Head of the Subcommittee on Elections and Referendums Oleksandr Chernenko has noted that the idea to consider the amendments in a working group instead of subcommittee is still reasonable and right. “Right after the deadline for submission of amendments in December, the Committee had put on the agenda a creation of the corresponding working group, comprising representatives of each faction, members of the subcommittee, members of the committee, and authors of the amendments. Unfortunately, due to the peculiarities of our committee, we haven't managed to gather a quorum since December and, therefore, the working group wasn't created,” — he stated.
However, only three MPs, Committee's secretariat representative and some civil society delegates attended the meeting.
“I believe it's necessary to gather at least in such complement, and start to work. However, I clearly understand that despite such complement is very good from the professional standpoint, it's not quite right from the political one. Thus, although we may start to work, I really hope that the committee will conduct a meeting on Wednesday to create a working group, and we will try to work in a wider complement,” — Oleksandr Chernenko emphasized.
We remind that on 7 November 2017, the Verkhovna Rada had adopted the draft Election Code in the first reading, establishing the introduction of open-list proportional representation system for parliamentary elections, and modification of the electoral system for local elections. The bill #3112-1 was drafted by MPs Andrii Parubii, Oleksandr Chernenko, and Leonid Yemets. 226 members of parliament supported the draft law.
The total number of amendments to the draft Election Code has reached 4400. 178 amendments were developed jointly by MPs, experts of the Civil Network OPORA and the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES).