In Odessa, the election commission held a meeting despite the court ruling

The Odessa City Territorial Election Commission held a meeting and continued the replacement of city council members from the “Trust the Deeds” party, despite a court ruling the previous day that had suspended three of the commission’s resolutions. Specifically, the TEC registered Iryna Iordanova to replace Maryna Lozovenko. However, the issue regarding the three council members whose replacements had been directly suspended by the court was not addressed at the meeting.

This was reported by an Intent correspondent covering the TEC meeting. Earlier, Intent reported on the start of the procedure to replace council members from “Trust the Deeds” and the conflict surrounding Igor Kolesnik’s statement regarding the resignation of his seat.

On September 25, the Odesa District Administrative Court partially granted the motions for preliminary injunctions filed by Vasyl Ieremiya, Oksana Antonishak, and Olga Makogonyuk.

<picture></picture>

The court suspended three resolutions of the Odesa City Territorial Election Commission dated September 22:

• No. 8—recognizing Oleg Loban as the next candidate in line to be elected in place of Vasyl Ieremiya;
• No. 9—declaring Olena Talalaieva, the next candidate in line, elected in place of Oksana Antonishak;
• No. 11—declaring the next candidate in line elected in place of Olga Makogonyuk.

The court also prohibited the Territorial Election Commission and its authorized representatives from taking any actions to announce these resolutions at a plenary session of the Odesa City Council until the decision in the case takes legal effect.

At the same time, the court did not prohibit the commission from holding meetings in general. The ruling pertained specifically to Resolutions No. 8, No. 9, and No. 11. The court separately noted that the ruling takes legal effect upon signing and is subject to immediate enforcement.

<picture></picture> <picture></picture> <picture></picture>

PHOTO: Intent

Despite the court order, the TEC convened for a meeting. According to an Intent correspondent, the commission did not consider the issue of replacing the three deputies whose resolutions had been suspended by the court—that is, it did not consider the replacements of Ieremiya, Antonishak, and Makogonyuk.

Instead, the commission members continued to consider other matters regarding the replacement of deputies.

In particular, Iryna Iordanova was registered as a member of the Odesa City Council to replace Maryna Lozovenko.

It was Iordanova whom the TEC had proposed as a replacement for Lozovenko during the previous meeting on September 22. At that time, the commission also identified candidates to replace other council members: Oleg Kislovsky to replace Oleg Bryndak, Oleg Loban to replace Vasyl Ieremiya, and Olena Talalayeva to replace Oksana Antonishak.

Consequently, following the new court ruling, the matters concerning Ieremiya, Antonishak, and Makogonyuk were not considered at the meeting, but the proceedings regarding the other deputies continued.

During the meeting, media representatives and other attendees were also asked to leave the commission’s premises. As explained to those present, the journalists were allegedly disrupting the proceedings.

As a result, part of the TEC meeting took place without journalists or other outsiders present.

The situation regarding the replacement of deputies from the “Trust the Deeds” party has been ongoing since September. Previously, the party initiated the recall of four deputies—Oleg Bryndak, Maryna Lozovenko, Oleksandr Matveev, and Vasyl Ieremiya. Separately, at the September 22 meeting, the termination of the deputies’ mandates was considered based on their own statements and at the request of voters. At that time, a dispute arose regarding Igor Kolesnik’s statement: a person who identified himself as Kolesnik’s attorney claimed that the deputy had not signed a statement relinquishing his mandate and was currently abroad.

Андрій Колісніченко