MP Tomenko calls for holding early elections of Cherkasy mayor, city council this fall
The conflict around the authorities of Cherkasy can be resolved only through simultaneous early elections of the mayor and the city council this fall, MP Mykola Tomenko of the Batkivschyna faction has said.
Commenting on the air of the local television and radio station Vіkka on the dismissal of Serhiy Odarych from the post of Cherkasy mayor and the formation of a new executive committee of the city council, the lawmaker gave two reasons for holding the early elections in the fall.
"Firstly, the consideration of Serhiy Odarych's lawsuit will come to an end. Secondly, the summer elections are always the choice of minority, whereas in fall more people take part in the election campaign and the mayor thus receives more public legitimacy," Tomenko's press service quoted him as saying on Saturday.
Pointing to the need for the election of Cherkasy City Council, the lawmaker said that "there is a certain category of MPs who initially fled from the opposition factions to support the majority of the Party of Regions and the Free Democrats (the group in the council, whose honorary chairman is Odarych) and now part of the Free Democrats ran from the party to support the latest majority or join the Party of Regions."
"It means that as of today many members of the city council have repeatedly betrayed their voters and, therefore, it would be right to let residents of Cherkasy to resolve the matter of the mayor and the city council themselves," Tomenko said.
As reported, on April 24, Secretary of Cherkasy City Council Viktor Horkun of the Party of Regions signed a resolution by the city council dismissing Odarych as Cherkasy mayor.
However, Odarych refused to give the official seal to Horkun, who under applicable law becomes acing mayor after the dismissal.
Odarych also challenged his dismissal in Sosnovsky District Court of the city. The court is expected to hear the complaint after the May holidays.
In addition, on April 29, Viktor Bilousov of the Communist Party of Ukraine was elected as a new secretary of the city council. Thus, he automatically became acting mayor of Cherkasy, after Horkun was dismissed as the secretary of Cherkasy City Council.