Self-nominated and non-party candidates are the leaders of the first local elections held in 201 amalgamated hromadas on 29 October 2017. It is evidenced by the election results  announced by the Central Election Commission.

28.2% of the deputies elected to the local councils of the amalgamated hromadas participated in the elections as self-nominated candidates. 88, 63% of winners out of this number are non-party candidates.

According to the Central Reform Office at MinRegion, almost half (47.3%) of hromadas’ heads elected on 29 October are also self-nominated.

- It means that people on the ground prioritise on the development of their territories instead of politics and party flags," commented Ivan Lukerya, Central Reform Office expert at MinRegion. – In the course of amalgamation hromadas make responsible decisions and take full responsibility for the future development. They expect support and provision of tools for local work from the Government, while the only thing needed from the parties is the adoption of the laws necessary for local self-government. In particular, amalgamated hromadas are currently expecting the parliamentary parties to adopt the draft law No 7118 and transfer the land outside the settlements to the AHs’ management. There are more important issued to politics on the ground. Roads have to be built there, education, healthcare and culture have to be developed, in addition, there is a need to take care of the employment of the population and development of small and medium-sized business. In other words, a large amount of tasks that have not been solved by anyone for all these years, should be currently settled.

We remind that at present there are 665 amalgamated hromadas established in Ukraine. The first local elections will be held on 24 December 2017 in 51 of them.