Termination of Powers of an Election Commission or a Member of an Election Commission

1. The powers of all members of a district or precinct election commission may be terminated before the expiry of their ordinary term by a decision of an election commission that established it, by a decision of the commission itself, or by a decision of a court in cases of systematic violation or onetime gross violation by the commission of the Constitution of Ukraine, this Code, or other Laws of Ukraine, failure to comply with the decision of the higher-level election commission. Early termination of powers of all members of an election commission shall not be considered to be termination of the commission.


2. The powers of an individual member of a district or precinct election commission shall be terminated at the same time with the termination of powers of the respective election commission.


3. The powers of an individual member of a district or precinct election commission may be terminated before the expiry of its ordinary term by a decision of the election commission that established it, on the grounds of:

1) a statement of resignation of the member of the commission. Such a statement shall be submitted to the subject nominating the member to the election commission to be handed over to the respective election commission, or for filing of a submission seeking replacement of a member of the election commission;

2) the filing of a submission seeking replacement of a member of the election commission by

the subject nominating the member to the election commission;

3) termination of his or her Ukrainian citizenship;

4) cancellation of the decision on the registration of a candidate for President of Ukraine, based on a submission of which a member of an election commission was nominated to the election commission;

5) his or her departure for the period up to the day of voting inclusive abroad or from the country in the territory of which an out-of-country election precinct was established, which results in impossibility to perform the duties of a member of a commission;

6) his or her registration as a candidate for President of Ukraine, as well as a deputy candidate to the Verkhovna Rada of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, a deputy candidate to a local council or a candidate for village, settlement or city mayor, or a candidate for village or settlement starosta, if the aforementioned election is conducted simultaneously with the election of the President of Ukraine;

7) his or her registration as a representative of a candidate for President of Ukraine to the Central Election Commission, or a agent of a candidate for President of Ukraine, as well as a agent of a deputy candidate to a local council or candidate for village, settlement or city mayor, or a candidate for village or settlement starosta, or a representative or an authorized person of a local party organization, or an authorized person of a subject of the referendum process, or a representative of an initiative group to the Central Election Commission, or an official observer, if the process of the aforementioned elections or a referendum is conducted simultaneously with the election of the President of Ukraine;

8) systematic violation or one-time gross violation by him or her of the Laws of Ukraine on elections ascertained by a court decision or by a decision of the higher-level election commission; his or her failure to attend two or more meetings of an election commission with no good reason or failure to arrive at the meeting of an election commission on the day of voting; failure to perform his or her duties with no good reason;

9) if a decision of a court comes into legal force, whereby he or she was found guilty of committing a grave or especially grave crime or a crime against citizens’ electoral rights, or a corruption crime;

10) his or her appointment to another election commission responsible for preparation and conduct of the election of the President of Ukraine or the election of deputies of the Verkhovna Rada of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, deputies of local councils, or village, settlement or city mayors, or village or settlement starostas, if the aforementioned elections are conducted simultaneously with the election of the President of Ukraine;

11) his or her being declared incapacitated or a missing person;

12) his or her death, or his or her being declared dead;

13) his or her refusal to take the oath of a commission member;

14) violation of the oath of a commission member in the form of a systematic failure to perform his or her duties ascertained by at least two decisions thereon adopted by the election commission of which he or she is a member;

15) discovery of the fact that shall deprive a person of the right to be a member of an election commission.

4. The powers of a member of an election commission shall be terminated on the grounds provided for by clauses 1 - 12, 14, 15 of Part three of this Article, from the moment of adoption of the decision on termination of powers of a member of an election commission by the election commission that established it. Should any of the grounds provided for by clause 13 of Part three of this Article appear, the powers of the member of an election commission shall be terminated from the moment he or she refuses to put his or her signature under the text of an oath at the election commission’s meeting, or based on his or failure to arrive for the first and second election commission meetings upon nomination of him or her to this election commission, of which he or she has been notified.

The Central Election Commission or the respective district election commission shall be notified without delay about the early termination of powers of a commission member due to the refusal to take the oath of powers, in order to decide on changes in the composition of the respective election commission.

The person who submitted the application for resignation shall continue to perform the duties of the chair, deputy chair, secretary, member of the election commission until the respective decision is made by the commission that established it.

A submission seeking to replace a member of an election commission shall be filed to the respective election commission, signed by persons specified in Part two of Article 84, Part two of Article 85 of this Code, on paper and electronically in the form approved by the Central Election Commission. The documents provided for in Part two of Article 84 and Part six of Article 85 of this Code, respectively, shall be attached to the submission.

The aforementioned submission shall be considered within five days, but not later than the last day before the voting day.

A submission seeking to replace a member of the election commission may be filed by means of electronic services in accordance with the procedure established by the Central Election Commission.

