On February 22 the by-elections of a deputy of the Crimean Supreme Council in a single mandate constituency #25 were held.

The by-elections were caused by a rejection of the Crimean election commission to register Lev Mirimsky, who got the majority of votes in the mentioned constituency, while on the moment of the elections he was a deputy of the Supreme Council of Ukraine. Mr. Mirimsky contested the decision by the election commission in Simferopol central rajon court, which obliged the election commission to register him, but the appeal court of the Crimea abolished the decision made by the rajon court. After the case was considered in the Supreme Court of Ukraine the case was returned to the Crimean appeal court. On October 22, 2003 L. Mirimsky recalled his complaint from the appeal court and, thus, its ruling was brought into effect.

The district election commission, which was established in the constituency, was staffed with 17 members of different parties and labor collectives. Deputy Director of the center for scientific-technical information Serhiy Davidiants was elected the Chairman of the commission. His candidature was proposed by the Simferopol city branch of the SDPU(u). Volodymyr Krylov, proposed by the republican branch of the party “Batkivschyna” (“Motherland”), was elected the Secretary of the commission.

The following 18 candidates were registered in the constituency.

1. Valeriy Kucherenko, First Secretary of the Simferopol city committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine (from the Crimean republican Committee of the CPU);

2. Volodymyr Lazarev, Secretary of the party “Soyuz”(“Union”) of the central district of Simferopol, pensioner (self nominated);

3. Oleh Chyhydin, Chairman of the board of the public joint-stock company “KrymProdMash (from the Crimean republican committee of the SDPU(u));

4. Ivan Zhytniuk, Head of the Union of Officers of Simferopol (from the Ukrainian Marine Party);

5. Mykola Palamarchuk, Head of the main department of the Ukrainian Interior Ministry in Crimea (from the labor collective of the national joint-stock company “ChornomorNaftoGaz”);

6. Leonid Grach (former Oleksandr Papeta), temporarily un-employed (self nominated);

7. Yuriy Komov, engineer-ecologist of the “EcoZemProject” (from the Crimean regional branch of the Green Party of Ukraine);

8. Oleksiy Dmytriyev, Director of the Radio Television Broadcasting Center of Crimea (form the labor collective);

9. Larysa Martynenko, Deputy Head of the Crimean republican branch of the National All-Ukrainian Musical Union (from the Crimean republican branch of the National All-Ukrainian Musical Union);

10. Dmytro Melnik, Director of the enterprise “BumService”, a member of the party “Yabluko” (“Apple”), self nominated;

11. Oleksandr Yanshyn, Director of the engineer cemter “Tekhno-Resurs” 9from the Crimean republican branch of the Ukrainian party “Yednist” (“Unity”));

12. Artur Amatuni, Chief Manager of the joint company “Amtek Ltd” (from the labor collective of the enterprise);

13. Tetiana Klimenko, a student of the Tavriysk Vernandsky National University (from the Crimean republican branch of the All-Ukrainian association “Batkivschyna”);

14. Volodymyr Kucherenko, a member of the of the SDPU(u) party (self nominated);

15. Viktor Artamonov, Administrator of the consumer company of the Simferopol Central Market (from the labor collective of the company);

16. Tetiana Yanovskaya, private businessman (nominated by the voters’ rally);

17. Valeriy Hrachev, an engineer of the Simferopol branch of the public joint-stock company “KrymSoyuzPechat” (from the labor collective of the company);

18. Valeriy Korolev, Head of the transport area of the public joint-stock company “Simferopol Works of Plastics (from the labor collective);

During the election campaign eight candidates withdrew their candidatures on their own initiative. Ten candidates remained in the lists:

1. Leonid Grach

2. Oleksiy Dmytriyev

3. Ivan Zhytniuk

4. Tetiana Klimenko

5. Yuriy Komov

6. Valeriy Kucherenko

7. Volodymyr Kucherenko

8. Dmytro Melnik

9. Mykola Palamarchuk

10. Oleksandr Yanshyn

The obvious leader of the election campaign was Mykola Palamarchuk (non-partisan), Head of the main department of the Ukrainian Interior Ministry in the Crimea (from the labor collective of the national joint-stock company “ChornomorNaftoGaz”). As compared with other candidates, he regularly took part in the most rating TV programs of the Crimean TV. He, particularly, participated in daily evening news programs. Moreover, a series of “ordered” articles were published in the Crimean press about him. The whole 25th constituency was posted exceptionally with his leaflets. Only somewhere leaflets of Valeriy Kucherenko, First Secretary of the Simferopol city committee of the CPU, were posted. Mykola Palamarchuk’s intention to become a deputy was privately supported by the Crimean authorities, particularly by Chairman of the Crimean Supreme Council Borys Deich. There was no doubt that Mykola Palamarchuk will win, the only thing, which the authorities were afraid of was an insufficient attendance by voters, who were electing a deputy for the third time over the period of March 31, 2002 and February 22, 2004.

E-day

4,346 voters of 13,655 got ballot papers and 4,337 took part in the voting (102 ballot papers were acknowledged as invalid). Seven STOs and one MTO of the CVU observed over the elections and discovered no violations during the voting and votes counting.

On February 22 the ad hoc session of the central rajon Council of Simferopol changed the staff of polling station commissions. Such a move, and, thus, the elections alone, Valeriy Kucherenko considered illegal. He addressed the central rajon court of Simferopol with the request to abolish the decision of the session of the rajon council on changing the staff of polling station commissions.

The results of the elections:

11. Leonid Grach – 119 votes

12. Oleksiy Dmytriyev - 194 votes

13. Ivan Zhytniuk– 62 votes

14. Tetiana Klimenko– 36 votes

15. Yuriy Komov– 92 votes

16. Valeriy Kucherenko– 1,075 votes

17. Volodymyr Kucherenko– 139 votes

18. Dmytro Melnik– 17 votes

19. Mykola Palamarchuk– 2,288 votes

20. Oleksandr Yanshyn– 39 votes

Thus, Mykola Palamarchuk won with 52.7 % of votes

February 25, 2004, Crimea, the Crimean branch of the CVU.