Legal status of Kyiv's mayor in doubt as courts issue rulings (08/01/99)

Legal status of Kyiv's mayor in doubt as courts issue rulings

by Katya Gorchinskaya
Special to The Ukrainian Weekly

KYIV - The legal status of Kyiv's mayor is, once again, in limbo. Citing numerous violations of law, the local court in Vyshhorod on July 22 annulled the results of this spring's election, only to have the Supreme Court set aside the lower court's ruling four days later.

The Vyshhorod court ruled that Mayor Oleksander Omelchenko, who won the May 30 mayoral election by a landslide, abused his authority in ways that unfairly hurt the chances of defeated rivals Hryhorii Surkis and Mykola Hrabar.

The Supreme Court Judge Vitalii Boiko, however, halted the ruling and demanded all documents in the case so that the high court's justices could decide for themselves.

The Vyshhorod court found that Mr. Omelchenko misused public funds during the election campaign, illegally used the city administration's TV channel to promote his candidacy, and banned outdoor ads for his rivals while improperly using the city metro's radio system to broadcast his own ads.

These violations and others "significantly affected" the results of the election, according to a 23-page ruling by Judge Oleh Kryvenda. The ruling came in response to a lawsuit filed by Messrs. Surkis and Hrabar.

The two court decisions will not change how the city is governed or how it performs its major services, such as collecting trash, public transportation and supplying water. As head of the Kyiv City Administration appointed by President Leonid Kuchma, Mr. Omelchenko remains in charge of the city's workforce and its 1.7 billion hrv. annual budget.

At this time, until the final ruling by the Supreme Court, nobody knows if and when a new election will be held. Omelchenko forces vowed their man would win another contest. In the May election, the unaffiliated Mr. Omelchenko soundly defeated his major rival, Mr. Surkis of the Social Democratic Party. Mr. Omelchenko won 76 percent of the vote.

In reaction to the court's ruling, President Kuchma lined up squarely behind Mr. Omelchenko. In what critics viewed as interference with the judicial process, President Kuchma attacked the court's ruling as an "offense to the choice of Kyiv residents."

The mayor's supporters, while shocked by the lower court's bombshell decision, defended Mr. Omelchenko's campaign tactics as legitimate and legal. They filed an immediate appeal to the Supreme Court.

"This is the kind of decision that decent people did not expect," said Volodymyr Yalovy, Mr. Omelchenko's first deputy and a top campaign official .

The Vyshhorod court also ruled that the City Election Commission, the body in charge of organizing the elections, was illegitimate because it had been created before a new law defining the Kyiv City statutes was passed earlier this year. Judge Kryvenda did not back the request of Messrs. Surkis and Hrabar to ban Mr. Omelchenko from participating in further elections.

The city of Kyiv has been without a legally recognized mayor before. From 1996 to earlier this year, an elected and an appointed city head fought for power and canceled out each other's decisions.

Last May's election was supposed to give Kyiv a fully legitimate, local power. Both branches of the Rukh Party and the Reforms and Order Party held press conferences to back Mr. Omelchenko and criticize the court ruling. Mr. Omelchenko's supporters charged that Judge Kryvenda, who was appointed judge by the Verkhovna Rada, was bribed by Mr. Surkis supporters.

Judge Kryvenda could not be reached for comment.

Lavrentii Malazoniya, an aide to Mr. Surkis, said, however, that all allegations of corruption are false and are part of an effort to intimidate other courts. "It's clearly a form of pressure on the courts," Mr. Malazoniya said.

Mr. Surkis announced that he will not be a candidate for mayor again, and called on Mr. Omelchenko not to run again either. "I officially declare that I will not run for the office if new mayoral elections take place. Mr. Omelchenko, who allowed abuse of authority and public funds ... shouldn't run for the mayor's office either," he told Kyievski Viedomosti newspaper, which he controls.

Mr. Surkis added that another candidate from his party, the Social Democratic Party, will run for the office.

While Messrs. Surkis and Omelchenko threw mud at each other, the Kyiv City Election Commission gathered to reconfirm Mr. Omelchenko as mayor, notwithstanding the judge's opinion that it did not have the legal standing to do so.

The national Central Election Commission, which supervises local commissions, backed up its Kyiv city branch by saying that all such commissions are appointed for a period of four years, and therefore the Kyiv city one is legitimate until 2002.

Some analysts, however, predicted that the Supreme Court will assert its independence from President Kuchma and affirm the Vyshhorod court's decision more out of spite than anything else.

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