Due to the fact that 12 of 15 members of the CEC have had their term of office expired, parliamentary factions and groups of MPs submitted Petro Poroshenko candidates for consideration yet in autumn 2015. Thus, factions and groups of MPs submitted 30 candidates.
On 21 April, Opposition Bloc group of MPs recalled its 6 candidates and submitted only one candidate for CEC member instead – Mykhailo Okhendovskyi. Thus, 25 from the list may be included in the list of candidates submitted by the President of Ukraine. It is known that OPORA's Head of the Board Olha Aivazovska had informed the public that she wasn't aware of the fact that her candidacy is submitted for President's consideration and, therefore, it is not valid.
The President of Ukraine is authorized to select candidates whoare going to be considered by the Parliament from the suggested list of candidates.
According to the Law of Ukraine on the Central Election Commission, the President of Ukraine should include candidates suggested by factions and groups of MPs of the current convocation of the Parliament to the list of candidates for CEC members, submitted for appointment.
Administration of the President of Ukraine answered OPORA's information request, stating that the President doesn't consider any other candidates besides those submitted by factions and groups of MPs.
Table 1. Number of candidates submitted by parliamentary factions and groups of MPs
| Parliamentary factions and groups of MPs | Number of candidates for CEC members, submitted by parliamentary factions and groups of MPs |
| Petro Poroshenko Bloc 'Solidarity' | 15 |
| People's Front | 3 |
| AUU Batkivshchyna | 1 |
| The Radical Party of Oleh Liashko | 1 |
| Samopomich | 1 |
| The Opposition Bloc | 1 |
| Revival | 1 |
| Volia Narodu | 1 |
According to the Law of Ukraine on the Central Election Commission, the head, two deputy heads and secretary of the CEC are selected among its members. In other words, in case the Parliament appoints new members of the CEC, the Commission will have new leaders. In contrast to other commission members, the legislation requires the head, two deputy heads and secretary of the CEC to have higher education in legal science.
According to OPORA's preliminary analysis, 17 of 24 candidates submitted to the President of Ukraine by parliamentary factions and groups of MPs have obtained higher education in legal science. 8 of them have an academic degree, and 4 worked or are still working as teachers in higher educational establishments (information may be updated if there is any new biographic data).
4 of 25 potential members of the CEC have already worked in the Commission, – 3 as commission members and 1 as a secretary.
Only 3 current members of the CEC are considered for a repeated appointment (Mykhailo Okhendovskyi, Zhanna Usenko-Chorna, Andrii Mahera).
10 persons worked in public service, and 11 worked as assistants to MPs of Ukraine or in the Apparatus of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.
2 of 24 candidates for CEC members were or are Members of Parliament of Ukraine (Volodymyr Kovtunets and Natalia Ahafonova). However, 8 of 24 were running in elections at various levels.
8 candidates worked in private legal practice, and 10 as members of election commissions at different levels. Besides that, 6 nominees have experience in cooperation with international institutions and projects assisting the reforming process in Ukraine.
If we analyze what was the last job of candidates, submitted to the President of Ukraine, we will see that only 3 of them are current members of the CEC. It's current Head of the CEC Mykhailo Okhendovskyi, and Deputy Heads Zhanna Usenko-Chorna and Andrii Mahera.
However, only one current Member of Parliament of Ukraine wants to become a member of the CEC (Nataliia Ahafonova). Two candidates are assistants to MPs of Ukraine (Kyrychenko Yuliia, Zubrytska Olesia).
5 candidates work in higher educational establishments or scientific institutions (Leontii Shypiliv, Semen Stetsenko, Olha Lotiuk, Volodymyr Kovtunets, Vitalii Holovchuk).
Two candidates had private practice in legal consulting at the moment they were nominated (Svitlana Kustova, Serhii Repetskyi).
Iryna Shvets was a Temporary Acting Head at the Stolytsia Communal Enterprise under the Kyiv City State Administration at the time her candidacy was submitted by Petro Poroshenko Bloc parliamentary faction.
As for the other candidates for CEC members, they are: Hanna Onyshchenko, who was the Minister of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine when Arsenii Yatseniuk was a Prime Minister; Vitalii Plukar, Head of the Local Self-Government Department at the Administration of the President of Ukraine; Vitalii Maksymiak, Head of the HR Department at the Apparatus of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine; and Mykhailo Verbynskyi, Director of the Analytics and Organization Department at MIA of Ukraine.
Besides that, Judge Alla Basalaieva (Darnytskyi City District in Kyiv) was also nominated for member of the CEC. Candidate for member of the CEC Bohdan Dubas, who was temporarily unemployed at the moment he was nominated by the Petro Poroshenko Bloc 'Solidarity' faction, may also be included in President's submission. Another potential candidate in Yevhen Radchenko, who is the Development Director at the Internews Ukraine NGO and an entrepreneur.
7 of 24 candidates are 40-45 years old. Only 3 candidates are 55-61 years old. There are 6 candidates in each 30-35 and 35-40 groups, and one candidate in each 40-45 and 50-55 groups.
We would like to remind that non-governmental call on the President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko to register urgently in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine a submission on appointment of new CEC members. 12 of 15 members of the Central Election Commission have had their seven-year term of office expired yet on 1 June 2014, and CEC members are still in office because of postponement resulting from inaction of the President and the Parliament. There is a petition registered on website of the President of Ukraine, demanding the appointment of new CEC members. You may sign the petition at https://petition.president.gov.ua/petition/23389