Under the Ukraine’s Constitution, regular elections of the local councilors and mayors must be held on October 25, 2015 in the whole territory of Ukraine simultaneously. Factions, which signed Coalition Agreement, undertook a commitment to finish the reform of the Parliamentary Election Law and Local Election Law by the end of the first half of 2015. Such reform, among other things, will result in fundamental change of electoral systems to be used in the parliamentary and local elections.
Although more than 2 months has passed after the Coalition Agreement has been signed, and less than 7 months left until the start of the election process in regular local elections, no steps have been taken by the Parliament to initiate election law reform.
Internews-Ukraine, Committee of Voters of Ukraine, Civil Network OPORA, Ukrainian Center for Independent Political Research and Election Law Institute believe that amendments to the laws governing national and local elections should be prepared by one and the same Working Group, which should be established under the Parliamentary Committee on Legal Policy and Justice. This Committee is responsible for development of the legal framework governing the elections and referendums. Further, the Working Group should be established no later than in February 2015, so that the draft new versions of the Parliamentary Election Law and Local Election Law could be prepared by no later than April 2015 and could be adopted by the legislature within the time frames specified in the Coalition Agreement, namely by the end of the first half of 2015.
Internews-Ukraine, Committee of Voters of Ukraine, Civil Network OPORA, Ukrainian Center for Independent Political Research and Election Law Institute call on:
- The Speaker of the Parliament – to establish without delay (no later than by mid-February 2015) Election Law Reform Working Group under the Parliamentary Committee on Legal Policy and Justice. This Working Group should be tasked to draft not only the new version of the Parliamentary Election Law, but also new Local Election Law. The activities of the Working Group should be based on the principles of transparency, openness and inclusiveness. The Working Group should include the representative of all the factions in the Parliament, domestic and international experts, civil society activists, members of the CEC and other stakeholder groups.
- Parliamentary Committee on Legal Policy and Justice – to ensure that the established Working Group is guided by the principles of transparency, openness and inclusiveness in its operations, and that the Working Group will produce new draft versions of the Parliamentary Election Law and Local Election Law by the end of April 2015.