Ukrainian Parliament Votes in the New Election Law

KYIV, Ukraine, November 18, 2011 -

A law regulating parliamentary elections in Ukraine has been passed by the parliament late on Thursday, November 17, 2011. Members of all political parties represented in the legislative body voted for the law. The new election law established mixed electoral system in Ukraine with election threshold set at 5 percent. To date, the parliament has been elected through proportional vote with 3 percent threshold. According to the mixed electoral system, 225 MPs will be elected through party lists and 225 MPs - through single-member constituencies.

The norms provided by the new bill will minimize all possible falsification of the election result in 2012, explained Ruslan Knyazevych, a member of the Ukrainian parliament who represents the oppositionist center-right party NUNS. “Today’s decision is a victory of the opposition,” declared MP Knyazevych who headed the parliamentary commission responsible for the draft law. “We got a law that virtually nullifies the chance of mass falsification and distortion of the people’s will,” he added.

The new election law was supported by 366 members of the parliament out of 404 present at the session. The document gained support of 62 representatives of oppositionist political party Batkivshchyna [leader - Yulia Tymoshenko]. We were choosing between a falsified election and transparent electoral system, explained his party’s decision to support the bill the member of Batkivshchyna, MP Sergiy Mishchenko.

The successful voting for the election law was not only a compromise of the political parties but a consensus, emphasized the President’s representative in the Ukrainian Parliament Yuriy Miroshnychenko. He also reassured that the President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych would sign the law a.s.a.p.

According to the new law, no blocks of political parties are allowed to participate in the elections. It also stipulates for the exclusion of the option of not supporting any party or candidate. The bill is based on a draft law elaborated by a work group formed by the President of Ukraine. The Venice Commission provided expertize for that draft.

A majority rule was used in Ukraine since the declaration of its independence in 1991 and till the introduction of the mixed electoral system in 1997. The Ukrainian parliament adopted a proportional electoral system in 2006 only to make new changes in five years.

For more information, contact Maria Ivanova +380443324784 news at wnu-ukraine.com, Project Manager at Worldwide News Ukraine.