The Supreme Court of Ukraine overturned the decision of the Administrative Court of Appeal which deems the CEC ruling as unlawful and invalid, which allows the election headquarters of presidential candidates to pay agitators. In essence, the court thus legalized the bribery of voters.
This was reported by “Interfax-Ukraine”.
The Supreme Court of Ukraine overturned the decision of the Sixth Administrative Court of Appeal of March 1 on the lawsuit of presidential candidate Anatoliy Hrytsenko declaring unlawful and invalid the CEC decision of February 22, which clarified aspects of spending electoral funds of candidates for presidency in conducting election campaigning, in particular, the basis of unpaid contracts with individuals-agitators.
At the meeting on March 5, the Supreme Court granted the appeal to the CEC and declared only paragraph 33 of this explanation, approved by the commission, illegal and invalid.
This abrogated paragraph states that if the involvement of individuals is not related to the use of their labor under an employment contract or in accordance with civil law contracts, the legal entity providing election campaigning services is not a payer of single social contribution in accordance with the law.
In its appeal, the CEC indicated that “entering into unpaid contracts should not be considered as a basis for indirect bribing voters.” According to the commission, the Sixth Administrative Court of Appeal made the wrong decision that the signature of such contracts is indirect bribery of voters.
“The Supreme Court did not cite the proper legal arguments in the rationale for whether the CEC has the right to go beyond its powers and give explanations, interpreting the imperative article of the law. The decision of the Supreme Court adopted in this form testifies that judicial system is biased and the pressure of the vertical of authority on the court exists,” said Hrytsenko’s representative at the CEC, Ruslan Chernolutsky.