The Reanimation Package of Reforms civic initiative

Reanimation Package of Reforms

Group on Electoral Reform

STATEMENT

Special elections to the Parliament should be announced not later than the beginning of July 2014. Efficiency of the Verkhovna Rada and recovery of its status as the democratic political institute depend on decisions taken by the newly-elected President.

The biggest problem of the Parliament is that it's not representative: electoral groups which represented citizen moods in 2012 are re-formed, and a lot of MPs do not represent interests of citizens today. Standards of the legislative branch are constant and generally recognized. The principles of independent parliamentarism are quite simple: institutional independence, representativeness, transparency, openness, and accountability. The functioning of the Verkhovna Rada of VII convocation from the elections till February 2014 was on the edge crisis because it couldn't independently take political decisions, didn't have transparent mechanisms to control activities of MPs and the VR Apparatus, and was closed for the public opinion, experts, and journalists. Ukrainian society witnessed how the parliamentary immunity was used to avoid responsibility for inciting hatred, and calling for the violent overthrow of the government or political regime. Negative practices should be stopped through the institution of elections.

The deputy corps, which will be responsible for securing legislative ground for reforms demanded by the society, should be elected through transparent procedures of free and fair elections. Only such elections can restore the confidence in government institutions and become a basis for overcoming the political conflict, which grew into the armed confrontation.

The Reanimation Package of Reforms civic initiative calls the Government to approve new wording of the Law of Ukraine on Elections of People's Deputies of Ukraine. Electoral procedures in this law should eliminate drawbacks of the effective electoral legislation, give due response to the current situation and lay a new paradigm of relations between the society and its representatives in the government.

The elections should be conducted on the basis of new system and legislation, which will take into consideration the following challenges:

1. realization of electoral rights of citizens on the whole Ukrainian territory, including the AR Crimea, Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts;
2. elimination of the influence of political corruption, voter bribery, and administrative resource on the course and results of election campaign;
3. creation of the proper safety conditions for election campaigns: safety for participants and organizers of the elections, informational safety and protection of electoral documentation;
4. securing conditions for inevitability of the punishment for crimes against electoral rights of the citizens.

We are convinced that the new wording of the law should be based on standards, provided by documents of the Council of Europe, particularly it should include:

• pluralistic electoral model, which would be able to secure the proportional representation of different ideologies and interests in the parliament and become a political base for the coalition, which will take the responsibility for government activities. Majoritarian component of the current electoral model complicates the formation of capable coalition, and the organization of elections in single-mandate election districts is complicated by the conduction of anti-terrorist operation.
• preferential mechanisms of the deputy corps selection, what will become one of the lustration mechanisms and allow to raise the quality of political proposition;
• financial transparency of electoral subjects, according to the recommendations of the Venice Commission, OSCE/ODIHR, and the Europe's Group of States against Corruption (GRECO), what will narrow the foundation for political corruption and will become a step towards the development of an anti-corruption mechanism on the national level;
• the electoral threshold, favorable for parties capable of securing due organization and programs;
• propositions for realization of the ideology related to political representation of the native Ukrainian people – Crimean Tatars, according to the Resolution of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine as of March 20, 2014 on Statement of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on guaranteeing the protection of the Crimean Tatar people's rights in Ukrainian State, and the assessment and implementation of mechanisms for political representation of the national minorities living on the territory of Ukraine;
• propositions regarding the development and implementation of gender equality mechanisms in the electoral process;
• development and standardization of specific safety measures at all stages of the election process, including the possibility of voting, processing and delivering the documentation.

The Reanimation Package of Reforms civic initiative, which unites leading Ukrainian organizations that conduct socio-political dialog on different levels, is ready to provide propositions to legislation on Parliamentary elections, in accordance with standards of the Council of Europe and take into consideration the need for democratization of political development of Ukraine.