Filing a Complaint to Court

1. The electoral subject may file a complaint against a decision, action, or inaction related to the election process to a court in accordance with the procedure established by the Code of Administrative Adjudication of Ukraine.

2. The following shall be contested exclusively by filing a lawsuit to a court:

1) a decision, action, or inaction of the Central Election Commission, action or inaction of a Commissioner of the Central Election Commission;

1-1) decisions or actions of the district election commission, decisions or actions of the territorial election commission, except for the cases established by this Code;

1-2) action or inaction of a member of the district election commission, territorial election commission;

2) action or inaction of a candidate;

3) a decision or action of a party (party organization), civic association, their officials or authorized representatives that concerns the election process, except those decisions or actions that belong to their internal activities or exclusive competences, in accordance with the Law or their charter (regulations);

4) an action or inaction of an authorized person of a candidate, an authorized person of a party (party organization);

5) an action or inaction of an official observer from a candidate or party (party organization) that are electoral subjects in the respective election process, or a nongovernmental organization;

6) a decision, action or inaction of executive bodies, bodies of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, bodies of local self-government, enterprises, institutions, establishments or organizations and their officials;

7) a decision, action or inaction of mass media, information agencies, their owners, officials and creative staff members.

3. Decisions, action or omissions of election commissions, their members, as defined in Article 65 of this Code, may also be contested by filing a lawsuit to a court.

4. A court, with which a lawsuit has been filed, shall immediately notify the respective election commission, a higher-level election commission, the Central Election Commission, and, in the cases as regards the voter list, the State Voter Register maintenance body, of receipt of the lawsuit, instituting proceedings or refusal to open proceedings in the case, as well as of the decision adopted by the court.

5. If a court institutes proceedings upon an administrative lawsuit related to the same matter and on the same grounds as a complaint filed with an election commission, the election commission shall, no later than the next day after the day when it was notified of the administrative lawsuit by the court, return such complaint to the complainant without reviewing it with the signature of a person indicated in Part two of Article 68 of this Code, with indication of the grounds for its return.

6. If a court annuls a decision of an election commission, including on an issue of declaring voting at an election precinct to be invalid, establishing the voting results and the results of election, then the election commission whose decision was annulled, or a higher-level election commission shall adopt a decision in accordance with the court’s judgment. In such a case, unless the decision was canceled for formal reasons, the election commission may not adopt a decision essentially repeating the one cancelled by the court.