "financing terrorists and Russian invaders, denying Russian aggression, participating in propaganda activities of Russia (the aggressor country), etc."
Representatives of the Opposition Platform - For Life and the defense of V. Medvedchuk stated that the criminal prosecution against him is politically motivated, since the party he represents opposes the political course of the current authorities. They also noted that numerous procedural violations were recorded in the case, including the fact that it was opened illegally - the case against the People's Deputy was opened by the SBU, and not by the Prosecutor General.
The Human Rights Committee in November 2021 noted a number of problems with the activities of political parties in Ukraine [226]. In particular, cases of corruption, lack of transparency in the financing of political campaigns, as well as the use of public funds for them, raised concerns. The Committee was also concerned by broad, vague legal provisions that allow parties to be denied registration or cancel existing ones under the pretext of threats to national security. In addition to the need to ensure transparent, effective monitoring of campaign finance and the investigation of corruption allegations, the recommendations to Kyiv include the promotion of a culture of political pluralism. Along with this, the experts of the Committee pointed out that the implementation of civil and political rights in the country was influenced by the efforts of the authorities to combat the coronavirus, as a result of which, by the decision of the Ukrainian Cabinet, restrictive measures were introduced under the pretext of fighting the disease.
In the spring of 2022 in Ukraine there were numerous cases of persecution of public figures who expressed judgments about the situation in the country that did not comply with official approaches. Among other things, there were reports in the media about the detentions of activist A. Gorbenko, political scientist and journalist D. Dzhangirov; political scientist Y. Dudkin, who participated in live broadcasts of the 112-Ukraine, NewsOne and ZIK channels closed by the Kyiv regime; politicians M. and A. Kononovich, political scientist and blogger G. Lyashenko; anti-fascist activist A. Mayevsky (he managed to escape during the arson of the House of Trade Unions in Odessa on May 2, 2014); communist and anti-fascist A. Matyushenko, Anti-Maidan activist O. Novikov, journalist of the NewsOne and NASH TV channels M. Nazarov, head of the public organization Slavic Movement Rus Reborn A. Tarnashevsky, lawyer D.Tikhonenkov who defended Anti-Maidan activists, journalist D.Tkachev, professor of the Nikolaev Institute of Law S.Shubin and many others. Some public figures were sentenced. So, in May 2022, A. Matyushenko was sentenced to 3 years in prison on charges of “encroachment on the territorial integrity of Ukraine”.
On April 23, 2022, amendments to the Criminal Code concerning “ensuring the responsibility of persons engaged in collaborationist activities” came into force. Aiding the "aggressor state" is punishable by imprisonment for up to 12 years. In reality, the mentioned innovation is used by the Ukrainian authorities to persecute dissidents. As of the end of December 2022, the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine opened 18,519 criminal cases on suspicion of committing crimes against national security, including on such grounds as encroachment on the territorial integrity and inviolability of Ukraine (Article 110 of the Criminal Code) - 11,720, high treason (Article 111 of the Criminal Code) - 1915, collaborationism (Article 111-1 of the Criminal Code) - 3789, complicity with the "aggressor state" (Article 111-2 of the Criminal Code) - 365, sabotage etc.
In 2022, measures to liquidate opposition political parties began to be taken even more actively. On May 14, 2022, V. Zelensky signed a law banning "pro-Russian parties" in the country. As a follow-up to this decision, as of January 11, 2023, Ukrainian courts banned the activities of 17 opposition parties that represented the interests of millions of Russian-speaking residents of Ukraine and advocated establishing a dialogue with Russia. Their property, finances and other assets were confiscated and transferred to the state. The leadership of these parties was subjected to criminal prosecution.
After the start of a special military operation, the SBU began to harass and intimidate local Ukrainian deputies and officials who received humanitarian supplies from Russia or agreed with the Russian military on organizing corridors for the evacuation of the civilian population. On March 1, 2022, the mayor of Kremennaya, V. Struk, was abducted by men in military uniform. Two days later, his body was found with signs of torture. On March 7, 2022, the mayor of Gostomel, Yury Prilipko, was found murdered. He negotiated with the Russian military about organizing a humanitarian corridor for the civilian population. On March 24, 2022, the mayor of Kupyansk, G. Matsegora, published a video calling on V. Zelensky and his administration to release his daughter, who was kidnapped by SBU agents to put pressure on the official. Also, there were reports in the media about the detentions of the mayor of the city of Yuzhnoye A. Bryukhanov.
On January 10, 2023, V. Zelensky approved the decision to deprive the citizenship of the deputies of the Opposition Platform for Life V. Medvedchuk, T. Kozak, A. Derkach and R. Kuzmin. Following this, the Verkhovna Rada voted for the early termination of their deputy powers.
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