Volodymyr Lytvyn: The Law on Parliamentary Elections should be adopted one Year before the Elections
Volodymyr Lytvyn, Chairman of The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, expects the Parliament to adopt a new law on parliamentary elections by October. V.Lytvyn made this statement at the press conference during his working visit to Zhytomyr region. "I suppose that this Law should be adopted one year before the elections, so that the concerned persons could scrutinize it, and the work could be properly organized to avoid hard-powered work of the parliament on the eve of the election campaign," the Head of the Parliament stated.
V.Lytvyn specified that the law should be adopted either in the end of the current 8th session of the Parliament or in the beginning of the next one. He reminded that the Venice Commission had positively assessed the draft Election Code. He informed that the working group on enhancement of election legislation continues its work. The Chairman of The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine suggests uniting the results of the working group and the draft approved by the Venice Commission.
As to the most debatable issues, the Head of the Parliament mentioned fundamentals of the election system, formation of election commissions, and guarantees that particular parties or candidates will not be withdrawn from the elections. "A transparent approach to these issues will calm everyone down," V.Lytvyn stressed.
The Chairman of The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine stressed that rules of the election campaign shall be established before its start. Both the President of Ukraine and the European institutions urge to it.