On July 17, 2005, new Kostyantynivka town mayor was elected in place of the drop-out mayor. Former head of the town council, Volodymyr Rakitin, dismissed in April 2004 because of deterioration in his health. From April 2004 to April 2005, an office remained vacant. The so-called acting mayor (without any valid reasons) was Mykhailo Baschynskyi, deputy of the oblast council and big entrepreneur, supported by Borys Kolesnikov, head of oblast branch of the Party of Regions of Ukraine. Mr. Baschynskyi was charged with the main task — securing V. Yanukovych’s victory.

For the said period, they did not schedule new election, which was evident violation of the Constitution and laws of Ukraine.

Only due to active position of town council deputies Mr. Yeremeyev and Mr. Melanchenko and pressure of the prosecutor’s office, election of Kostyantynivka town mayor was scheduled in April 2005.

Donetsk oblast branch of the Committee of Voters of Ukraine performed long-term observation of the said election campaign. On the polling day, July 17, a mobile group performed random monitoring of 17 polling stations.

The polling day was marked with the poorest turnover — only 24.35 % of voters arrived at polling stations (17,280 persons of 70,966).

Also it was remarkable that no one of 13 candidates for the mayor’s office demonstrated their affiliation with policy of Viktor Yanukovych, former candidate for the President’s office. Instead, some of them readily accentuated their relations with Yuschenko and Tymoshenko’s team.

Yuriy Rozhenko, former Kostyantynivka town (in 1998-2002) has won the election with 27.64% (4777) votes in favor.

Other voting’ results were as follows:

2. Yuriy Rozumnyi (secretary of the town council) – 17.41% (3,008).

3. Valeriy Zgonnyk (private entrepreneur) – 12.45% (2,152).

4. Anatoliy Homozov (deputy town head) – 8.14% (1,406).

5. Tetyana Volobuyeva (lawyer, town council deputy) – 7.55% (1,304).

6. Against all – 7.08% (1,224).

Each of remaining candidates obtained less than 5 %.

Participants of the campaign account poor turnover for heavy shower, which prevented older voters from leaving their homes, time of the election (summer vacations), tiredness, and disappointment of voters.

Residents of Kostyantynivka also refer to absence of worthy candidates in the electoral lists.

The election campaign was unusual. Administrative resource was actually impeded, because four “official” candidates (two deputy heads, secretary of the town council and the oblast council deputy) have pulled it apart and muffled up. The town was divided into numerous pressure teams supporting individual candidates. Each target group had own rocks and structures. For example, one big plant promoted Mr. Homozov, another — Mr. Shynkarenko, town educational department, schools and the Youth Palace stood for Mr. Kravets, medical facilities — supported Mr. Rozumnyi, municipal services — Mr. Orchylota, and transport companies — voted for Mr. Rozhenko etc.

10 candidates of 13 promoted themselves. Candidates Yeremeyev (town council deputy), lawyers Storchai and Volobuyeva actually refrained from campaigning. Former mayor Orchylota, former member of the oblast committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine Miroshnychenko, deputy town head Shynkarenko (Donetsk resident), and the only party nominee (the Third Force party) Shtaher, secretary of town council Rozumnyi posted up their leaflets at bus stations and on doorways, published small articles in local press and occasionally met with voters.

Candidates Zgonnyk and Rakhman actively worked with young voters. During the last week of campaign, Mr. Zgonnyk organized several performances of local rock-bands in four districts of the town. Mr. Rakhman gave one big concert of the Moscow group Nenci (having Kostyantynivka’s origin). The most active were teams of candidates Rozhenko, Zgonnyk, Homozov, Kravets (entrepreneur). They met with voters, distributed many leaflets.

Local mass media were efficiently utilized in the campaign. The Provinciya (Province) and the Znamja Industriji (Industry’s Flag) Newspapers were overfull with promo materials.

Minor infringements registered during the election campaign mainly dealt with activities of the territorial election commission and misdeeds in campaigning.

Thus, election commissions created in accordance with Article 19 of the Law were understaffed (10-11 commissioners in each), which caused overloading of commissioner members. However, the town executive committee (S.V.Buhorska, executive officer, Yu.H.Rozumnyi, acting town head) refused to implement paragraph 6 of Article 23 and paragraph 3 of Article 19 of the Law, allowing vacant seats in polling station commissions to be filled up. Only following appeal of the head of town branch of the Socialist Party of Ukraine M.H.Yenina to the CEC and obtaining written clarification of the issue, polling station commissions started replacing drop-out members.

Polling station commissions were not provided with copies of the Law On Election Of Deputies of City Councils, Heads of Village, Settlement and City Councils.

Voter’s lists, which were compiled at each polling station and signed by acting town mayor Yu.H.Rozumnyi, had not undergone prior examination. Thus, voters residing in houses with even numbers on Lomonosova St., should have been put on lists of the polling station # 35 (head — L. V. Zaitseva). However, the executive committee handed over voter’s lists containing also odd numbers (more than 100 voters). It was revealed by authorized representatives of YU.M.Rozhenko who informed polling station, territorial election commissions, and law-enforcement bodies thereof. In addition, at the same polling station they have collected and registered 140 applications for voting at home. In the course of random check of applicants, it turned out that some voters did not file any applications at all, signatures of others were faked; and three persons, whose applications were kept at the polling station commission, died before the election campaign.

In the course of campaign, local press published many materials on candidates. Territorial election commission failed to monitor press and investigate into funding of publications. E.g., the Znamja Industriji newspaper published “Address of V.I.Ocherlota to voters” on July 14, 2005 (issue #55 (13864), being an agitation material. Mr. Ocherlota paid UAH 700 for publication; however, he had not opened the election account.

Candidate A.E.Homozov and his authorized representative Mrs. O.I.Zaitseva distributed leaflets to voters on the Kalinin St. at 10.00 on June 4, 2005. Leaflets bore no requisite elements; observers have drawn up the relevant statement on infringement.

On the polling day, July 17, no accidents were registered. A few statements on infringements, executed by candidates’ teams, mainly dealt with voting at home.

Striking fairness of the local election may be explained by availability of competing candidates. Also, tireless work of militia men and the prosecutor’s office in raising awareness among voters should be pointed out. They explained to process participants, which sanctions might be imposed for falsifications referring to specific examples of Kostyantynivka (after 2004 election, six criminal cases were opened).

Also, some candidates (in particular, Rozhenko) operated very well. They thoroughly examined voter’s lists before the polling day and made the territorial election commission amend them.

Some commissioners complained that they were hungry on the polling day, because budgetary funds covered appetizers only. Others said that they had to pay for meals and stationery at own expense. 1-2 commissioners did not arrive at each station on the polling day. So, such facts should be taken into account during the future parliamentary election.

In general, Donetsk oblast branch of the Committee of Voters of Ukraine claims that Kostyantynivka town mayor election was fair and transparent and complied with the effective legislation.