09 September 2009, 18:12
Oleksandr Lavrynovych, First Vice-Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, met Ake Peterson, Representative of the General Secretary of European Council on Coordination of the Programs on Cooperation in Ukraine, and Lubomir Kopay, Coordinator of OSCE Projects in Ukraine
During the meeting, the parties discussed the importance of effective interparliamentary cooperation and emphasized the prior role of the national parliaments in the formation of the political dialogue on the interstate level. The representatives of the European legislative bodies stressed the positive movements on the path of European integration of Ukraine.
Election system was the principal theme of the discussion during the meeting. The interlocutors shared their thoughts concerning the international practice of the election rights of the citizens in the context of the guarantees for the voter.
"Our meeting is being held on the day when new norms regulating the elections come into force in Ukraine in order to provide for clear understanding of the legal norms that regulate the course of the elections campaign in Ukraine on the part of the influential international organizations that conduct monitoring of the election processes in Ukraine", - O. Lavrynovych declared.
Moreover, the First Vice-Chairman drew attention of the visitors to the fact that "the latest election campaign in Ukraine was finished only at courts".
L. Kopay deems necessary to amend the regulations concerning president´s elections: "I totally agree that the law on elections of the President in Ukraine should have been altered. The law possessed numerous drawbacks".
The representatives of the international organizations have touched upon the issue regarding the expediency of the amendments to the effective law concerning participation of the Ukrainian public organizations in the process of election process observing.
According to O. Lavrynovych, this recommendation is essential, though it still needs discussion at the Ukrainian parliament.
In the framework of the meeting, A. Peterson issued the official initiation for O. Lavrynovych to take part in the sitting of the Venetian Commission on 9 October during which the changes in the election system of laws that regulates the elections of the President of Ukraine will be scrutinized.
The representatives of Council of Europe and the OSCE expressed their wish that the elections of the President in Ukraine were democratic and clear. In his turn, O. Lavrynovych expressed his hopes that there would be no abuse of the effective law.