Press Announcement

Election Law Reform - a Test for Parliamentary Coalition

On 19 February 2015 at 01:30 PM, the press-conference "Election Law Reform - a Test for Parliamentary Coalition" is to be held by the Civil Network OPORA in partnership with the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), Internews-Ukraine, Committee of Voters of Ukraine and the Election Law Institute in the UNIAN Information Agency (4 Khreshatyk St., Kyiv). The experts will discuss several threats that may appear, if election laws are not reformed consistently: delaying local self-government reform and decentralization; recurring misuse of administrative resources and voter bribery; using laws for the benefit of the certain political groups; and decreasing the level of public trust to ruling coalition. Delay in the election law reforming could also spoil Ukraine's image due to non-compliance with international obligations, in particularly with the European Union, the Council of Europe, and the OSCE, and threatens possibilities of receiving financial and political support for the reform process.

Having concluded a Coalition Agreement in November 2014, 5 parliamentary factions publicly took a responsibility to finish parliamentary election law during the 1st quarter of 2015, and a new law on local elections during the first half-year of 2015. However, despite it is the third month since the Coalition Agreement was signed, and there are only 7 months left to the regular local elections. After a meeting with the President of the Venice Commission Gianni Buquicchio on 3 February 2015, the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Volodymyr Hroisman had orally ordered to create a Working Group on the election law reform, which hasn't been created yet. The following speakers will discuss the hazards that could emerge during the next six month, if the election law reforming is delayed:

  • Olha Aivazovska, Electoral and Parliamentary Programs Coordinator at the Civil Network OPORA;
  • Yevhen Radchenko, Election Law Expert, Development Director at the Internews Ukraine NGO;
  • Denys Kovryzhenko, Legal Advisor of the International Foundation for Electoral Systems.
Journalist registration is conducted on-the-spot by press cards.
Language of the event: Ukrainian.
 
Detailed information:
Vasyl Babych, Press-secretary of the OPORA, +38 096 194 86 69
 
Reference:
The Civil Network OPORA - is a non-governmental, non-political and financially independent all-Ukrainian network of activists. We united to enhance public participation in the political process by developing and implementing models of citizen participation in the activities of state and local governments.