32 million for CEC salaries: how CEC members work and how much they get paid during the war in Ukraine
3 May 2024 10:13
“I had enough money because I was already working at the Central Election Commission,” Oleksandra Karmaza, a current member of the Central Election Commission, commented on her purchase of a BMW X5 during an interview for the position of a Constitutional Court judge.
She was not selected as a judge and continues to work at the CEC. At the end of March, all members of the CEC submitted their declarations, including Karmaza. Thus, Kommersant Ukrainian 
journalists now have the opportunity to find out how much the CEC members receive and what they do in wartime.
32 million hryvnias from the state budget
Two and a half million, two million, two million three hundred thousand… No, these are not random figures or even a list of state aid for social protection of citizens. These are the salaries of the members of the Central Election Commission for 2023.
The current composition of the commission is 15 members. They were elected back in 2019: 17 people were elected then, but two were dismissed. Yuriy Buglak for “remote” work in Miami and Yuriy Frytskyi because of his age (the law “On the Central Election Commission” stipulates that reaching the age of 65 is a ground for early termination of the powers of a CEC member).
Others are still working and planning their future careers: at least two current CEC members, Pavlo Liubchenko and Oleksandra Karmaza, were competing for the position of a judge of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine in March this year, but failed to pass the competition because they did not meet the criterion of high moral qualities.
However, they continue to work at the CEC and, according to the law, their term of office expires in 2026 (the term of office is 7 years). It is not yet possible to calculate how much the current members of the CEC will earn during this time, but according to their declarations, in 2023 alone, the total salary of 15 CEC employees was over UAH 32 million.
What does the law say?
“The official salary of the Chairman of the Commission is 30 subsistence minimums for able-bodied persons, the amount of which is set as of 1 January of the calendar year, the deputy chairmen and the secretary of the Commission – 27 subsistence minimums for able-bodied persons, the amount of which is set as of 1 January of the calendar year, and the member – 25 subsistence minimums for able-bodied persons, the amount of which is set as of 1 January of the calendar year,” the Constitution states.
What are the real salaries declared by officials?
For 2023, CEC Chairman Oleh Didenko declared UAH 2,504,875, his deputy Serhiy Dubovyk – UAH 2,374,079, another deputy Vitaliy Plukar – UAH 2,322,404, and CEC Secretary Olena Gataullina – UAH 2,310,170.
CEC members received slightly lower salaries: Oksana Boyarchuk – UAH 2,066,127, Andriy Hevko – UAH 2,063,036, Victoria Glushchenko – UAH 2,093,920, Vitaliy Hren – UAH 2,081,651, Andriy Yevstigneev – UAH 2,069,765, and Iryna Yefremova – UAH 2,062,751, Oleksandra Karmaza – UAH 2,077,176, Pavlo Liubchenko – UAH 2,141,509, Yuriy Miroshnychenko – UAH 2,057,700, Volodymyr Perepelyuk – UAH 2,095,433, and Serhiy Postiviy – UAH 2,282,558.
Chopard, Harley-Davidson and 17 administrative fines
The CEC members declared not only their salaries but also other achievements both for 2023 and in general. Thus, in addition to her official salary, Commission member Oksana Boyarchuk registered UAH 385 thousand of income from rental services, a Chopard watch and three jewellery items from the same company. In 2023, she drove a LEXUS RX350, but the price of the car was not indicated in her declaration.
Instead, her colleague Oleksandra Karmaza, who uses a BMW X5, on the contrary, indicated in her declaration its value – UAH 149 thousand, which surprised the advisory group of experts during the interview for the competition for a judge of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine. They called the price of the car too low.
“According to the official NBU exchange rate as of 9 December 2020 (the date of purchase of the car – ed.), the price was $5,305. At the same time, our experts turned to a website with archived ads for the sale of used vehicles, and in the period from 2017 to 2019, a car of this make and model cost from $32,900 to $33,600,” the advisory group of experts said.
Karmaza replied that the car needed repairs, which is why its price was so cheap, but she did not keep any repair receipts.