5. An election commission that adopts a decision on early termination of the powers of all the members of an election commission shall no later than on the following day notify the subject that nominated the person(s) to the election commission of the termination. Such nominating subjects shall be entitled to file, no later than on the following day upon receipt of such notification, a submission with new nominations with the respective election commission.

If within the time period specified by this Part of this Article, no submission has been filed to nominate members to an election commission, and/or if the number of nominees to the election commission does not allow establishing the commission in compliance with the minimum limits specified in Part one of Article 84 or Part one of Article 85 of this Code, the respective election commission shall form the composition of the commission based on a submission of the chair of this commission, in accordance with the proposals of this commission members to bring the composition of such election commission in compliance with the minimum requirements for a commission’s composition (no less than the minimum limit), necessarily having regard to submitted nominations to this election commission, except those that shall be rejected on the grounds established by this Code.

In the case of early termination of powers of the election commission members on the grounds provided for in clauses 8, 13 of Part three of this Article, or in connection with early termination of powers of all members of the election commission, they may not be re-nominated to the election commission and shall be rejected.

The decision on early termination of powers in connection with the replacement of the member of the election commission shall be made simultaneously with the decision nominating the replacement member of the respective election commission nominated by the same subject and simultaneously appointing this replacement member to the respective position in the election commission that was occupied by the member of the election commission whose powers was terminated early.

In the case of early termination of powers of the member of the election commission due to the election commission member’s refusal to take an oath of powers, in connection with cancellation of the decision on the registration of a candidate for President of Ukraine, based on a submission of which such member of the election commission was nominated to the respective election commission, that results in a decrease in the number of members of the election commission below the minimum limits specified in Part one of Article 84 or Part one of Article 85 of this Code, the respective election commission shall, simultaneously with the adoption of the decision on early termination of powers of the member of the election commission, make a decision on nomination of a replacement member to the respective election commission based on a submission, respectively, of the Chair of the Central Election Commission, or the chair of the district election commission, in accordance with the proposals submitted, respectively, by members of the Central Election Commission or the members of the district election commission.

6. In the case of early termination of powers of all members of the election commission, the respective election commission shall, no later than the third day from the date of termination of powers of all members of the election commission, but no later than the last day preceding the day of voting, approve a new composition of the election commission in accordance with the procedure established by this Code.

In case of early termination of the powers of a member of the election commission, which led to a reduction in the number of members of the election commission below the minimum number established by Part one of Article 84 or Part one of Article 85 of this Code, the respective election commission decides to appoint a new member to the election commission based on the submission of the chair of the Central Election Commission or the district election commission, on the basis of proposals of members of the Central Election Commission or the district election commission, respectively, in order for the number of such election commission to correspond to its minimum number (was not less). Such a decision is made simultaneously with the decision on early termination of the powers of a member of the commission.

In the case of early termination of powers of the precinct election commission member of an outof-country election precinct a replacement member may be appointed to the election commission based on the submission of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine.

The chair, deputy chair or secretary of the election commission may personally submit a handwritten application for resignation (without termination of membership in the commission) to the election commission that formed the respective election commission.

7. If the chair, deputy chair, or the secretary of an election commission repeatedly fails to perform his or her duties, the respective election commission shall be entitled to make a submission to the election commission that established it with a motivated request that he or she be replaced, provided that such submission is supported by at least two-thirds of all the members of the commission. Such a submission shall be signed by the chair, deputy chair of the election commission or a person presiding at the respective meeting of the election commission and shall be affixed with the election commission’s seal. The submission shall be appended with no less than two decisions of the election commission that ascertain a failure of the chair, deputy chair or the secretary of this commission to perform his or her duties, as well as an abstract from the minutes of the respective meeting of the election commission that considered an issue about filing such a submission.

The chair, deputy chair, or the secretary of an election commission may personally submit a handwritten statement on resignation to the election commission that established the election commission of which they are members.

The aforementioned submission or statement shall be a subject to mandatory consideration within three days, but no later than the last day preceding the day of voting. A decision replacing the chair, deputy chair, or the secretary of an election commission shall not necessarily result in termination of his or her powers as a member of the election commission.

8. In case of receipt of a submission to replace a member of the election commission who is an acting chair, deputy chair, secretary of the election commission, a decision on appointment to the respective election commission of a replacement member from the same nominating subject shall be made, simultaneously appointing this member to the respective position in the election commission held by the commission member, whose powers were terminated early.

 In case of early termination of powers of the chair, deputy chair, secretary of the election commission on other grounds provided for in Part three of this Article, the election commission shall appoint another commission member to the respective position.

9. Should any of the grounds for early termination of powers of all members of the election commission, or an individual member of the election commission, appear, that have signs of committing a criminal or an administrative offence by the members (an individual member) of this election commission, the respective election commission shall simultaneously with making such a decision notify the law enforcement authorities for verification and response in accordance with the Law.