On July 22, the President of Ukraine signed Draft Law #3485 amending the Election Code. Later the text was published in the official parliamentary edition Holos Ukrainy and entered into force as the Law of Ukraine.
This document amends the Election Code of Ukraine, laws on the Central Election Commission, on the State Register of Voters and strengthens the liability for some electoral offences.
Thus, according to the new legislation, elections to local councils in settlements with 10,000 or more voters will be held under the open-list proportional system. In order to "move up" in this open list among party members, a candidate must gain 25% of the election quota. Besides that, the form of the ballot paper will be updated. It will comprise party list and a blank box to mark on the left and a list of candidates and a stencil to be filled in with numbers on the right.
OPORA has analyzed the amendment, which are now a part of our electoral legislation, and have both positive and negative aspects.
We would like to remind that the Parliament has adopted the draft law #3485 in the first reading on June 4 this year. Subsequently, the Working Group, the Subcommittee and the Committee had considered almost 4,000 amendments. The draft law was supported in the second reading on July 16, 2020.
Read a full text of OPORA's statement on the amendment of electoral legislation:
- In Ukrainian: https://www.oporaua.org/statement/vybory/mistsevi-vybory/mistsevi_2020/20178-zaiava-opori-shchodo-priiniatikh-zmin-do-viborchogo-zakonodavstva
- In English: https://www.oporaua.org/en/statement/vybory/mistsevi-vybory/mistsevi_2020/20178-zaiava-opori-shchodo-priiniatikh-zmin-do-viborchogo-zakonodavstva
Other reads:
- Parties must observe gender quota requirements in lists, so the window of opportunity for women is already open - Aivazovska
- Changing the election address will be possible without supporting documents, but once a year - Kotsiuruba
- How to use a new proportional system in local elections? (SIMULATION OF MANDATE DISTRIBUTION)
- Electoral system and form of ballots: what amendments to the Election Code the Parliament supported (VISUAL MODEL OF BALLOTS)