03 December 2015, 16:20
The event carried out by the Committee with the support of USAID Project "Citizens in Action," implemented by the Ukrainian Center for Independent Political Research, was attended by MPs, representatives of public authorities, international and local experts, NGOs, and associations of local self-government bodies.
When opening the meeting MP Oleksandr Chernenko reminded that the referendum is one of the main instruments of direct democracy and direct people’s power.
He drew attention to the fact that for many years Ukraine has no legislative and legal mechanisms for implementation of the constitutional provisions on local referendum.
Chernenko stressed that during the last three years there has been a legal gap in the issue of organization and holding of both national and local referendums.
Three draft laws on local referendums (No.2145a-1, No.2145a-2, No.2145a-3) and one draft law on holding of both local and national referendums No. 2535 have been registered in the Verkhovna Rada, the MP said.
Program Manager of the Ukrainian Center for Independent Political Research Maksym Latsyba said that for him as a representative of the NGO, and for all the citizens, "it is vitally important that the law on local referendum be approved. The law, which would allow local community to influence the decisions at the local level, and implement them. This law should be balanced, to become a tool, which should help the community to develop and make decisions, but not to unbalance the system of decision-making. "
Natalia Novak, the Chairperson of the Subcommittee on Legislative Support to the activity of the President of Ukraine, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, central bodies of executive power, and status and activities of political parties, and NGOs of the Committee on Legal Policy and Justice, in her speech reminded that the Verkhovna Rada of the previous convocation had debates about whether it should be one law on referendums, regulating both nationwide and local referendums. According to her words, perhaps it is be better in view of the fact that certain procedures would be streamlined.
N.Novak also noted that "unfortunately, our country has no culture of holding the referendums."
Participants of the roundtable discussed key issues of the draft law, in particular: procedure of calling a referendum, subject of local referendum; types of local referendum; securing of fulfillment of the decisions taken at local referendum and its legal consequences; number of questions that may be put to local referendum; procedure for administration of local referendum; participation and role of political parties and NGOs in local referendum; the possibility to engage public authorities and local governments in the process of local referendum organization; peculiarities of campaigning and the role of mass media; financing of the procedure of calling and holding a local referendum; the possibility of holding local referendum simultaneously with elections, national referendum; settlement of issues of organization and procedure of holding of national and local referendum in one law.
The remarks and suggestions made by the participants in their speeches will be used by the Committee during consideration and elaboration of draft laws.