The concept of the draft law on the local referendum was presented in the Parliament

Information Department of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Secretariat
05 February 2021, 12:15

During the meeting of the Working Group on the development of draft laws on democracy, the concept of the draft law on the local referendum was presented.
Opening the sitting, First Deputy Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada Ruslan Stefanchuk noted that this would be the second bill in the package of laws on democracy.
Co-chair of the Coalition Council of the Reanimation package of reforms Yulia Kyrychenko presented the key areas of the bill concept. She noted that the experience of holding local referendums until 2012 was taken into account. She reminded that 178 local initiatives were initiated in Ukraine, 160 of them took place. According to the developed concept of the bill, the subject of local referendums can be any issues of local significance within the Constitution and laws of Ukraine. The Central Election Commission will be entrusted with the function of verifying the compliance of the issues with the established requirements.
Olha Aivazovska, Chairperson of the Board of the Civic Network ‘OPORA’, presented the directions of the draft concept on ensuring the preparation and holding of local referendums; specifics of CEC activity, territorial election commissions; formation of voter lists; financial support; guarantees of activity of subjects, observers; information support and agitation, etc.
MP Olga Sovhyrya raised the issue of the frequency of local referendums, as they can be a significant burden on budgets.
The presentation was followed by a discussion between the MPs, leading scholars and experts on democracy and direct democracy on key issues of the concept.
First Deputy Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada Ruslan Stefanchuk summed up that the next meeting of the Working Group will be discussing the subject, types, number of issues, subjects and legal consequences of local referendums.
This is only the first presentation of t