CEC Registers Elena Slobodyan as a Member of Parliament: What Is Known About the Mandate and the Scandal Over Her Dissertation

Ukraine's Central Election Commission (CEC) has registered Elena Slobodyan as a Member of Parliament. The commission made the corresponding decision after reviewing the candidate's application and the documents she submitted. This was reported by RBC-Ukraine, citing a CEC publication. The registration is a consequence of recent personnel reshuffles in the government: as a result, the composition of the Verkhovna Rada will be supplemented by two deputies from the "Servant of the People" party, a decision on recognizing them as elected that the CEC had already made earlier.

How the Mandate Came About

The mandate itself was obtained by Slobodyan as a result of the extraordinary parliamentary elections held on July 21, 2019. She was elected in the nationwide multi-mandate electoral constituency from the "Servant of the People" party, holding the 166th place in the party's electoral list. In practice, the activation of this place in the list only occurred years later — after the vacated mandates required replacement, and it was precisely in September 2026 that the CEC recognized her as elected and carried out the registration.

Biography and Career

Elena Slobodyan was born on January 15, 1987, in Kyiv. In 2010 she graduated from the Khmelnytsky University of Management and Law, where she subsequently defended her candidate's dissertation on patent-law protection of inventions in the field of biotechnology. Her academic supervisor was Ruslan Stefanchuk, who later became her direct superior. Before working in parliament, Slobodyan was engaged in legal and academic activities, working at the Higher School of Advocacy and at the National Office of Intellectual Property. Since 2021 she has headed the secretariat of the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada.

When the Powers Will Begin

Despite the registration, Elena Slobodyan will not immediately receive her parliamentary powers. According to the commission's decision, they will arise only from the moment she takes the oath of a Member of Parliament of Ukraine in the Verkhovna Rada. Thus, the next necessary step for the commencement of her powers will be the actual taking of the oath in parliament.

Contradictory Data

Around the figure of Slobodyan, a scandal erupted in 2026, linked to her candidate's dissertation. According to activists, the work was found to contain borrowings without proper references on 147 of its 185 pages, including from materials of Russian dissertations. At the same time, these accusations are one-sided and, at the time of registration, were not backed by an officially confirmed finding of plagiarism. On the other hand, registration with the CEC is a separate procedural action of the commission, based on the candidate's application and documents, and it neither cancels nor confirms the activists' disputed claims. Thus, the version of the parties accusing her of plagiarism, and the absence of a publicly recorded official opinion on the dissertation, remain in the text as positions that do not match in degree of provenance.