Mixed electoral system opens way to administrative fraud, expert says

“Frictions and scandals at the stage of forming party rosters will happen between the central and local party organizations, especially in centrist parties like Our Ukraine, the Socialist party and others. Simultaneously, the levers held by local administrations will be used to make it possible for the Regions to enlarge their representation in central, southern and eastern Ukraine,” the expert says.

The Party of Regions won’t have a monopoly, but its positions in the center of Ukraine will become stronger enough to beat BYuT, he added.

Meanwhile, Tymoshenko, Kulyk continued, will have to spin her own party, Batkivshchyna, which is part of the BYuT bloc. It will be difficult to make Batkivshchyna popular in rural regions. She can deal with the problem by personifying her role in the elections when all campaign materials will bear her portraits, the expert says.

The parties belonging to the ruling majority will coordinate their campaigns with the result that Lytvyn’s bloc and PR will not compete for voters. However, in the east and center of Ukraine, the PR will campaign on its own, squeezing out even coalition partners, Kulyk forecasts.

After the local elections, deputies who will win their mandates on the first-past-the pole system will likely jump on the Regions bandwagon, allowing the PR to get loyal local councils, Kulyk says.

Prominent local leaders have a slim chance to make it into local legislatures. However, being in the minority, they won’t have any role in local councils. Therefore, they will have to choose between stardom in the opposition or joining the ruling coalition, Kulyk adds.