"In order to take into account the opinion of everyone, the draft Law on Local Referendum is submitted for public discussion," Ruslan Stefanchuk

Information Department of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Secretariat
22 March 2021, 16:26

The draft law on the local referendum is submitted for public discussion. First Deputy Chairperson of The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Ruslan Stefanchuk called on everyone to join the discussion.
"Given the recent events, it can be said that the draft law is extremely relevant. A local referendum is, in essence, a legal mechanism for resolving disputes and conflicts at the level of territorial communities. If there is no such mechanism, then people are forced to resort to other forms of expressing their position, in particular, to protest movements, rallies, demonstrations, and so on. Thanks to local referendums, conflict issues can be resolved by the community in a constructive way," Ruslan Stefanchuk said.
According to him, "the decision of the local referendum, supported by the majority of voters (50% + 1 vote) who will take part in the voting, will be binding on local governments."
"We also believe that it is necessary to provide an opportunity to terminate the powers of the Chairperson and the council, if the community believes that it made a mistake in the election or the council did not make the decisions stated in the election slogans," said the politician.
"The working group under my chairmanship worked on the draft law. MPs of Ukraine, representatives of leading public organizations in the field of democracy, associations of local governments, the Ministry of Development of Communities and Territories of Ukraine, the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, members of the Central Election Commission of Ukraine and well-known scientists were involved in the discussions," said Ruslan Stefanchuk.
"In order to present the main provisions of the bill, before its registration, we plan to hold local discussions in all directions of Ukraine: North, South, West and East. Analyzing the text of the bill with representatives of village, settlement, city councils, territorial communities, concerned citizens, we will be able to improve and develop an effective mechanism for direct influence on local authorities," said the First Deputy Speaker of the Parliament of Ukraine.