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 kvu

 

ANNOUNCEMENT

Position of the Public Consortium of  Election Initiatives
on the results of the working group meeting on the improvement of electoral legislation

Representatives of the Public Consortium of  Election Initiatives, combining specialized non-governmental organizations for the effective influence on the reform of electoral legislation and ensuring of its public character, took part in meetings of the working group established for the development of the draft law "On Elections of People's Deputies of Ukraine".

The Consortium welcomes the fact that the document included a number of public proposals, provided to the leadership group at the stage of conception preparation. During the article by article discussion of the bill on April 28 and 29 in the working group a few dozen of progressive amendments were included in the document, which soon will be introduced by the President to the Verkhovna Rada of  Ukraine, and sent for examination to the Venice Commission and the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES).

After lengthy discussions during consideration of the bill article by article the positive innovations were agreed about, which, according to the Consortium, will provide an opportunity to provide greater transparency of the electoral process.

The consortium supports a number of provisions of the new bill that were agreed by working group and expresses assuredness that these provisions will be included in the draft text, and their absence may indicate the inconsistent work of the groups:
The introduction of a more balanced system of election commissions forming on the county level, which implies the right of each of the factions to delegate one candidate to the OIC and all other places are filled by general draw between non-parliamentary parties and political forces that are members of the parliamentary blocs. So the norm, which would guarantee priority representation of parties that have formed their own faction, will be leveled.
  1. Limited use of the system that cancels the registration of candidates to deal with political opponents. Thus, the right to refuse registration or termination is limited by constitutional requirements of citizenship and the capacity of the election process subjects. 
  2. Simplified and brought to a logic circuit system of registration of Ukrainian public organizations that are going to observe the election process. Thus, the Central Election Commission provides the right of monitoring to the NGO in accordance with the statutory purposes of the latter, and its representatives are registered as observers in the district election commissions. In addition, the Ukrainian non-governmental organizations for the first time are equated to the subjects of the election process during the observation, i.e., besides simply fixing of  the violation, they  also can write complaints, acts, apply to court for violations of election law.
  3. Such subjects of the electoral process as candidates and majority candidates, which are put forward by the political forces, are obliged to publish their programs, which will be published on the CEC website. However, there is still the  question regarding the election programs of candidates in single member constituencies, which are independent candidates. Unfortunately, there are no such obligations for them.
  4. Organizers of public opinion polls conducted during the election period that are directly related to the campaign, should disclose the information about customers and sponsors of the research. Thus, the conditions will be introduced to eliminate false polls aimed at manipulation of public opinion.
  5. Central Election Commission registers the subjects of the election process in multi-mandate constituency (party lists), and the district election commissions register the candidates in single-majority constituencies. However, the CEC still has  the right to decide the disputes concerning acts or omissions of the OIC, including the registration of candidates.
  6. The content of the protocol on voting results on precincts details all procedural stages and fixes the number of voters who voted "at home". Thus, the protocol becomes a document that can be analyzed in terms of inaccuracy, failure of procedures or abnormal number of voters who took advantage of the right to vote at home.

However, the Consortium is to inform you that a number of fundamental issues was not discussed either at the stage of conception or during evaluation of the text of the draft. This omission may adversely affect the overall perception and social legitimization of the presidential project.

Some of the most important standards-taboo for discussion:

  1. The feasibility of changing the electoral system to a mixed proportional-majority, the degree of openness of which is lower compared with the proportional with preferential voting, proposed by the community, and it does not contribute to the development of a stable party system;
  2. The feasibility of reducing the terms of the election campaign from 120 to 90 days, which could adversely affect the organization and conduct of elections;
  3. Fixing a very high threshold of 5%, which does not contribute to the renewal of political elites and representation of the interests of small groups of voters in the legislature.

Since on April 28-29 the working group met not at full strength, members of the Public Consortium of the Election Initiatives are concerned by the possibility of making uncoordinated changes to the project by providing individual proposals to the bill after the fact. We stand for the publication of the proposals that were supported by the results of the article by article draft consideration by the Ministry of Justice, and offer to provide additional consideration of a number of these fundamental issues.

Issues requiring additional consideration before introducing the bill to parliament, from the standpoint of the Consortium:

  1. Need to introduce qualification requirements for members of election commissions of the district level;
  2. Reviewing of the opportunity to make changes to the list of voters on election day in court, provided by the draft, which, according to international expert organizations’ evaluations, is the unjustified liberalism;
  3. The need to provide documentary evidence about the health status of citizens who want to vote "at home".
The consortium also insists that before taking a final decision by the President on the content of the bill, it is advisable to hold public events in the regions, parliamentary hearings; full consultation with the public and political forces. Public aspects of the draft development will enhance its public legitimacy.

It is also necessary to analyze and consider the practice of various aspects of electoral legislation in previous election campaigns.

Public Consortium of the election initiatives encourages the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine to publish the text of the draft revision and to consider suggestions of the public as soon as possible.
Laboratory for Legislative Initiatives
Ukrainian Center for Independent Political Research
OPORA
Committee of Voters of Ukraine