Newly formed communities may be given opportunity to hold elections
The Parliament’s Committee on Legal Policy and Justice has recommended that the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine should pass the bill to allow holding elections in the newly created communities.
According to ex-chairman of the Committee of Voters of Ukraine Oleksandr Chernenko, the bill No. 3008 stipulates that the decision on establishment of new communities shall be taken by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, while the first elections shall be appointed by the Central Election Commission, including in Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
According to the effective law on the cooperation of communities, the regional councils shall decide on establishing the community and holding the first elections there. However, the regional councils have often stonewalled such decisions. Therefore, the communities, which have undergone all the necessary procedures, were not established, hence the elections would not be held on October 25. In addition, the situation in Donetsk and Luhansk regions, where the civil and military administrations perform the functions of the regional councils but do not have such powers, remain unresolved.
Oleksandr Chernenko notes that the amendments to the legislation should be taken before the start of electoral campaign, i.e. until September 5, to hold elections in the new communities on October 25.
The expert predicts that the bill would be submitted to the session hall tomorrow, but it might not be passed due to political confrontations.
As a reminder, the activists are going to discuss the voting rights of the people with disabilities with government officials, political parties, the public and the media. They plan to elaborate the recommendations to enable such people to exercise their voting rights.
