Verkhovna Rada passes yet another election bill (06/17/01)

Verkhovna Rada passes yet another election bill

by Roman Woronowycz
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - Ukraine's Parliament continued to push for a new parliamentary election law on June 7 when it approved yet another version of a bill that is similar to two already vetoed by President Leonid Kuchma.

By a vote of 289-14, lawmakers agreed on a bill that would give 75 percent of the seats to parties in the Verkhovna Rada based on the proportion of the general vote each receives. Almost immediately, however, Mr. Kuchma indicated that he would veto this bill also.

With 289 lawmakers supporting the bill, including members of the pro-presidential Social Democrats (United) faction, however, the prospects for overcoming the veto are strong. Lawmakers would need to find only 11 votes this time to override the president.

In the latest election reform plan - the third approved by the lawmakers in less than two months - 75 percent, or 335 of the parliamentary seats, would be won based on the proportion each party wins in the March 2002 popular vote, while 25 percent (115 seats) would be dedicated to a majoritarian system in which individual candidates would vie for seats in single-mandate electoral districts on a first-past-the-post basis.

President Kuchma has said that he would like to see either an election system with a 50/50 proportional and majoritarian mix, which is provided under current law, or one that is exclusively majoritarian.

The Verkhovna Rada earlier had approved a strictly proportional system, which was vetoed by the president, and then had made a second attempt at a similar bill that the president vetoed as well.

President Kuchma was unequivocal in his criticism of the latest bill and of a proportional election system in general.

"At this stage of the development of society we cannot hold elections on a proportional basis," said Mr. Kuchma on June 11, according to Interfax-Ukraine.

He added that even today too many people do not know their representative in Parliament, and if a proportional system were enacted, electors would see their lawmakers even less. The president explained that a national deputy would become tied exclusively to the party that included him on its slate, which in turn would acquire a much broader influence over society.

"This bill is for them [the parties], rather than for the people," said Mr. Kuchma.

The latest election bill drew a wide range of support from various areas of the political spectrum of Ukraine, including the largest faction in the Verkhovna Rada, the Communists, who have 113 votes. However, there was resistance from the second strongest caucus, the pro-presidential Labor Ukraine, along with a good portion of the Democratic Union, another faction that supports President Kuchma.

The lawmakers supporting the 75/25 mixed system may have the votes this time to override the presidential veto. Oleksander Zinchenko, head of the Social Democrats (United) faction, said that he believes that the required two-thirds majority (300 votes) can be found, but that the national deputies must consider whether assigning 25 percent of the seats to cover all of Ukraine's territory would make each electoral district too large, which would make it difficult for unknown candidates to prevail.

Aside from the proportions, there is no dispute on the other details of the proposed law. Elections to the Verkhovna Rada would be held the last Sunday of March every fourth year. A special Verkhovna Rada election would have to be called within 60 days if the president dismisses the parliamentary body prematurely. Any party or political coalition could nominate candidates in the multi- or single-mandate constituencies, but no more than one in each of the single-mandate districts.

To qualify for the proportional electoral system, a party would need to collect at least 500,000 signatures with at least 17,000 each in two-thirds of the oblasts of Ukraine. To win party seats in the Verkhovna Rada, a party would need to receive at least 4 percent of the popular vote.

If the legislative and executive branches do not agree on a new election law before the beginning of the election season in mid-October, the parliamentary ballot will be held according to the old law, which envisages a 50/50 mixed electoral system.

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