Karmaza’s colleague, Pavlo Liubchenko, who also took part in this competition and was not selected, indicated in his declaration that he was still registered in the dormitory of the Yaroslav Mudryi National Law University (Liubchenko was born in 1967), where he used to study and teach. This is despite the fact that Lyubchenko has the right to use an apartment in Kyiv.
One of Lyubchenko’s sons also has the right to use an apartment, but in Austria. This apartment is provided by the Austrian municipality, so he only pays for utilities. In 2023, Lyubchenko himself bought two apartments in Kharkiv and a land plot in Kirovohrad region.
An excerpt of Lyubchenko’s interview for the position of CCU judge was posted on Tik-Tok: in it, the CEC member explains why he was brought to administrative responsibility 17 times for speeding. He says it’s because of his son, who uses his car, while Lyubchenko himself has violated traffic rules only once. According to Lyubchenko, his son works for the NAPC and they know about the fines at work.
@antykor_shtab Liubchenko Pavlo – candidate for the post of CCU judge #україна🇺🇦 #corruption #education ♬ Chopin Nocturne No. 2 Piano Mono – moshimo sound design
In 2023, the deputy head of the CEC, Serhii Dubovyk, bought a new car for UAH 872 thousand. In addition to his two-million-hryvnia salary, he also receives a rent of UAH 216,000. Despite this, his mother receives food aid from the UN and social benefits.
Another CEC member, Vitalii Hren, did not buy any new cars or land plots in 2023. However, since last year, he has been using a 157 m² house in Zakarpattia region, a land plot of 808 m² and a HARLEY-DAVIDSON motorcycle free of charge.
In 2022, the common-law wife of CEC member Andrii Yevstyhniiev bought an apartment in Bucha for UAH 762,000, which Yevstyhniiev has the right to use. His colleague, Serhii Postivyi, bought an apartment in Kyiv in 2023 for over UAH 3 million on his own. He drives a 2014 Volkswagen Passat and has only UAH 17,546 in bank interest as his source of income, apart from his CEC salary.
CEC salaries in January 2024
According to thedashboardpublished by the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine, in January this year, the average salary of the CEC’s management was UAH 170 thousand, heads of structural units – UAH 64.8 thousand, employees of the patronage service – UAH 50.4 thousand, professional level specialists – UAH 40.2 thousand, and employees performing service functions – UAH 30.9 thousand. The lowest salary for the month was paid to the CEC’s ordinary workers – UAH 19.3 thousand.
In total, 235 employees of the Central Election Commission were paid in January this year.
What does the CEC do?
According to the law, the Central Election Commission is empowered to organise the preparation and holding of elections of the President of Ukraine, MPs, deputies of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, deputies of local councils and village, town and city mayors, as well as national and local referendums. However, neither the parliamentary elections, which were supposed to take place in autumn 2023, nor the presidential elections, which were scheduled for this spring, have taken place and will not take place due to the full-scale invasion. So what has the CEC been doing all this time?
According to the Central Election Commission’s report for 2023, the CEC members have been actively preparing for the upcoming elections, which are planned to be held only after the martial law in Ukraine is lifted or terminated. According to the report, the CEC held 40 meetings and adopted 83 resolutions in 2023. In 2021 (before the full-scale invasion), it held 78 meetings and adopted 496 resolutions.
The CEC also determined the list of elections to be held, formed a list of expenditures for these elections, created the preconditions for compiling reliable and up-to-date voter lists, both in Ukraine and abroad, and worked on inclusiveness. The full report of the CEC’s work is available here.
Open borders for the CEC
“Now, when martial law is in force in our country and elections cannot be held, we are trying to use this period to deepen international cooperation and adopt best practices from other countries,”
– said Oleh Didenko, Chairman of the Commission, after the CEC members’ trip abroad.
In 2023-2024, a number of CEC members travelled to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Switzerland, Sweden, Czech Republic, France, Belgium, Spain, Moldova, Romania and Australia. All in order to learn from the experience of other countries.
