Kyiv & Sevastopol mayoral races blocked

On Saturday the Constitutional Court decided to cancel scheduled races for chief city executives in Kyiv and Sevastopol. “The situation with elections of a Kyiv mayor is shameful,” said People’s Deputy Yevhen Marchuk of the United Social Democrats. “So far it is hard to see a way to save the situation. It is clear what the authorities were after, to do everything possible so their man would become mayor. But everything that has happened in connection with the Kyiv election has taken place before the eyes of the council of Europe. It has caused our country’s reputation to suffer and created for it the reputation of an undeveloped country where the problem of the democratization of society is becoming very, very acute. We risk losing our membership in the Council of Europe.”