The Civic Consortium of Election Initiatives emphasized in its statement that the new effective Law “On Elections of the People’s Deputies of Ukraine” has a number of gaps in paragraphs concerning territorial organization of elections.
Representatives of Consortium remind, that due to the absence of a special law on the territorial organization of elections, all issues of redistricting will be solved by the Central election commission. Thus, adherence to the principles of political neutrality, transparency and democracy during this process will depend on the position of CEC.
As long as the Law doesn’t provide the conduction of public consultations when determining a number of districts in each region and establishing their boundaries, the Civic Consortium of Election Initiatives considers it necessary to express own position on formation of single-mandate constituencies in the upcoming parliamentary elections:
- When redistricting, should be taken into account a principle of continuity of electoral boundaries in order to prevent the manipulation of electoral geography;
- A number of single-mandate electoral districts in every region should be determined by a principle of proportionality between a number of voters in this region and a total number of voters in Ukraine. This approach will secure equal representation of voters from every region in the Parliament;
- Election districts should be compact and maximally consider boundaries of regions and cities of regional importance for ensuring proper election logistics.
- Although the Law permits ultimate deviation of the number of the voters from the approximate average number of voters in the district up to 12 percent, electoral districts should be created with maximally close to this average number of voters. It will ensure the equal “importance” of votes and equal conditions for campaigning.
- The Central election commission should determine the number of districts in regions and establish boundaries of districts in each region openly and publicly. Principles, which will be the basis for CEC decisions on redistricting should be explained and properly reasoned.
In its turn, the Civic Consortium of Election Initiatives organized public consultations on the procedure of redistricting in some regions of Ukraine. NGOs expect that results of such consultations will be taken into consideration by the CEC when taking final decisions.
Assessment of these elections in Ukraine by the international community and their recognition by the society and participants of the election campaign will depend on the way redistricting is to be made in the upcoming elections.
Full text of the statement