Until recently, Zoltan Lendyel was the first deputy mayor of Mukachevo, Vasyl Petovka, and repeatedly openly criticized the decree of the President of Ukraine regarding the situation around Mukachevo and the methods of its implementation by local Social Democrats.

At the same time, the mayor of Mukachevo, Vasyl Petovka, who was removed by President Kuchma, has not been given his employment record book by the Mukachevo authorities for the second month in a row.

After numerous unsuccessful appeals to the Mukachevo city executive committee, Petovka was forced to file an application with the Mukachevo city prosecutor's office regarding the illegal actions of the city leadership.

After this, as the press service notes, acting mayor Myroslav Opachko instructed his deputy Viktor Otovchyts to conduct an official investigation into the disappearance of Vasyl Petovka's employment record book.

At the same time, only on the third attempt did representatives of the "Subcarpathian Rusyns" society, who unanimously decided to nominate Vasyl Petovka as a candidate for the position of mayor, have their documents accepted at the city territorial election commission, which is headed by a member of the SDPU(O), Yuriy Peresta.

The problems are related to the fact that according to the law of Ukraine on the election of deputies of local councils and the election of mayors, a candidate for the position of mayor must submit the relevant documents to the territorial commission, including a certificate from the place of work.

Since Vasyl Petovka has still not received his employment record book from the city executive committee, he cannot find employment anywhere or register at the city employment center. As a result, he will not be able to provide the election commission with a certificate from the place of work.

Currently, Vasyl Petovka is preparing a lawsuit to the court against the actions of the Mukachevo leadership.

As is known, the elections of the Mukachevo mayor took place on June 29, 2003. According to the first decision of the city election commission, the candidate from the "Our Ukraine" bloc, Vasyl Petovka, won, for whom 49.9% of voters voted.

His closest rival — Ernest Nuser, supported by the SDPU(O), who received 41.4% of the votes of the city residents — challenged the election results in the Sykhivskyi city court of the city of Lviv, which declared the elections invalid.

At the same time, the Mukachevo city court, having considered the complaint of another candidate, Vasyl Burnadz, by its decision recognized the legality of Vasyl Petovka's election to the position of mayor of Mukachevo.

As a result, the Mukachevo city territorial election commission, taking into account the decisions of the Sykhivskyi and Mukachevo courts, recognized the Our Ukraine member Vasyl Petovka as mayor.

On December 25, 2003, a decree of the President of Ukraine was announced on the appointment of Myroslav Opachko, deputy head of the Zakarpattia Regional State Administration, as acting mayor of Mukachevo, and it was obligated to hold repeat elections for the mayor of Mukachevo. However, the new city leadership decided, contrary to the law of Ukraine on the election of deputies of local councils and mayors, to dissolve the city territorial election commission and precinct election commissions.

At the same time, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe expressed concern about the situation in Mukachevo in a separate paragraph.