126 amalgamated hromadas (AHs) are waiting for the Central Election Commission to assign their first elections of local mayors and council members. These AHs comprise 526 rural, settlement and town hromadas. Elections are also still pending in 56 hromadas which joined 38 previously established AHs. In total, they have 1.38 million citizens.

“Hromadas which, at last, overcame the ineffective system of local self-government, their inner discrepancies, indifference and fears, are now confused instead of feeling the joy of victory, to put it mildly. If we can’t settle the issue and assign their first local elections next week, the situation over there will be very emotional. We have no right to take their chance and hope for a better life from them which we gave to them by ourselves”, said Vyacheslav Nehoda, First Deputy Minister of Regional Development, Construction, Housing and Communal Services of Ukraine.

He emphasised that elections in the AHs must take place this year, so that the new hromadas can start their direct relations with the state budget in 2019 from 1 January.

As previously reported, the Central Election Commission addressed the issue with the local elections to the Parliament’s committee for legal policy and justice, because its experts had found legal reasons not to assign elections in the AHs for October this year. On 5 September, the Parliament’s committee for legal policy and justice was going to provide clarifications to the Central Election Committee regarding elections in the amalgamated hromadas, but its members did not manage to arrange a meeting.

If the Parliament’s committee happens to provide the requested clarification, the elections still can take place in November or December.

As previously reported, Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman stated during a special meeting with the senior officials of the Central Election Commission and the Ministry of Justice that there are no legal obstacles to the local elections in place.

More comments on the situation with the elections in AHs are available HERE