15 November 2011 in Kyiv in President hotel was held public discussion on the electoral legislation reform in Ukraine, organized by the Civic Consortium of Election Initiatives complemented by the Committee of Voters of Ukraine, Civic Network OPORA, Agency for Legislative Initiatives and the Ukrainian Center for Independent Political Research. In result, participants agreed that 2012 Parliamentary elections should be conducted by the electoral system which will maximally secure the representation of different communities in VRU and reduce the probability of falsifying election results. During the debates deputies from YTB-“Fatherland” and the Party of Regions aired their support for the open regional lists. However, because of the political expedience the parliamentary majority is ready to compromise only on procedural issues.
In public discussion of advantages and disadvantages of electoral systems, proposed in the bills No.9265-2 and No.9265-1, formation commissions at different levels and territorial organization of elections participated: Deputy Head of the Party of Regions faction in Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Vadym Kolesnichenko; the mover of the bill No. 9265-2 “On Elections of the People’s Deputies of Ukraine”, a member of temporary special commission of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine for the preparation of the draft Law of Ukraine on Elections of People's Deputies of Ukraine Serhii Podhornyi; the Head of the Board of the Committee of Voters of Ukraine Oleksandr Chernenko; the Head of the Board of the Agency for Legislative Initiatives Igor Kohut; Director of Legal Research of the Laboratory of Legislative Initiatives Denys Kovryzhenko; Election program coordinator of the Civic Network OPORA Olha Aivazovska; and also well-known independent experts, political and public figures, representatives of international organizations and diplomatic missions of foreign countries, journalists.
Everybody present could not only put questions to speakers or make comments, but they also could participate in the e-voting. According to its results, 76% of participants support proportional system with open regional lists, 65% think that parliamentary parties/factions mustn’t have preferences when forming district and precinct election commissions, and 90% supported the principle of premature redistricting.
The first part of the debate was devoted to the discussion of electoral systems proposed in the bill No.9265-1 by O.Yefremov and No.9265-2 by Yu.Kliuchkovskyi. The head of the board of the Agency for Legislative Initiatives Igor Kohut believes, that “the politicians should reach a compromise concerning the electoral system by which 2012 Parliamentary elections are to be conducted.” “We (the community) want to see the development of democracy. We don't want to return to the past”, - said the Head of the Board of ALI in support of the bill No.9265-2.
We (the community) want to see the development of democracy. We don’t want to come back to the past.
Deputy Head of Party of Regions faction in Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Vadym Kolesnichenko personally prefers open regional lists, but at the same time he is convinced that the bill should be clear to everyone, not just to experts. “ The voter himself must make a choice without any violence and influence”, - said the deputy. However, according to the mover of the bill No. 9265-2 “On Elections of the People’s Deputies of Ukraine” Serhii Podhornyi, “the present government in fact does not want to compromise.” He is also convinced that deputies can cope with the bill No. 9265-2 if they want (concerning the proportional system with open regional lists), the same as ordinary people will cope with bulletins which are provided by the bill introduced by Yu.Kliuchkovskyi. "If the government won’t listen to us (the opposition), than we’ll have to leave the temporary special commission of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine for the preparation of the draft Law of Ukraine on Elections of People's Deputies of Ukraine.”- stated the people’s deputy
Denys Kovryzhenko, ALI Director of Legal Research, is also convinced that the proportional system with open regional lists might be easily introduced, because the essence and content of it is not more complex than of mixed.
Experts expressed different opinions on the electoral system. In particular, there were thoughts that the draft electoral law in the volume of 140 pages – is an indicator of distrust to the political process, and in some years open regional lists will be “devaluated”. Participants also noted, that one of the drawbacks of the majoritarian system is its lack of justice, because more than 50% of votes are lost. Therefore the expediency of its application should be reconsidered.
Election program coordinator of the CN OPORA Olha Aivazovska proposed possible compromise between the government and the opposition. It was based on the possibility of application of the mixed electoral system (50 to 50), according to which parliamentary election under the proportional component will be carried out by open regional lists.
The voter himself must make a choice without any violence and influence.
On the end of discussion, Vadym Kolesnichenko stated that all bills still should be elaborated. “Our compromise – is 50 to 50. We support raising the threshold. The parliament shouldn't consist of hundreds of parties." - stated the politician. Concerning the principles of election commission formation and territorial organization of elections, the politician is sure that the government is ready for any reasonable compromise.
According to the representative of the parliamentary opposition Serhii Podhornyi, the bill No.9265-2 by Yu.Kliuchkovskyi is more progressive than the bill No. 9265-1 by Yefremov. “The law which is now proposed by the government – is a legalization of falsifications that were present on the local elections" - stated the politician.
Recordings of debates you can find in the blog “How do we choose the Verkhovna Rada?”